The Opinionated Bastard

sounds like an interesting book, and i have seen this guy interviewed about it. None of his claims you mentioned are new however, there are thousands of theorists who describe the world in the same way.

for the imperial question we have to ask, must financial capital export itself to underdeveloped regions to fend off stagnation? And also, can financial capital be utilized as a tool for power politics in controlling the commerce of foregin countries. Foreign affairs does not address such questions because why would power reflect on its own unethical necessities?

this, again is not liberal loonatic hippie fantasy but the basis of global order and philosophical undertsandings of what constitutes western capitalist power. oppressing and killing people for wealth is as old as civilization and this rule has not changed. it is implicitly condoned in journals like foreign affairs under the concepts of “national interest” and “power”.

ernie

For this guy to be correct, you have to assume that all third world leaders are stupid, and didn’t understand what they were being offered, which I find incredibly patronizing.

Basically, this guy was a salesman, and salesmen always pump themselves up. Calling him self an “economic hit man” is just drama. What he doesn’t realize is that in many cases, his company was hired by the country getting the loan to secure the loan, like hiring a favorable home appraiser.

So yeah, the World Bank is a tool for Western control of the Third World. This is not news. Most of the rest of the stuff in the book is just too-much-peyote.

Nice piece, Bastard. The goats in Saudi Arabia was unbelieveble but the panamanian president dialogue reeks like disingenuous crap. Still, that the WB is but a wolf in sheep’s clothing tool for western prosperity seems as incontravertible as Martha Stewart caring about my living room.

I’m wondering if you saw the documentary, Life and Debt, about the WB loans to Jamaica, and if not, would you take a looks some day and let us know your thoughts.

3rd world leadrs do not have to be stupid but they do have to be corrupt pragmatists..the US (the core in general) comes by and says “we have an offer you cant refuse” well, the 3rd wold leader either accepts it and become rich like marcos, mombutu, suharto, pinochet, or becomes like noreiga and hussein, either directly invaded or embargoed.

ernie

1. Soviets did the same thing during the Cold War.
2. We’ve cut way back on that sort of thing since the end of the Cold War.

I think the book was generally a very difficult read. That being said, the point here is that the West uses its money to have large capital projects built that sometimes are not really necessary. Every government leader from Cities to States, to Countries knows that you have to invest in infrastructure, but in moderation. Even big investments only amortize to 25% of the cash flow of a city. Placing a 50% debt burden on these countries is riduculous. On the flip side, it is the rason we don’t have influence over Iran and North Korea. We haven’t loaned them enough money. I actually heard form a State Department colleague that when the King of Myranmar dismissed the legislature, the State Department was pissed that they had no leverage over the country except for just having a discussion. Funny how diplomany sometimes comes down to actually investing in a relationship.

Well, I agree with everything you said there Jigar, except I found it an easy read.

I just think the author had delusions of grandeur…calling himself an Economic Hit Man is the kind of thing salesmen do to pump themselves up.

So basically, this guy was a glorified salesman during the Cold War. Why is this news? And everything in the last quarter of the book was just speculation.

Interesting that you’re in the State Department though. Though doesn’t a lot of the debt burden come from unregulated loans, not the world bank? That’s what I seem to remember.

Yeah, never did work in the State Department, just lived in DC. The biggest problem in most of these places, as John says, is that part of the money lands in the pockets of the leaders as well as their families. The Swiss bank accounts love it.

I found the book wrong on a couple of fronts. The first has been written already but, as an economist by education, John Perkins is wrong about his economic theory in most cases. Secondly he is wrong about the religious aspect of his book as well. He claimed Islam to be a religion of protection for the lower socioeconomic people and countries. History would disagree with this in almost every documented case. Third and finalally, No one has conversations like he supposedly had. In the chapters on Panama, a man in a park he has never known confides in him, after four generations of his family living in Panama, he does not know the language of Panama and does not care to know anything about the country. His point was made earlier by the cab drier that Americans do not care about other countries and do not even speak the other countries languages. Garbage, all people are that way. Ask any of the hispanic workers who come to the US do not know our language and take our money back to their own. They are not bad people, but just people making it. Strike that last sentece, I believe I just hit on a book that John Perkins can write with me on the conspiracy of the hispanic worker to make money and try to be successful in our country. CONSPIRACY. Surely some of them work for KBR or know someone from Bechtel.

I found CEHM to be a series of manufactured conversations and events that do not pass the smell test.