It's about this guy who went around the world in the 60s (up until recently) and indebted countries, thus benefitting the West. This is actually along the lines of what I wrote my final paper in College about. How the West has switched from enslaving people from 'developing' (using the term 'developing' creates problems which I wont get into but be aware I'm using them just to get to my broader point)countries to creating flat out colonialisms to what we see now a days is debt. We now have another way to keep countries under our belt-debt. So, I read this book and it was really inspiring because the guy is A) a great writer and B) exposed a lot of truth that many dont realize. So I'm going to retype a paragraph that I really enjoyed.
"We prefer to believe the myth that thousands of years of human social evolution has finally perfected the ideal economic system, rather than to face the fact we have merely bought into a false concept and accepted it as gospel. We have convinced ourselves that all economic growth benefits humankind, and that the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefit. Finally, we have persuaded one another that the corollary to this concept is valid and morally just: that people who excel at stoking the fires of economic growth should be exalted and rewarded, while those born at the fringes are available for exploitation. (Perkins, John 255).
So I'll let you digest that for a second.......done? ok. John later goes into about how he did all these horrible things in all these countries, convincing world leaders to sign up for things they had no idea would be so consequental (sp?). He then realized what can he do? What can anyone do? Words-I'll credit him (words create change) ;) He decided to publish this book about EHM (Economic Hit Men) to expose the truth. We (America and countries alike) are exploiting billions of people around the world. You already know this. This comes to where I say REVOLUTION! You're right I wont start it, you probably wont either. But steps are small and I'm aware always that the decisions I make on a dialy basis are possible because I (not purposely, but that's the way our world order is structured as of now) put people a step back allowing me to step forward. Everything that is involved in my life is revolved around so many other inviduals in this world. My green tea wasn't made in my backyard nor was the tshirt I'm wearing. So anti-globalization? No, I enjoy my indie films (you're right I dont watch those, but it came to mind) my Corona, and my italian shoes (vespa's rock and I plan to own one some day as well). John Perkins just talked about how much wealth there is in the world but as we've seen in all of history how greedy they become. Can you imagine if McDonald's made it a goal to have universal health care in all the countries it had establishments? (Fun Fact from a government class I took in college, no 2 countreis who have had a McDonald's in it-say USA and Russian- have never gone to war together) Could global corporations really be the answer? Who knows, my point was not to prove that I'm a genius and know what to do, I'm just saying I liked the book. I could go on about how else I damage the earth, but as a good friend in high school once said "I put a lot of bad out into the world (not like kicking children, but indirectly supporting sweat shops) I'm just trying to put as much good back into it, if not a little bit more."-Something I try to fashion in my life as well.
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