Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, 3rd Edition

Writing as a former insider economic hitman (EHM) and initially at great peril to his life when the first edition came out (many publishers refused the book for fear of repercussions), John takes the lid off a corrupt system pioneered by the US and more recently adopted by China in a new form. The new edition contains 12 new chapters, many of which cover China’s EHM strategy. He explains the operating principles of highly paid US EHMs (‘chief economists’) who effectively perpetuate an extractive and exploitative ‘death economy’ by implementing a strategy developed by Robert McNamara and The World Bank whereby infrastructure loans are made on the back of the exaggerated forecasts of economic growth where the money is lent by the Bank and USAID, but then paid directly to US companies who undertake the infrastructure projects, with payoffs to the rich and powerful in the developing country. Ideologically, the Bank is driven by neoliberalism, privatisation, marketisation and globalisation – and, if necessary, the imposition of frequently crippling austerity measures. The driver is to develop and therefore to commodify a country’s natural resources, leading towards what John calls ‘debt-trap diplomacy’, where funds are diverted from health services and education.

John was confidentially trained in the four pillars of EHM strategy: fear and blackmail, debt, anxiety over insufficiency, and divide and conquer. It was expected that countries would ultimately be unable to service and repay the loans, which would give the US further political and economic leverage over the country in question. In the case of the US, carrot and stick pressure was applied to presidents to go along with such schemes, and those who demurred for democratic reasons were liable to die in a mysterious plane crash, such as Presidents Arbenz of Guatemala, Roldos of Ecuador and Torrijos of Panama. He explains the modus operandi in a number of different contexts, and contrasts the original ideals of the American Republic with the ambitions of global empire. Increasingly, John finds his conscience coming into play, and eventually resigned from a system which makes the rich richer and keeps the poor in a state of poverty.

The situation deteriorated between 2004 and 2016, whereby ‘activities that would have been viewed as immoral, unacceptable, and illegal in the US were standard practice’ - reflecting the role of lobbies and revolving doors between Government and industry. Corporatocracy becomes virtually unlimited and totally undemocratic in its pursuit of greed-driven power. Key players serve both in Government and in senior positions of companies like Bechtel (George Schulz and Caspar Weinberger), Halliburton (Dick Cheney) and the Goldman Sachs (Robert Rubin and other treasury secretaries). The same companies benefit from reconstruction contracts necessitated by war – from which they also profit; and many senior officials have previously served in the CIA.

China’s strategy with the New Silk Road is less overtly military than the US, and is underpinned by the Confucian ideal of public good. It presents itself as a cooperative trading partner offering loans, ‘rather than simply a creditor employing debt to manipulate countries resources, economy and policies.’ Its investments have resulted in huge increases in trade, sometimes at the expense of the US, of which many countries are understandably suspicious. However, there are downsides in terms of project operation and management, as well as collateral political costs in the implicit pressure not to criticise Chinese domestic and foreign policies. John details Chinese operations in different parts of the world, and quotes President Xi’s rhetoric of non-interference, which he regards as coming straight out of the EHM playbook. Europe seeks to balance a confrontation with engagement, while the US is firmly on the side of confrontation, even though the two economies are in fact highly interdependent.

In his conclusion, John argues that it is time to end the EHM strategy once and for all, with its tactics of colonising others through systems of domination and economic slavery – whether by means of the US or Chinese approach. He redefines prosperity as benefiting all life in the entire world, and insists on seeing ourselves as part of, not apart from, nature. This means committing ourselves to a life economy, whose features described in some detail while giving readers guidelines about how they themselves can contribute. Only in this way can we create a global ecological civilisation, or eco-economy as Lester Brown put it (his extensive work in this field is not mentioned). In this respect, John quotes David Korten on the importance of the story by which we define ourselves: ‘Are we financial beings inhabiting a dead rock floating in space? Or are we living beings born all and nurtured by a living Earth?’ The book makes for a highly informative and readable account - readers are educated on how the corrupt systemic structural power of international economic institutions has operated to the detriment of the countries they were claiming to support. The challenge is that these systems are politically and economically synergistic and are maintained by powerful individuals and corporations who also fund the political process. Draining the swamp is no easy matter.