‘Economic Hit Man’ author calls for corporate reform

John Perkins says American corporations have created the world’s first truly global empire

By: Alex Gennis
   In the past fifty years, American corporations have created the world’s first truly global empire, John Perkins, the outspoken and controversial author of the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man," said in an address at Princeton University’s McCosh Hall last week."
   This empire has been created not by an emperor or a king, but rather by a group of people that I call the ‘corporatocracy,’ who run our biggest corporations," Mr. Perkins told a large audience of Princeton students and community residents.
   "Through those corporations they run our government and most other governments in the world." Mr. Perkins said that the "corporatocracy" functions secretly and that its secrecy undermines America’s democratic process. "If we don’t know what our government and our corporations are doing around the world to create this empire, we are not an informed electorate," Mr.Perkins said.
   The corporate world relied on "economic hit men" to create this empire, Mr.Perkins said. For ten years Mr. Perkins said he worked as an "economic hit man" for a Boston-based company called Chas T. Main. Mr. Perkins added that the National Security Agency had a role in recruiting him and other "economic hitmen."
   The corporate world functions by burdening developing countries with heavy debt, Mr. Perkins said. "We identify a developing country that has resources that our corporations covet—like oil—and we arrange a huge loan to that country from an organization such as the World Bank or one of its sisters." Mr. Perkins explained. "The country ends up with a huge debt that it can’t repay." When the country can’t repay its debt, the economic hit men come into that country and extort concessions such as an agreement to sell oil at low prices, a key UN vote, or military cooperation, Mr. Perkins said.
   Mr. Perkins warned that the global economic empire would eventually collapse. "Because when empires collapse you have a vacuum. I want to see this empire transform itself." Mr. Perkins criticized his generation for being overly selfish and not concerned enough about future generations.
   Mr. Perkins urged the young generation to follow in the footsteps of great reformers such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. to try to create a more balanced and sustainable world.