Joe: Most of us think of empires as being built with armies and flags. But what if the most powerful empire of the last 50 years was built with something far quieter, and far more insidious: a calculator and a loan application? Lewis: That sounds like the plot of a thriller, not a chapter in an economics textbook. A financial empire? It seems too subtle, too… invisible to be real. Joe: And that invisibility is the key. That's the explosive premise behind The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. Lewis: Right, and Perkins isn't just some outsider theorist. This is the wild part. He was the Chief Economist at a major international consulting firm, an insider who claims he was recruited by the NSA to do this exact job. Joe: Exactly. And the book was a massive bestseller, but also hugely controversial. It’s been on the New York Times bestseller list for over 70 weeks, but critics have called him a conspiracy theorist, while supporters say he's a brave whistleblower. Today, we're diving in to see what's really going on. Lewis: I’m intrigued. An empire built on debt, confessed by an insider. Let’s get into it.

Joe: So, Perkins lays out this shadowy world of what he calls "Economic Hit Men," or EHMs. These aren't spies in the traditional sense. They're highly paid professionals, economists, and consultants. Their job is to cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Lewis: Okay, so what is this 'playbook'? How does one actually take over a country with a calculator? Joe: It’s a surprisingly simple, and brutal, three-step process. First, the EHMs identify a developing country with resources the corporatocracy covets—think oil in Ecuador, or a strategic location like the Panama Canal. Lewis: The corporatocracy? Hold on, what exactly does Perkins mean by that? Is it just big companies, or something more? Joe: It’s his term for the collusive network of powerful corporations, international banks like the World Bank and IMF, and the U.S. government. They all work together, their interests intertwined, to expand a global empire. So, once the target is identified, step two kicks in: the EHM’s primary job. Lewis: Which is? Joe: To create a wildly optimistic, and often fraudulent, economic forecast for that country. They’ll project that if the country builds, say, a massive hydroelectric dam or a huge industrial park, its GDP will skyrocket. Lewis: And I’m guessing it’s not just any dam. Joe: Of course not. The project has to be built by a major U.S. engineering or construction firm, like Bechtel or Halliburton. Based on the EHM’s rosy forecast, the World Bank or USAID then gives the country an enormous loan to pay for it. A loan so big, the EHM knows the country can never hope to repay it. Lewis: Wow. So it’s a setup from the start. The loan isn't for the country's benefit; it's to funnel money back to U.S. corporations. Joe: Precisely. And that leads to step three: the default. When the country inevitably can't pay its debt, the empire comes to collect. They don't demand money. They demand power. They'll say, "Since you can't pay your debt, you need to sell your oil to our companies at a cheap price. Or, let us build a military base on your soil. Or, vote with us on the next UN resolution." It's a system of control through debt. It’s modern-day servitude. Lewis: That's horrifying. But what happens when a leader sees through this? What if they just say no? Joe: That's when the playbook gets even darker. When the EHMs fail, Perkins says they send in the "jackals." Lewis: Jackals? Joe: His term for CIA-sanctioned assassins. And he gives two chilling examples of leaders he personally worked with and respected: President Jaime Roldós of Ecuador and General Omar Torrijos of Panama. Lewis: What happened to them? Joe: Both were charismatic, popular leaders who were determined to use their nations' resources to help their own people. Roldós wanted to reform Ecuador’s oil industry to ensure the profits benefited the poor, not just Texaco. Torrijos had successfully negotiated the Panama Canal Treaty, taking control back from the U.S., and he was refusing to renegotiate. Both of them resisted the EHM playbook. Lewis: And? Joe: And in 1981, within a few months of each other, both men died in fiery plane crashes. Perkins is convinced they were assassinations. He even quotes Torrijos, who, after Roldós’s death, told friends he was having nightmares about his own assassination. He said he saw himself "dropping from the sky in a gigantic fireball." Lewis: That gives me chills. It’s prophetic. And this is in a mainstream, bestselling book? It’s no wonder it’s so polarizing. He's not just hinting at things; he's outright accusing the U.S. government of orchestrating assassinations to protect corporate interests. Joe: He is. And he says he was part of the system that set them up. The guilt from that is what drove him to write the book in the first place.

Lewis: Okay, that's a terrifying picture of foreign policy in the 70s and 80s. But the book is called The NEW Confessions. What's new? Surely this isn't still happening in the same way? Joe: Perkins argues that it is, but it's evolved. The system has become more sophisticated, more widespread, and most chillingly, it's come home. The tools that were perfected on developing nations are now being used on the citizens of the United States and Europe. Lewis: How so? That seems like a huge leap. Joe: Think of it like a virus that has mutated. The original EHMs, like Perkins, were a specialized, covert group. Today, he argues, EHMs are everywhere. They are the bankers who pushed subprime mortgages, the lobbyists who write our laws, the corporate executives who demand tax breaks by threatening to move jobs overseas. Lewis: So you're saying the same logic that put Ecuador in debt for its oil is what's behind the student loan crisis or the 2008 housing crash? Joe: That's exactly what he's saying. Take the story he tells about a banker he met. This Chase executive confessed that his job was to convince young couples to take on mortgages they couldn't possibly afford. The bank knew they'd default. But the bank profits from the foreclosure, repackages the debt, and sells it off. The goal is to create a cycle of debt. The banker tells Perkins, "The whole system stinks. From inflated home mortgages to college loans, it’s all about servitude to debt." Lewis: Wow. So it’s the same playbook: create overwhelming debt to gain control. It’s just that the target isn't a foreign country anymore; it's an individual citizen. Joe: Exactly. And the justification has changed. It's no longer about 'fighting communism.' Now, the excuse is 'promoting economic growth' or 'market stability.' But the outcome is the same: a tiny elite at the top gets richer, and everyone else is trapped in debt, working to pay off a system that's rigged against them. Lewis: And the lobbying angle fits right in. Perkins talks about the "revolving door" in Washington. Joe: He does. He points to figures like former senators Tom Daschle and Chris Dodd. They build their careers as public servants, promising to fight for the little guy. Then, the moment they leave office, they take multimillion-dollar jobs lobbying for the very industries they were supposed to be regulating—health care, finance, Hollywood. They become domestic EHMs, using their influence to ensure the system continues to benefit the corporatocracy. Lewis: It's a much more subtle form of control. You don't need jackals and assassins when you can control people with student loans and credit card debt. The fear isn't a plane crash; it's financial ruin. Joe: That's the new empire. It's less visible, but Perkins argues it's even more dangerous because it's happening right under our noses, and we've been conditioned to accept it as normal.

Lewis: This is all incredibly bleak, Joe. It feels like this system is everywhere, from the World Bank down to my local bank branch. It seems untouchable. Does Perkins offer any way out, or is the book just a confession of doom? Joe: It's interesting, because after hundreds of pages of this dark, conspiratorial world, the final section of the book is surprisingly hopeful. He argues that we are at a critical turning point in human history. He frames it as a choice between two economies. Lewis: What are they? Joe: The first is the "death economy," which is what we have now. It’s an economy built on war, fear, and the relentless consumption of finite resources. It's an economy that profits from destruction. The alternative he proposes is a "life economy." Lewis: A life economy? What does that look like? Joe: It's an economy based on regenerating what's been destroyed. It prioritizes cleaning up pollution, developing sustainable technologies, and creating systems that serve communities instead of just maximizing profit for shareholders. It's about shifting our core values from consumption to preservation and justice. Lewis: Okay, that sounds great in theory. But how do you fight a global system of corporations and banks? Boycotting a company feels like bringing a squirt gun to a forest fire. Joe: Perkins acknowledges that. But he argues that the greatest power we have is collective action, driven by conscious choices. He tells a powerful story about what happened in Ecuador in 2013. The government, under pressure to raise money, decided to auction off huge tracts of the Amazon rainforest to oil companies. Lewis: The very thing the indigenous people feared. Joe: Exactly. But this time, something different happened. The indigenous communities, with the help of organizations like Fundación Pachamama, launched a massive international campaign. They marched, they protested, they used social media. They created so much negative publicity that when the auction finally happened, most of the major oil companies—all the U.S. ones—stayed away. They decided the bad PR wasn't worth it. Lewis: So it actually worked? Joe: It did. It wasn't a total victory, but it was a huge demonstration that public pressure can make a difference. And Perkins's ultimate point is that we all have a role to play. He says the most important thing is to find your passion and use it. If you're a lawyer, fight for environmental justice. If you're a teacher, educate your students about this system. If you're an artist, create art that inspires change. Lewis: That feels more empowering. It’s not just about what you don't do, like not buying from a certain company. It's about what you do do. Joe: Right. And he shares this great anecdote about meeting the Dalai Lama, who told him that praying for peace is good, but it's a waste of time if that's all you do. He said, "You need to take appropriate daily action." Perkins says that action can be as small as his friend who decided to stop using plastic bags. That one small act became a portal for her, leading to deeper awareness and greater involvement in environmental causes.

Joe: Ultimately, Perkins's message is that this massive, terrifying system of a global empire only works because we, the public, allow it to. We either look the other way, or we actively support it, often without realizing it. Lewis: So the real 'confession' isn't just his. It's a confession about our collective complicity. And the hope comes from the fact that if we're the ones giving the system permission to exist, we're also the ones who can take that permission away. Joe: Precisely. He argues the revolution he's calling for isn't about violence; it's a revolution of consciousness. It's about changing the collective dream of our society from one of endless, mindless consumption to one of a sustainable, just world. Lewis: It's a powerful and deeply unsettling read. It really forces you to look at your own bank, your own shopping habits, and even your own news sources in a completely different light. You start seeing the matrix, so to speak. Joe: And that's the point. He wants to wake us up from the stupor. He believes that once enough people are awake, the change is inevitable. Lewis: A challenging but necessary wake-up call. Joe: This is Aibrary, signing off.