The Third World enslaved by the U.S. government, multinational corporations and the World Bank -- Ascending Light

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Date Posted: 01:10:38 12/21/04 Tue
Author: Weird_Enigma
Author Host/IP: 172.166.18.157
Subject: The Third World enslaved by the U.S. government, multinational corporations and the World Bank

How did Third World countries accumulate all that debt?

PAT MACENULTY
Special to the Observer

CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN

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By John Perkins. Berrett-Keohler Publishers. 264 pages. $24.95.

"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" details how our government, in collusion with multinational corporations and the World Bank, has manipulated Third World countries into crippling levels of debt for the sake of corporate profits and U.S. interests.

From 1971 to 1980, John Perkins was a self-described "economic hit man," or EHM. He graduated from Boston University with a degree in marketing and went into the Peace Corps. But he later became the chief economist for a large corporation with international interests. Perkins' assignment was "to encourage world leaders to become part of a vast network that promotes U.S. commercial interests" so that those leaders would "become ensnared in a web of debt that ensures their loyalty."

Although economics can be a pretty complex subject, anyone who has gotten into credit card debt knows exactly how the game works: the banks bombard you with credit applications, promising low rates and high limits. You get a few cards, overspend a little and then pretty soon you find yourself paying the monthly minimum covering only the interest.

The way that Perkins and his ilk convinced these countries to get into debt was by grossly overestimating the economic benefits of certain modernization projects, such as dams, roads, power plants and other projects--all of which would be built by American corporations and paid for by World Bank loans. In other words, the money makes a big loop from American banks to a few elite families in foreign countries who skim off their share and then give the rest to American corporations who put it back into American banks.

If these projects benefited the people of the country and if they actually did create the booming economy that was forecast, it wouldn't be a bad system. But instead the peasants often find their farm land destroyed, their waters polluted and their livelihoods ripped away. And in most cases the booming economy never happens.

Perkins asserts the goal of the men who run these corporations and the politicians who support them is this: "an America that controlled the world and all its resources, a world that answered to the commands of that America, a U.S. military that would enforce the rules as they were written by America, and an international trade and banking system that supported America as CEO of the global empire."

Perkins' claims may seem unthinkable to most Americans. But the evidence, looking at the world economy, is damning. As Perkins points out, the income ratio of the top one-fifth of the world's population to the bottom one-fifth was 74 to 1 in 1995.

The author discusses how the strategies of the "corporatocracy" (the combined influence of government and multinational corporations) has affected Saudi Arabia, Panama, Ecuador, Iran and Iraq, and he shows how our policies created enemies throughout the world. He doesn't excuse the behaviors of the brutal dictatorships in these places, but he does point out how our government supports those dictators willing to work with us and simply replaces those who aren't.

Today, the American dollar is the standard currency of the world. However, "if another currency should come along to replace the dollar, and if some of the United States' creditors should decide to call in their debts ... the United States would suddenly find itself in a precarious situation."

Perkins says we could easily turn this system around by using the power and wealth at our disposal to help Third World countries rather than manipulate them. But before that happens the citizens of this country need to be willing to examine the actions of our political and corporate leaders and demand that they stop the destruction that is making the world an increasingly dangerous place to live.

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