John Perkins

Who is he: As chief economist at a major international consulting firm, John Perkins advised the World Bank, United Nations, IMF, US Treasury Department, Fortune 500 corporations and countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Perkins worked directly with heads of state and CEOs of major companies. Perkins's books on economics and geo-politics have sold more than one million copies, spent many months on the New York Times and other bestseller lists, and are published in over 30 languages.

Perkins's Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (70 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list) is a startling exposé of international corruption that focuses on how the US, through the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, conspire to ruin country's political and economic procesesses.

According to Perkins, the Western facilities such as the World Bank encourage countries to take out loans that they cannot repay. Then the IMF arrives to offer loans based on certain conditions. The country's leaders are told they must curtail public services, raise taxes and most importantly sell off public assets. These assets are bought by an assortment of private companies, mostly from the US, at very low prices. Thus, the "corporatocracy" works hand-in-hand with certain facilities that are supposed to "help" the developing world but which are actually exploiting it.

Perkins has elaborated on his basic theme in numerous other books. His The Secret History of the American Empire, also a New York Times bestseller, details how clandestine operations fund the Anglosphere's global empire. Hoodwinked presents "solutions" – a blueprint for a new form of global economics.

Background: John Perkins went to Tilton School and then on to the Boston University School of Management during the 1960s. Perkins was employed by the Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, after screening by the National Security Agency (NSA). He then embarked on a career that led to the writing of his international bestseller, Confessions of an Economic Hitman.

John Perkins is a founder and board member of Dream Change and The Pachamama Alliance, nonprofit organizations devoted to establishing a more peaceful and just world, and Perkins has lectured at more than 50 universities around the world. He is the author of books on indigenous cultures and transformation, including Shapeshifting, The World Is As You Dream It, Psychonavigation, Spirit of the Shuar, and The Stress-Free Habit.

Perkins has been featured on ABC, NBC, CNN, NPR, A&E, the History Channel, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Der Spiegel and many other publications, as well as in numerous documentaries including The End of Poverty?, Zeitgeist Addendum and Apology of an Economic Hit Man.

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