anyone else read this book?
I just finished reading it, you guys should pick it up if u have a chance. It is an easy fast and interesting read, revealing a side of the US gov and corporations that is extremely controversial.
SPOILER STARTS HERE:
Basically the author tells the story of his past life as a economic hit man (EHM), he worked as a economist forecaster, forecasting things such as electricity demand, GNP increase, etc in developing countries (Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, etc). These developing countries got loans from the world bank or the IMF, to build infrastructure such as power plants, roads, water & electricity system, etc based on the forecast that the author provides. However the forecasts were always over the top, way overestimating the real demand of such needs, so the country is heavily saddled with debt that they could never repay. So in a sense the country is always "indebted" to the US empire. Moreover the contract to build the infrastructure is rewarded to US companies (Bechtel, Halliburton, etc). So the money never really leaves the US.
When the dev. country can no longer repay the debt, the US gov asks payment in other terms such as favorable treatment in oil shipments, oil companies getting rights to extract oil from the country, etc.
Sometimes a dev country refuses to get "help" from the US, when that is the case the jackals come in and assassinate the country's leader. The past leader of Colombia, Torrijos was argued to be killed by the jackals in a private plane crash. If the jackals fail, then the US army will come. A good example is the US invasion of Panama in 1989. The Panama (Canal) treaty was ending and the Panama leader wanted to seize control of the canal and giving the Japanese contract to build a new canal. The US had to use military action.
The author also provides solid reasoning on why the US invaded Iraq. Saddam was given the option similar akin to the Saud family in Saudi Arabia (improved facilities in exchange for oil), but he declined so the US had to invade.
Also Venezuela holds a vast amount of oil, but Hugo Chavez is saved from invasion pretty much by Saddam, since the US chose to invade Iraq instead.
SPOILER ENDS HERE
What do you guys think of the book? Since the US is the only current world power out there do we act similar to the old empires such as the British empire or even the Roman empire?
I just finished reading it, you guys should pick it up if u have a chance. It is an easy fast and interesting read, revealing a side of the US gov and corporations that is extremely controversial.
SPOILER STARTS HERE:
Basically the author tells the story of his past life as a economic hit man (EHM), he worked as a economist forecaster, forecasting things such as electricity demand, GNP increase, etc in developing countries (Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, etc). These developing countries got loans from the world bank or the IMF, to build infrastructure such as power plants, roads, water & electricity system, etc based on the forecast that the author provides. However the forecasts were always over the top, way overestimating the real demand of such needs, so the country is heavily saddled with debt that they could never repay. So in a sense the country is always "indebted" to the US empire. Moreover the contract to build the infrastructure is rewarded to US companies (Bechtel, Halliburton, etc). So the money never really leaves the US.
When the dev. country can no longer repay the debt, the US gov asks payment in other terms such as favorable treatment in oil shipments, oil companies getting rights to extract oil from the country, etc.
Sometimes a dev country refuses to get "help" from the US, when that is the case the jackals come in and assassinate the country's leader. The past leader of Colombia, Torrijos was argued to be killed by the jackals in a private plane crash. If the jackals fail, then the US army will come. A good example is the US invasion of Panama in 1989. The Panama (Canal) treaty was ending and the Panama leader wanted to seize control of the canal and giving the Japanese contract to build a new canal. The US had to use military action.
The author also provides solid reasoning on why the US invaded Iraq. Saddam was given the option similar akin to the Saud family in Saudi Arabia (improved facilities in exchange for oil), but he declined so the US had to invade.
Also Venezuela holds a vast amount of oil, but Hugo Chavez is saved from invasion pretty much by Saddam, since the US chose to invade Iraq instead.
SPOILER ENDS HERE
What do you guys think of the book? Since the US is the only current world power out there do we act similar to the old empires such as the British empire or even the Roman empire?
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