John Perkins- Economic Hit Men come to the US, making it a third world Banana Republic

Broadcast 6/27/2016 at 11:53 PM EDT (142 Listens, 148 Downloads, 2515 Itunes)
The Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show Podcast

Check out More Podcasts

(Image by John Perkins)   Details   DMCA

John Perkins is a founder and board member of Dream Change & The Pachamama Alliance, non-profit organizations devoted to establishing a world future generations will want to inherit & he is the author of the NY Times bestseller, Confessions Of An Economic Hitman. He has a new book out,

New Confessions of an Economic Hit man

Very Rough Interview Notes

Rob: Welcome back to the show John.

Rob: Let's start off with some basics. Tell us a story that represents the message of New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Things have changed, gotten much worse-- spread from developing countries where I worked, to the US and Europe.

People are waking up. There's a real consciousness going on. People are waking up that the system is a failed system.

Rob: What do you want to accomplish in this interview, besides making people more aware of and motivated to buy your book?

expose the system and what people can do to break through the bottlenecks. We're in a consciousness revolution

Rob: What is happening to the consciousness.

People are waking up to the idea that we are on a space station with no shuttle to get off.

Less than 5% of us live in the United states and we consume nearly 30% of the world's resources.

We've really created a death

fear, debt, militarization and the destruction of there resources that would support it.

We need to create a life economy...

Rob: What are the basics people need to know and understand about economic hit men and jackals?

They created this economy.

People think the presidential elections will change everything. People have learned this isn't true.

Corporations are calling the shots around the world. But the good news is they are made up of people. We need to use that power to turn things around

Rob: what about psychopaths and sociopaths running corporations

What drives them? Success. It isn't profit. Profits are defined as symbols of success.

Came into being into 1976. when Milton Friedman won a Nobel Prize saying all that mattered was to maximize profit.

Nobody was talking about climate change or peak oil in 1976.

Now we don't have a shortage of capital, but nature is"

Corporations are driven by maximizing profits.

Sociopaths want success, to dominate. right now we define that as profitability.

If we were to redefine success as being the best at making a better world.

Rob: what is an economic hit man and a jackal

Identify countries that companies covet, with huge resources like oil. Lend them a lot of money, that goes to corporations to develop them, but in ways that do not help the majority of the people.

Then loans can't be re-paid, so we go back and say, since you can't pay your debt, sell your resources or privatize, your water, sewage systems, schools, banks,.

In cases where we failed, jackals

Chile, Guatemala, Iran, Viet Nam,

Ecuador, of Panama

Rob: You say that since Confessions of an Economic Hit Man was published in 2004, the EHM, Economic Hit Man system has become much more treacherous, that there are more of them, that they are now in the US, and that WE are complicit and enable them. Tell us more about how things have changed, have worsened since 2004

after 911 things became more draconian. The same systems used in developing countries were used here in the US and in Europe.

POliticians really work for corporations even though they may have the title US senator or congressman. They support the corporations in so many ways.

Location will pit state against state to lure corporations to come, offering no taxes.

Lawmakers gave Boeing a tax break of $8 billion. That costs us that or more. They are not paying taxes to support those systems.

Encouraging people to take huge loans for education, credit card debt,

This goes on and on and on, the way we are shackled with debt.

The jackals are drones, and phone monitoring.

Rob: explain the tie between jackals and drones and phone tapping.

Emails have been broken into, Maybe they were talking with a woman other than their wife, buying drugs, and they may be blackmailed. It gives them tremendous control

American Oddysey and House of Cards of TV shows that get into it.

We all know that

Rob: You write, "The truth is that revolutions have always occurred when people alter their perceived reality." What do you mean?

There are two primary types of reality-- the microphone and the words we are using. human being are the lifeforms that are influenced by perceived reality. Our culture is perceived reality.

The good news is that we can change it. The perceived reality of corporations is that that have to maximize profits. There's no law.

In 1773 there was a perceived reality that the British were invincible. Washington saw the British army killed by Indians. Suddenly overnights, Tom Paine and Thomas Jefferson started writing pamphlets that the British could be beatable.

We're at that time again. That the economic system is not the best, is not working very well. Michael Moore's new movie gets into it. We understand that are

Rob: Can you address the Panama Papers and how that fits into the picture?

It's one more example of how badly the system is abused. We've also seen Snowden's and WIkileak's revelations, that this system stinks. Poeple are using the system and quite literally getting away with highway robbery.

The laws around the banking system that allow it to happen favor the wealthy.

The Panama Papers are part of what's waking us to the reality that the system doesn't work.

We're on a space station with no shuttle.

Rob: What are the worst of the companies and organizations behind Economic Hit Men and Jackals?

Wall street big banks, financial, oil, chemical companies, big construction companies like Bechtel are very powerful behind the scenes, like the Koch brothers. There are 62 individuals who have as much wealth as half the population.

Rob: The book is riveting

Rob: What can people do.

recognize that corporations control the world. We ultimately control the big corporations. We buy from them work for them. There are a lot of good people who don't know what to do.

I speak at corporate conference to executives who don't know want to do but care about their grandchildren. Please tell people to write letters that tell us that they won't buy from us until we pay people decently or stop polluting.

Every individual needs to find their passion-- but also use that passion for making a better world and talking about it to your clients.

People get burnt out. follow your passion.

Five of the biggest food companies said they're going to label GMOS because a tiny state forced them to do it. We have the power. The one thing any person can do is to launch a campaign-- against Monsanto, against the big banks, but it's not against them, it's for them.

In this election year, recognize that the president will not have much power.

Make a commitment that whatever issue you like most about your candidate, that you will push after the president gets into office.

3-join movements

Pachamama Alliance all about waking people up that people need to take responsibility to make a better world.

Rob: Tells about the Pachamama alliance and what you've learned from aboriginal peoples

Pachamama is from the andes, means mother earth. I started it with Bill and Lynne Twist to protect the rain forest from the oil companies. But realized you can change the Amazon without changing the system view".

We need to get to the root of the problem.

Pachamama.org awaken the dreamer is a four program you can view online.

We can have a lot of fun doing this. This is the biggest revolution in history and it is not a violent revolution. It's a fun

Rob: what have you learned from dealing with aboriginal and indigenous people

From 19 68, studying with shamans, this whole idea of perceived reality-- The title of one of my books is

Change our perceptions-- to realize that that can happen very easily and quickly,

The perception of having the responsibility to maximize profits very quickly changed the perception of what business must do. We can turn that around that corporations have to server the public interest. We need investors to invest in a life economy-- driven by a goal of serving the public, not just a few wealthy investors.

Rob: You talk about ideas that people accept as gospel that enable the predations of EHMs and Jackals. Please discuss them.

We have tended to send a message to corporations-- I want good tennis shoes for a fairly reasonable price and if that means using cheap, slave labor in another country that's okay.

That we have the right to have inexpensive things and we'll look the other way if we get them at the cost of someone else or the environment.

We need to understand that it all matters. This perception that if we're not dirtying our backyard it's okay"

Rob: what's the connection between EHMs and trade deals like NAFTA, CAFTA and TPP

they're driven by economic hit men are behind the horrendous trade deals that are created at the expense o f everyone else.

US govt subsidizes big agribusiness for producing corn, cotton and many other things.

Because of NAFTA Cafta.

What we have in south america is huge fields owned by US businesses because all the local farmers were put out of business. If TPP gets passed it will have on a much bigger level.

Rob: Talk to me a bit about Hillary Clinton

JohnPerkins.org

Economic_Hitman on Facebook.

People like the Clintons are going to

If Sanders is elected he will be surrounded by corporate.

This presidential election is a farce. The corporations control things. You and I and your listeners control the corporations.

Rob: Tell us about Honduras's president Zelaya, and any Hillary Clinton connection

Clinton as Secretary of state and Honduras

Zelaya wanted to raise minimum wage, have land reform, he won, he immediately increased the minimum wage by 60%

Dole and Chiquita and sporting goods

Hillary clinton was involved.

In the end Zelaya was overthrown and replaced by Lobos who was a terrible brutal dictator.

Rob: anything you want to wrap up with.

This is a fun time. the biggest revolution in history. We are winning it. Let's move forward with great speed and joy.

johnperkins1@me.com

Size: 27,710,032 -- 0 hrs, 57 min, 43 sec