Appearance
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
As insubstantial as cotton candy or the stuff dreams are made of. This is an author in need of a therapist, not a publisher. If you believe anything in this book, you will believe that giant Masonic lizards rule the earth through their agent, Queen Elizabeth.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
As soon as I started reading this I began to have doubts. While the basic premise about the costs of globalization rings true, the narrative is so implausible that I immediately began searching for factual errors that might betray this as a counterfeit.The first of these I may have found is his description of a puppet show in Java. He does not specify whether this is wayang kulit--the traditional leather shadow puppet--or wayang golek, the less common marionette-like 3d puppet, but from his statement that the dalang had over 100 puppets I assume he is describing the flat wayang kult puppets, since 100 wayang golek puppets would take up a huge amount of space.From my brief exposure to wayang kulit, I know the dalang (the puppeteer)can make the puppets appear to do amazing things: fight, dance, fly, engage in complex battle scenes, etc. But his description of the puppets' actions seem impossible to achieve with flat shadow puppets: Nixon lifting Vietnam off of a hook, putting it in his mouth and then throwing it in a bucket, for example.More troubling, he describes the dalang as playing all the music on a "gamalong, an instrument that conjures images of temple bells." As far as I have been able to determine, the only common alternate spelling of "gamelan" is "gamalang" with an "a", and it is very infrequently used. Furthermore, while a gamelan IS often described as a single instrument by the Javanese and Balinese, it is what westerners would more likely describe as an orchestra, with individual instruments played by multiple musicians. The dalang is typically the conductor of the gamelan--he signals the players using a wooden peg held between his toes as I recall--but I don't believe he typically plays any instrument. In any event, he could NOT play an entire gamelan. (Perhaps this is a typo for gambang, one of the instruments in a gamelan, which conceivably could be played by a dalang, though I doubt he could play and perform simultaneously.)And while it is certainly true that dalangs are ascribed extensive magical powers, I am troubled by the author's statement that "I later learned that the dalang is a shaman who does his work in a trance"; while this may be a folk belief, my own admittedly limited experience of dalangs is that they are extremely conscious and focused performing artists and teachers, and are regarded as such by most sophisticated observers.In sum, this whole scene sounds wrong to me, as though the author not only had not seen an Indonesian puppet performance but perhaps had not spent very much time in Indonesia. I would like to believe otherwise, so I am asking if anyone has ever witnessed a wayang performance that matches in any respect the description in the book.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
This book lacks meat. I read "The Secret Money Market" by Inco Walter and it gives a much better account of what Perkins is trying to describe. The book is 300+ pages but only about 50 should be of any use to anyone. What perplexes me about this book is that Perkins doesn't seem to know that 9/11 was an obvious inside job. How could he be an EHM (Economic Hit Man) and not know this? Or if he did know it, why didn't he describe it as another move by the jackals or the assassins or other EHM to position us (the USA citizens) to support Israels designs on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and the rest of the middle east?Also, he rants over and over again about how the oil companies have destroyed the rain forest. How? Drilling an oil well takes a relatively small acreage. In the Gulf of Mexico and other offshore sites it takes virtually no acreage at all. Finally, he seems to have the same confusion as most environmentalists and do-gooders about wealth and poverty. He seems to see it as a zero sum game. It's not. As a nation makes more efficient use of its human and natural resources, all citizens have an opportunity for a more satisfying life. The fact they don't all get it is not a function of wealth (as Perkins himself shows by being wealthy but feeling guilty).
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
I admit this is a touching story of how the author was a very bad man, but one day woke up and became a compassionate liberal. The author makes a lot of claims, but there are no facts. How can we trust someone that is so motivated? Some of the things the author says are hard to believe, and probably aren't true. I would give the author more credit if he had facts, but it this is the economic version of a Kitty Kelly book.This book is about the evil corporate empires that never do anything good for the poor, like provide jobs and cheap prices for quality products, and the corrupt government that bribes people for oil and other things in their interest. It is basically a NY Times editorial as a whole book.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
If you're a marxist, or a paranoid schizophrenic, you'll love this book as it will 'confirm' your deeply-held conspiracies about the evils of capitalism. If you're an adult with any life or business experience you'll see this book for what it is. Mainly the self-promotion of a mentally unbalanced individual railing against globalism, capitalism, competition, and the usual bugbears of the leftist establishment. He complains of the 'system' at the same time bragging on his alledged exploits. While short on facts or ANY specific details the book is still sometimes interesting. A good read while needing to waste time (like on a airplane or train) since the writing is simple and there are no complex ideas or words to get in the way of a fantastical story of one man's midlife crisis. However, despite his tortured hand-wringing over the morality of profits and competition it is unclear what his beliefs in fact are! During parts of the book he complains about nationalism, profit, and his jobs. However he also frequently praises nationalism- especially when its the anti-American kind- and he obviously, according to his claims, profited from his participation in this 'evil' system.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
This author simply doesn't understand major league international finance. I won't argue that the World Bank and the IMF need overhauls, however, Perkins says "our underlying objective is to burden the (foreign) country with debts it couldn't repay". and the intent of electrical projects all over the world is to benefit a few of the wealthy and "widen the gap between the rich and the poor". HUH? This guy is nuts. I suppose he also thinks the objective of the TVA was to widen the gap between the rich and the poor. I can assure Perkins that the intent of private sector lenders is to get their money back with interest and the intent of the rating agencies is to analyse and critic objectively the work of feasibility studies. Maybe he just worked for a bad apple. He admitted that he was a bad apple. Now he is trying to capitalize on it. A shame. Don't bother reading the book.