The interview continues, and Goodman asks, "How closely did you work with the World Bank?"
Very, very closely with the World Bank. The World Bank provides most of the money that's used by economic hit men, it and the I.M.F. But when 9/11 struck, I had a change of heart. I knew the story had to be told because what happened at 9/11 is a direct result of what the economic hit men are doing. And the only way that we're going to feel secure in this country again and that we're going to feel good about ourselves is if we use these systems we've put into place to create positive change around the world. I really believe we can do that. I believe the World Bank and other institutions can be turned around and do what they were originally intended to do, which is help reconstruct devastated parts of the world. Help – genuinely help poor people. There are twenty-four thousand people starving to death every day. We can change that.
I applaud Perkins's coming forward now, although his scruples didn't prevent 20 years of silence when disclosure might have been more timely. I urge everyone to read this horribly fascinating view of our recent history and trade policies masquerading as foreign policy.
I would like to draw a link between the unseemly alliance between Big Business and the highest echelons of our government and the need for meaningful reform on various fronts. While the 2006 elections were surely a repudiation of W's policies and administration, the loving embrace between corporations and our government continues to affect us indirectly every day. I'm referring to the corporate media and its inability or unwillingness to cover stories of crucial importance to its public. If you are confident that major outlets are giving sufficient attention to the issues of the day, go to Project Censored at www.projectcensored.org. Distorted election coverage was #3 on the top 25 censored stories of 2006. Not only do we need media reform, but campaign finance reform as well. Corporate influence is like a tapeworm in the heart of our democracy. The body might still be upright, but this hidden menace can kill while remaining out of sight.
This book gave me a lot to think about. One image that came to mind was the bull in the china shop. Indigenous peoples, delicate ecosystems, and the structure and social fabric of each country are all in harm's way because of America's raging greed and power. I recently saw the movie Blood Diamond, which depicts how diamonds have created civil war, destruction and death for the people of Africa. One of the characters in the movie says, ironically, "It's a good thing we don't have oil. Then, we'd really be in trouble." As he stands amidst his burning village, filled with violence and death, it is quite a powerful statement.
Is the West's hunger for consumer goods the chief cause for globablization? While I think it is definitely a factor, and recommend mindful shopping as a small-scale antidote, I think that it is the unquenchable corporate thirst for profits that really drives this train. (For more on this topic, see my last OpEd piece on this subject entitled "Crocs, Costco and the Mindful Shopper") http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_joan_bru_061230_crocs_2c_costco_and_th.htm. Perkins, at one point in his book, seems to place the blame squarely on American consumers. But I think that is self-serving on his part. The most insatiable shopper could never, in a lifetime of sprees and binges, "accomplish" what Perkins did during his tenure as an economic hit man. He admitted that his chief skill was that he was a good writer and adept in the art of persuasion. In another context, what was done to these countries could be construed as entrapment, both morally and legally.
The N.S.A. chose well. Perkins was the right man for the job. His father was a teacher at a prestigious prep school in rural New Hampshire, causing his son to be ever conscious of the social divide. When young John joined the student body, he never felt like an equal, and it rankled badly. The same was true when he went to college. His inferiority complex and resulting desire to succeed made him the perfect candidate for his ignoble profession. He was honored to be selected, to be respected, to have such responsibility and power.
And, it was so very lucrative. Long after Perkins' scruples were awakened, he did nothing. Even when he had broken away and decided to write a book about his former activities, more than 20 years elapsed before it was ultimately published. Perkins admits that part of the delay was purely financial. He was offered another job where he got paid excessively for essentially doing nothing, the only caveat being that he was forbidden to write anything that would reflect poorly on the companies with which he dealt. He was a willing, if guilt-ridden participant. So, when he tries to shift the blame, I understand the impulse but reject his argument. Yes, our buying patterns need to change. But this is about far more than that. The unspoken, unratified national priorities carried out in our name need to change.
Several times, Perkins alludes to sitting in front of a blank computer screen. This is a grownup version of the tabula rasa – the blank slate that we are at birth. We have, within reason, the ability to choose the path we will take, and the moral compass that will direct us. The same is true right now, at this very moment. The public can continue to be apathetic about the sad state our country is in. It's very comfortable to complain and whine from the sidelines, and there's lots to whine about. And, there are certainly many others doing exactly the same thing – namely nothing. Or, people can choose to rouse themselves from their stupor, choose an issue, and get busy working on it. There are plenty of good people out there doing the same. I happen to think that efforts for election integrity pay the largest dividends because the health of our elections mirrors the state of our democracy. Without fair elections, nothing else we want will be possible. It's as simple as that.
If you want something easy to do on your first tentative step away from the couch, send a letter to your member of Congress to amend the Holt Bill, HR 550, so that it can become suitable for passage. http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_nancy_to_061229_dear_american_patrio.htm Mark my words. Legislation will pass this session to try to deal with the election mess we're in. Momentum and public will say so. But, the success lies in the details. An unworkable bill will guarantee future compromised elections, which we can ill afford. Now, right now before Congress convenes, is the time to get a message out to your representatives that lip service is not enough. We want free, fair, transparent, secure, and accurate elections, and we want them now!
Send the letter to your members of Congress and then pass it along to everyone you know. If you have a large network, it still shouldn't take you more than 20 minutes, tops. If you have only a few friends, relatives, neighbors or co-workers, it won't take more than 10 minutes. You could do it during the commercials of one TV show. You'll feel good about it, and you'll save yourself from too many runs to the refrigerator. Now, that's what I call a win-win situation.
Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which exists for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. We aim to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Electronic (computerized) voting systems are simply antithetical to democratic principles.
CER set up a lending library to achieve the widespread distribution of the DVD Invisible Ballots: A temptation for electronic vote fraud. Within eighteen months, the project had distributed over 3200 copies across the country and beyond. CER now concentrates on group showings, OpEd pieces, articles, reviews, interviews, discussion sessions, networking, conferences, anything that promotes awareness of this critical problem. Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005.
I've believed for a long time that this was the book to give friends and relatives deceived by American-exceptionalism. The only problem is, the "America is perfect" ideology is so in-grained in this nation that true jingoists will insist Perkins is lying.
Interesting how he's stated that what eventually turned him around was becoming a father... having a young daughter.
I can only hope that this book might do for people what "The Ugly American" did for me during my very first year of college. How lucky I was to have a professor dedicated to exposing the truth who assigned that as our very first book. He probably saved me from a lifetime of ignorance. I know he helped define the activism that moves me today.
Thanks for this piece!! A fabulous job!!
by
Linda Milazzo (115 articles, 0 quicklinks, 18 diaries, 164 comments)
on Monday, January 1, 2007 at 9:18:47 PM
Wait till you hear the interview we'll have with Rep Ron Paul on 1/10 on this..
another key book is Creature from Jekyll Island ...the REAL powers that be!
Mary Ann Gould, Voice of the Voters, a one-hour radio program that centers on voting issues and democracy.
The program can be heard locally in the SE Pennsylvania and S New Jersey area via WNJC Radio 1360AM on Wednesdays or it can be heard live via the internet.
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 at 7:53:57 AM
two entirely different books. Stiglitz gives an historical view of some of the reasons the underdeveloped countries remain undeveloped, and Perkins wrote about the activities of the US "intelligence" community uses these institutions and others to further the desires of American Corporations. There's enough crap going on in the US Regime from day one to keep everyone reading for the rest of his or her life.
tedbohne
by
tedbohne (87 articles, 103 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 119 comments)
on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 at 8:56:14 AM
and show me some another society on Earth which never had anything like that(maybe in some another form) or does not have it now. Mr. Perkins wrote a great book but it is by no means some kind of a revelation. I am not saying there is no hope. But what I am saying is that all people who surrounded Mr. Perkins were not immune to the idea of individual success and associated power and that so far there is no alternative, unfortunately to that perspective when it comes to the choice of, say, young man in his life. I have recently seen a Twilight Zone episode in which a simple man rejected such perspective because then he would not be able to clutter his desk, play football with kids and drive a 1927 automobile. He had 'his own twilight zone' and in that zone the guardian angel still had to take care of him from time to time. But we do not have angels. We have economic hitmans. To change that we need not transformations but a different criteria system for success and that has to come from childhood. Mr. Perkins has a daughter, right? Will he bring her up differently or still adopt a very famous John O'Hara's statement from his book,'Yes, of course, you want your children to be decent human beings and also successful but if both is imposssible, success surely is preferable.'
How about them apples?
by
Mark Sashine (54 articles, 19 quicklinks, 250 diaries, 3597 comments)
on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 at 9:12:08 AM
It is a valuable book, but his last chapter regarding what to do next is horiffic.
He really doesn't undersatnd how the system works, or what is wrong with it. He is simply a witness/participant, which has some value, but not in terms of analysis. By his own admission, he is a guy who made up numbers as his professional career.
And making up numbers is exactly what is wrong with the system, in ways great and small 2+2=5. Liberal and conservatives alike invest in the stock market hoping to realized gains by manipulating the currency. But as Perkins shows so clearly, one mans debt is another mans profit. Debt is used as leverage to control people, and everybody is doing it. Even young children are investing in the stock market so they can pay for their college education, where they will be fed more lies regarding the structure of the economy.
As Pogo said: We have met the enemy, and he is us.
The unions and liberals and even the grandfather of the Left (Chomsky) all make their money on the military-industrial complex. Everybody is addicted to it in this country, and Perkins simply spread that addiction to other countries.
What we need is a divestiture movement from American corporations for all investments. Lending money is okay, but expecting more than the principle back just creates inflation. Also, we need to encourage people/corporations to break-even, not make huge profits. Profits and Losses are proportional to one another. One mans profit is another mans overhead. Money should not be used as a commodity or hoarded.
The so-called non-profit universities are the single biggest problem facing mankind. They cast a long economic shadow and re-teach the lies of this system from one generation to the next.
Perkins book is a small piece of evidence of what is wrong, and it really shows how culturally isolated Americans are from the rest of the world and the power structure of their own government. Pogo knew Perkins long before Perkins knew himself.
www.behappyandfree.com
by
Steve Consilvio (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 108 comments)
on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 at 10:19:57 AM
Hello Joan, I much appreciated your article on Perkin's book. And I applaud the
work you are so deeply and passionately involved in. My only concern about
getting involved in election reform is that we are putting the cart before the
horse. If we don't clean out the people who have been running for office and
making sure that their ties to the moneyed classes are not looked at carefully,
we are only making it possible for the same sort of people to be elected. I
would love to hear your thoughts on this.
thanks,
DE
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 at 4:23:40 PM
books to go along with "Confessions" for those interested
Joan,
I admire your ability to do books on CD. I got Jimmy Carter's latest book
on CD and find it harder to keep track compared to actual reading, even though
I have an hour of commuting each way to/from work.
Confessions is one book I went through pretty easily. I found it a great
complimentary book to "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" by Thom Hartmann.
Right now I'm in the midst of reading "Infinity's Rainbow - The Politics of
Energy, Climate and Globalization" by Michael Byron and it seems to complete
this trilogy of books.
Even with the Democratic successes of 2006, I'm already getting a strong
sense that election integrity will be a back burner issue as Dems are content
just to have some return to power -- the machines must be OK! But we in the
election integrity community know better. It seems to me that corporatists
have put these machines in place and corporatism trumps everything, including
politics and democracy itself.
I don't know if you have followed the antics in Riverside County, CA, but
county supervisors have pretty much locked citizens out of the process. After
a disasterous November election that saw voters turned away from the polls
due to long lines compounded by voting machines running out of paper, they
formed a 5-member panel of former county insiders to look into election issues.
The makeup of this panel was announced during opening comments, so the public
had no say in the matter at all. The suggestion of the panel was made to a
newspaper, so this county has no interest or intention of including citizens
in their government.
I'm tired of banging my head against the wall and I seek in 2007 to look at
ways I can take steps to get the corporate monkey off my back. I will look
into alternative energy sources for our home and more efficient use of
electricity, natural gas and water.
Thanks for all you do,
PJ, Riverside County, CA
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 at 4:30:56 PM
Don't know where you find the time to do all the writing you do!!!
This is an awesome book. We saw Perkins speak here. He said, "If they ever
report I committed suicide by shooting myself several times in the head, don't
believe it."
NT, NH
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 at 4:33:32 PM
I did not like the style of the "Confessions" book...
joan, thanks for keeping me on your list. Mary Kiraly told me about your
work.
I must say, however, I did not like the style of the "Confessions" book,
because the approach seemed like a novel, and yet i felt that important
information was being conveyed. I am easily confused, so didn't finish the
book.
let me know what else you're reading, as we have a book club "the democratic
connection" that meets regularly and reads political books.
SD
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 at 7:44:37 PM
Dear Joan,
I have not only read the book by John Perkins, I have purchased over a
dozen copies and given them away as presents to people I feel will be
moved by the insights and revelations expressed. Thanks for writing.
I urge others to do the same....Buy the book and give it away. Tell the
people you give it to to pass it on to others after they've read it.
Best regards,
Cliff Thaell
Leon County Commissioner at Large,
Leon County, Florida
by
Joan Brunwasser (164 articles, 3538 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 634 comments)
on Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 8:08:31 PM
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