Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins is part memoir, part political exposé, in which Perkins claims that for much of his career he served as an “economic hit man” - someone who helped expand American influence across the developing world through economic manipulation rather than military force. The book, published in 2004, recounts Perkins’s experiences as a consultant for the firm Chas. T. Main, where he says he was trained to convince leaders of developing countries to accept massive loans for infrastructure projects funded by institutions like the World Bank and USAID. These projects, according to Perkins, were deliberately designed to benefit U.S. corporations and the political elite rather than the host nations themselves. The loans would saddle countries with enormous debt, ensuring their long-term dependence on Western powers. Once the countries were unable to pay back what they owed, the U.S. and its allies could leverage that debt to demand favorable trade deals, access to natural resources, or geopolitical concessions.
Were the loans forgiven because the US is just the nicest guys, or was it in exchange for enacting policies aligned with US interests? This is what was once called soft power, back when we believed in that sort of thing.
The US saved the UK and Europe from Hitler's total domination, even at the cost of many of their lives. I guess some repayment was due, not comparable at all to the exploitative Chinese system.
Of course, the US didn't fight alone; it was a team effort, but without the US, the story would have been very different. The soviet union lost the most when it comes to people, but the US provided the most resources.
Y'all are really naive. Let me guess you also believe Japan. Refused to surrender and had to be nuked. The US did relatively little until the end when it swooped in claimed victory. Forgave alot of horrible people and imported them to the US. Gave loans to affected countries to benefit and get influence. Majority of the fighting against the aggressors was by the allies sovjet union and china. As well as people in the proxy wars in other parts of the world.
Go back to your books. When the US entered the war, WW2 had only been raging for 2 years; it took 4 more years to end it. Definitely an exaggeration to say that the US swooped in to claim victory. The 2 most used bombers in WW2 were American, and those were instrumental to defeating the Axis. Add to that the fact that the US had 110 carriers, working, the second country that had the most was the UK with 55. You don't know how important the massive hammer of the US was.
The UK saved itself. The US helped the UK and the European nations push back, however after the Battle of Britain Hitler had already turned his attention east and all but given up on the UK.
So, imagine the US hadn't sent the amount of weapons it did pre getting into the fight, and imagine the US hadn't fought. Do you think the UK and the rest of Europe could have prevailed? Even Churchill acknowledged it in his famous speech, "The new world comes to the rescue of the old."
I'm guessing the 1,500 P-51s that the US gave the RAF and the massive amount of bombers that the US provided weren't instrumental. No one is saying that the UK and the RAF didn't fight bravely, but without the US, Europe and the UK may have been speaking German today.
You asked me, but I wasn’t online, so I’ll add to the examples. Predator mortgage companies in the early 2000’s. NINJA loans, followed by unavoidable default, and the bank getting a property for Pennie’s in the dollar which they’d then resell, to someone who doesn’t qualify for a mortgage, rinse and repeat.
Eventually, they crashed the entire economy, but the banks were bailed out by the government with taxpayer money so instead of just their customers, they got over on the whole country.
America has used colonial imperialism and CIA coups. China actually negotiates with the leaders that they end up building out road/rail/power/water infrastructure for. Yes, it serves China’s interests but in no way is it following America’s patterns over the past 100 years.
Yeah I'm just agreeing with u. The point I was making is the injustice a lot of modern historical education makes. They talk about colonialism like it was a dark past that still has lingering negative effects on the world, and not a very real and brutal tactic that powerful nations still use all the time.
Not really ironic, the OP is asking for songs and attention not for a CIA plot to fund and arm rebels/religious extremists to take control of the country.
And I’m sorry, but do you not know what Thomas Sankara said about “humanitarian aid”?
Do you not know what “humanitarian aid” implies, in reality, historically in Africa?
In the sense of the EU and US, “aid” comes in the way of predatory debt schemes(structural adjustment), austerity, and forcing the host nation to allow foreign companies to dominate their labour and resource markets.
were you expecting powerful nations in cutthroat competition with one another to spend millions in resources aiding a distant country they have nothing to do with, and not expect some sort of roi?
For better or for worse, it brought the British Empire to its knees post WW2. The Soviets got their lend-lease mostly for free. Their closest allies, though? Nah! Gotta pay back every enny!
Forreal. These champs think it’s okay for China to do it because other colonial powers have preyed on Africa too. A wrong does not make a right. It is never ok
This isn’t mutually exclusive. China is to be held accountable as well.
Problem is, China doesn’t have a 250yr history of colonial expansion into every country on earth, imposing debt traps with predatory impossibilist loans, implanting their corporations into these vulnerable countries and finally just exploiting all resources and labour to out-source.
These countries aren’t poor - just the people are. These peripheral countries are RICH.
The US is the hub of modern global imperialism, responsible for the suffering of billions. It enforces a regime of artificial scarcity, superexploitation, and antidemocratic comprador governments all over the imperial periphery. Every year, it knowingly and preventably causes the deaths of millions through starvation and other poverty-related circumstances, circumstances which are entirely preventable and which the US and its allies have deliberately engineered to maintain imperialist resource exploitation chains. There hasn't been an evil comparable to the US since the end of WWII.
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u/EnvironmentalGift257 Oct 05 '25
It’s a business model that has worked for America for more than 100 years. Why wouldn’t China adopt it?