Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Mr. Perkins talked about his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. The book discussed some of the assignments he was given while working as what he terms an “economic hit man.” From 1971 to 1981 John Perkins worked as a chief economist for Chas. T. Main, a Massachusetts-based international strategic consulting firm. During this time Mr. Perkins said his job was to trick developing countries into taking enormous loans from the World Bank in order to construct or repair their domestic infrastructure. These loans were given with the understanding that these countries would then use those loans to pay U.S. corporations to complete these constructing and engineering projects. The author wrote that when these developing countries were eventually unable to pay off these sizable debts, the United States, World Bank, or IMF would step in and control the country’s security arrangements and budgetary structure. Following his presentation, Mr. Perkins close