Capitalism as parasitism...

I just finished "Confessions of an economic Hitman" by John Perkins, & Im indebted to Mufaazaa for gifting me the amazing book! While I cannot make up my mind whether it is fact or fiction, the book does cover the most widely debated topic today: American imperialism.

The author claims to be an Economic Hitman (EHM) for a private company(that was sold off to another company subsequently). His sole aim is to create lucrative economic projections about third world countries, justify world bank / IMF investments into them, and then gain contracts worth billions of dollars for his own company. The larger aim is to make the country so indebted in the long run that it defaults its payments & accedes to US power by allowing military bases on its soil, opening its natural resources & workforce to US companies & voting as per US instructions in the UN. Thus US gains a slave without spending a dollar, since all the money is funnelled back to the States by its companies.

The author denies this being a conspiracy; rather its just a set of minds that methodically go about getting richer by sucking dry the resources of other countries. Perkins claims to have worked in Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Indonesia, etc. He also puts forward another way of supremacy for countries that are cash rich: the middle eastern nation-states. Here the US asks the countries to buy US bonds and use the interest to finance infrastructure development in their countries.

The greatest ease for US is that the dollar is a universal currency & it isnt backed by a gold standard. Hence, it can print any amount as long as the world is confident of the American economy. The book is written just before the depression set in & has important lessons to teach.

Perkins also talks about American dollars funnelled to terrorist organizations & CIA assassinations of top global leaders, not for political motives, but purely for greed. He also points out that most of American bureaucrats & politicians are, in fact, on the payroll of large American Corporations. To sum it all he has coined the word: "Corporatocracy". It think its says a lot.

I read Chomsky some time earlier, & coudlnt convince myself about what he wrote. He seemed leftist to me. Perkins, however, is a capitalist who has grown to despise the system which gains its riches by killing & starving others.

For the first time in my life, even if momentarily (until i do further research), I am glad that India has not bowed to American pressure in that last 50 years & opened up its economy only in the 90s, a time when American power is either declining or concentrated in numerous wars elsewhere. 

Perkins also points out that America is the only country (other than Iraq) to have invaded other countries in name of justice / democracy (Vietnam, Korea, Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan) while the sole aim was economic greed. It is, the modern East India trading company. Instead of being one company, its an informal consortium of the largest corporations in the US.

I will write more posts on this topic as i reflect & research more, I hope to start a dialogue with the readers... & we thought our politicians are corrupt!!!!