John Perkins

John Perkins (born January 28, 1945) is an American author. His best known book is Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, in which Perkins describes playing a role in a process of economic colonization of Third World countries on behalf of what he portrays as a cabal of corporations, banks, international financial institutions, and the United States government. Perkins' claims were strongly contested by some involved parties as well as those familiar with the topics,

Perkins has also written about mystical aspects of indigenous cultures, including shamanism.

Life and career

Perkins graduated from the Tilton School in 1963. He subsequently attended Middlebury College for two years before dropping out. He later earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Boston University in 1968. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador from 1968 to 1970. He spent the 1970s working for the Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main. He said he was screened for the job by the National Security Agency (NSA). Perkins states that he was seduced and trained as an "economic hitman" by a businesswoman named Claudine Martin, who used his NSA personality profile to manipulate and control him.

Assessments of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man Confessions of an Economic Hit Man provoked strong reviews, with many critics saying Perkins made false or unverified claims in the book.

Sebastian Mallaby, economics columnist of the Washington Post, described Perkins as "a conspiracy theorist, a vainglorious peddler of nonsense, and yet his book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, is a runaway bestseller". Mallaby, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, said Perkins' conception of international finance is "largely a dream" and his "basic contentions are flat wrong".

Articles in the New York Times and Boston magazine said there was a lack of documentary or testimonial evidence to corroborate the claim that the NSA was involved in Perkins' hiring by Chas T. Main. After an investigation, the New York Times concluded that "the arc of Mr. Perkins's career seems to be described accurately", although they did not find evidence to support "some of his fancier claims," including those involving the NSA. agreed with Perkins that foreign debt had harmful effects and also represented a poor economic strategy for developing nations: Basically his story is true.… What John's book says is, there was a conspiracy to put all these countries on the hook, and that happened. Whether or not it was some sinister plot or not is up to interpretation, but many of these countries are still over the barrel and have never been able to repay the loans. However, Greve denied many other aspects of Perkins' book, such as the NSA having any links to Main, or that Perkins was seduced by Claudine Martin. Instead, Greve believes Perkins has convinced himself the false parts of his story are accurate.