Review: Economic Hit Man
By Christopher Forster

During the feverish job searching of the final semester few students consider a position as an Economic Hit Man. If you read the book by John Perkins you might think that you have little choice. As we enter governments, corporations and even NGOs a reading of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man suggests that we will do nothing less than forward the latest and most nefarious version of imperialism to date.

The preface does a good job in explaining the premise of the book:

Economic Hit Men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, US Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign ‘aid’ organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.

An alluring start, to be sure. The book takes one through the life and career of Mr. Perkins; a true story that has the author travelling the world to convince the leaders of developing countries to accept massive loans in order to leave them forever indebted and enslaved to the United States. The author never worked for the government, he insists, but instead for one of a few favoured firms – the Bechtels and Halliburtons of this world – working as an economist, passing off inflated forecasts to justify the actions of the IMF, World Bank and others.

To be frank, the underlying message of the book is fascinating in its tingling confirmation of conspiracy theories and its promise of sex, murder and extortion.  But it’s a singular story that Perkins fails to tell well: the entrapment of the global economy in a web of debt that the Washington and corporate elites manipulate for their own enrichment. The narrative is repetitive and the author tries too hard to appear contrite, expressing guilt at each stage of his career yet doing nothing about it. This is conveyed through an all too lacklustre style that does little but leave the reader weary. If it were not for the subject, I believe, few would get past the initial chapters. At every page you are eager to hear more of the details, more of the techniques that are used by EHMs, the examples of the rigged elections, the extortion and, yes, the sex. With every turn you are left wanting. Herein lies the book’s greatest weakness: it is not the exposé you want. The text is only a vehicle for Perkins to alleviate his conscience, to atone for his sins through a most catholic confession.

That said, the book is still worth reading, especially by SAIS students. It reveals a world of economics and politics that is rarely seen in the U.S. media and even less in our textbooks. The economics courses we take are thrown into sharp relief; international development, international finance and the holy grail of free trade are shaken to their foundations. Suffice it to say, Perkins is persuasive in his thesis that this new strain of imperialism is an underlying cause for the swelling frustration and resentment around the world, manifesting itself most benignly as anti-Americanism and most destructively as terrorism.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man leaves you toward the end with a sense of pessimism. The author does his best in the epilogue to provide you with means for changing the world, but it seems unlikely that any of them would seriously work. Implicitly suggested by Perkins, there appear to be only two means for instituting change. The first is violent, a global backlash akin to the American colonies’ rejection of British rule. The world could in the foreseeable future reject the American vision of materialism and commercialism being roughly imposed upon them. To do so would require overthrowing the ‘corporatocracy’ that Perkins believes actually rules the West.

The other is for Americans themselves to re-instill the ideals of their founders. Oft-quoted are the Founding Fathers throughout the U.S. – in classes, articles, papers and books – their eloquent wording re-applied, like a fresh coat of paint, to the countenances of democracy and freedom. These are the true values that the world appreciates, yet what many fail to see in the U.S. today. How can they, when they hear of the appalling levels of crime, drug addiction and poverty? When their own first-hand experiences of the U.S. are so negative? The irony that the U.S. is the richest nation on earth with one of the world’s highest suicide rates is not lost on them.

Perkins believes that greed has taken over the American dream, replacing the original virtues of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If such a stain remains on the face of America, her empire, like all of those past, will crumble. The Economic Hit Men will have shot themselves – and their masters – in the foot. So, as you accept jobs and negotiate salaries, just ask yourself: are you unwillingly shooting yourself in the foot?

Christopher Forster is a 2nd year MA candidate in Strategic Studies