tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511873417078060738.post6097508606633377987..comments2023-07-29T11:21:42.125-04:00Comments on Brooklyn Book Talk: Other People's OligarchsWebAppshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15408390036751112286noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511873417078060738.post-90475276072590622282010-06-24T14:15:16.028-04:002010-06-24T14:15:16.028-04:00In an interconnected financial economy, how true i...In an interconnected financial economy, how true is the perspective offered by "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" (EHMs) by John Perkins? Could international politics and international economics be that Machiavellian? Perkins being himself an ex-EHM says that they are EHMs are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. According to Perkins, EHMs utilize international financial organizations to create conditions that make Third World nations subservient to the corporate elite running their biggest corporations, their government, and their banks. EHMs provide favors. These take the form of loans to develop infrastructure—electric generating plants, highways, ports, airports, or industrial parks. Once these countries are saddled with huge debts, the American government and international aid agencies are able to demand their “pound of flesh” in favors, including access to natural resources, military cooperation, and political support. A condition of such intrnational loans is that engineering and construction companies from the EHMs own country must build all these projects.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511873417078060738.post-13792728010715005372010-06-15T13:03:16.937-04:002010-06-15T13:03:16.937-04:00Larry, they address Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in ...Larry, they address Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in subsequent chapters. We'll get there soon!Chris Maisanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06065239787142624106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511873417078060738.post-9637820623555449472010-06-14T20:09:53.019-04:002010-06-14T20:09:53.019-04:00I'd be interested in how the book depicts the ...I'd be interested in how the book depicts the interaction between the Federal Reserve and the housing agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the book. While the financial institutions pushed their agenda on the government and the public, the government was at least unintentionally complicit in inflating the housing bubble by keeping interest rates low. It clearly should have restrained the housing agencies. In some ways, the government might have been happy to encourage house purchases after the tech bubble burst. I think it's difficult for any system of checks and balances to completely avoid this situations, but you need someone with authority or credibility to say enough is enough. That didn't happen in 2008 - we just watched as the lemmings went over the cliff, and we were the lemmings.Larry M.noreply@blogger.com