Book Review Discussion ForumTHE NEW CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN

RIRI SATRIAFounder and CEO Value Alignment Group

Jakarta, May 20, 2016

Our Agenda

Part 1 : What are economic hitmen?Part 2 : What’s new?Part 3 : Critical analysisPart 4 : Closing

Part 1 :WHAT ARE ECONOMIC HITMEN?

What are ECONOMIC HIT MEN?• 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, the U.S. 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 included 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.

I was initially recruited while I was in business school back in the late sixties by the National Security Agency, the nation’s largest and least understood spy organization; but ultimately I worked for private corporations.

The first real economic hit man was back in the early 1950s, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr., the grandson of Teddy, who overthrew the government of Iran, a democratically elected government, Mossadegh’s government who was Time‘s magazine person of the year; and he was so successful at doing this without any bloodshed—well, there was a little bloodshed, but no military intervention, just spending millions of dollars and replaced Mossadegh with the Shah of Iran.

At that point, we understood that this idea of economic hit man was an extremely good one. We didn’t have to worry about the threat of war with Russia when we did it this way. The problem with that was that Roosevelt was a C.I.A. agent. He was a government employee. Had he been caught, we would have been in a lot of trouble. It would have been very embarrassing.

So, at that point, the decision was made to use organizations like the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. to recruit potential economic hit men like me and then send us to work for private consulting companies, engineering firms, construction companies, so that if we were caught, there would be no connection with the government.— November 4, 2004 interview

The Hit Men …• Today there are many more types of EHMs and the role they play is more

diverse. Moreover, the game is far more complex, its corruption more pervasive, and its operations more fundamental to the world economy and politics. This makes the future of developing countries even more bleak today than the 1980s.

• In the Secret History of the American Empire (2007), I document how the veneer of responsibility remains a key factor in the dark side of globalization; subterfuges range from money laundering and tax evasion in luxurious office suites to activities that amount to economic war crimes.

• Real globalization is based on a system of deception, extortion, and rampant violence—from IMF officers slashing education and health care programs to mercenaries defending European oil interests in Nigeria to executives financing warlords in Congo to secure supplies of coltan ore.

The Hit Men …• One of the earliest robber barons noted in my book was J.P. Morgan. He set a course

years ago that has been followed by many of today’s billionaires—of mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations, deals that heap riches on those who mold them but wreak havoc on competitors, workers, and local economies.

• These transactions empower a few individuals with control of resources and markets; the CEOs who end up at the top of the conglomerates are in positions to exert excessive influence over government officials, the press, and buying trends.

• Because such deals are made on paper—in board rooms, law offices, and at investment banks—they seldom produce tangible goods or services or create new jobs. These paper transactions have played an ever increasing role in the U.S. economy in recent decades and are a major contributor to the failing of our economy.

The Hit Men …• Greece has clearly been struck by EHMs. Set to default on its debts, the

Athens government is leading the pack of the seventeen Eurozone states as the first country where the common currency (the euro) is to be declared in “selective default” on its debt. In the process, this nation, where democracy was first defined more than 2,000 years ago, is clearly demonstrating how predatory capitalism works to undo the freedoms of its citizens.

• The Greek people were not the ones who agreed to accept these debts and for the most part they did not benefit from them; yet they will be burdened for years to come because they were hoodwinked by the international banking community and their own corrupt leaders.

John Perkins in Indonesia (1971)In 1971, Perkins' first assignment took him took to Indonesia. Indonesia was an oil-rich country and had been described as "the most heavily populated piece of real estate on the planet." Perkins' job was to produce very optimistic economic forecasts for the country, showing that by building new power plants and distribution lines, the country's economy would explode. These projections would allow USAID and international banks to justify huge loans for the country, which would then be paid to U.S. corporations to build the projects.

In 1971, Indonesia had become even more important to the U.S. in its battle against Communism. Potential withdraw from Vietnam had the U.S. worried about a domino effect of one country after another falling under Communist rule. Indonesia was viewed as the key. If the U.S. could gain control of Indonesia (with the debts that would incur thanks to the loans for these huge projects), they believed it would help ensure American dominance in Southeast Asia.

The “Empire” and HoodwinkedI think it’s fair to say that we economic hit men have managed to create the world’s first truly global empire. And it’s basically a secret empire.

We do it in many ways, but principally, we identify a country that has resources that corporations covet, like oil, arrange a huge loan to that country from the World Bank or one of its sisters. The money never actually goes to the country; it goes to our own corporations to build the infrastructure projects in that country that help a few very wealthy people, but don’t benefit the majority of the people, who are too poor to buy electricity or have cars to drive on the highways. And yet, they’re left holding a huge debt that they can’t repay.

So we go back at some point and say, “You know, you can’t pay your debts. Give us a pound of flesh. Sell your oil real cheap to our oil companies. Vote with us on the next critical UN vote. Allow us to build a military base in your backyard.” Something along these lines.

And when we fail — as I talk in my books, I failed with Jaime Roldos, president of Ecuador, Omar Torrijos of Panama — the Jackals go in and either overthrow or assassinate these leaders. And if the Jackals fail, as they did in Iraq, then we send in the military.

The “Empire” and Hoodwinked

Part 2 :

WHAT’S NEW?

.. and now they come home to US

.. and now they come home to US

• It’s been interesting because, in the past, the economic hit man economy was being propagated in order to make America wealthier and presumably to make people here better off, but as this whole process has expanded in the U.S. and Europe, what we’ve seen is a tremendous growth in the very wealthy at the expense of everybody else.

• We of course in the U.S. have seen how our government is frozen, it’s just not working. It’s controlled by the big corporations and they’ve really taken over. They’ve understood that the new market, the new resource, is the U.S. and Europe, and the incredibly awful things that have happened to Greece and Ireland and Iceland, are now happening here in the U.S.

• We’re seeing this situation where we can have what statistically shows economic growth, and at the same time increased foreclosures on homes and unemployment.

.. and now they come home to US

• When I was an economic hit man, one of the things that we did, we raised these huge loans for these countries, but the money never actually went to the countries, it went to our own corporations to build infrastructure in those countries. And when the countries could not pay off their debt, we insisted that they privatize their water systems, their sewage systems, their electric systems.

• Now we’re seeing that same thing happen in the United States. Flint, Michigan, is a very good example of that. This is not a U.S. empire, it’s a corporate empire protected and supported by the U.S. military and the CIA. But it is not an American empire, it’s not helping Americans. It’s exploiting us in the same way that we used to exploit all these other countries around the world.

• All the EHM and jackal tools—false economics, false promises, threats, bribes, extortion, debt, deception, coups, assassinations, unbridled military power—are used around the world today, even more than during the era I exposed more than a decade ago.

• Although this cancer has spread widely and deeply, most people still aren’t aware of it; yet all of us are impacted by the collapse it has caused. It has become the dominant system of economics, government, and society today.

.. and now they come home to US

• Well, in my opinion the biggest catalyst that needs to go forward to change this is we’ve got to change the corporations. We’ve got to move from that goal that was stated by Milton Friedman in the 1970s, that the only responsibility of corporations is to maximize profits regardless of social and environmental costs.

• We change the big corporations by telling them we’re not going to buy from you anymore unless you change your goal. No longer should your goal be to maximize profits regardless of social and environmental costs. Make a decent rate of return for your investors, but serve us, we the people, or we’re not buying from you.

John Perkins : FIGHT BACK!

John Perkins : FIGHT BACK!

John Perkins : FIGHT BACK!

Part 3 :

THE CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Conspiracy Theory

• Nothing happens by accident• Nothing is as it seems• Everything is connected

May be, John Perkins is a part of a global conspiracy. He was an

economic hitman, or may be he is still now!

His books are just a part of intelligence games!

Intelligence Theory

World intelligence code of silence : keep the secret, or DIE!

Then, why John Perkins is still alive?

There must be a hidden agenda!

Intelligence Theory

One of intelligence roles :SHIFTING ISSUES

Why John Perkins is so free to explain the economic hitmen?

Shifting the issues?

There are other big issues undercovered exist?

Part 4 :

CLOSING

CLOSING REMARKS• This book has lots of PROs and CONTRAs.• John Perkins is a controversy.• But this book alerts us in Indonesia.• Should be discussed at LEMHANAS.• But Perkins is right about LIFE ECONOMY.• In addition, we should read the book

“COLLAPSE” by Jared Diamond.

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