I recently read John Perkins's The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, a chilling book. A guy I know who is homeless left it on my porch. I had no idea where it came from, it was just there. (I found out later when he asked me if I'd gotten the book he left me.) A few days later, a neighbor who had seen it laying there asked me if I'd started it yet. I hadn't even cracked it. Being in the middle of Raymond Chandler binge, anything to do with economics wasn't really what I was in the mood for. But the neighbor recommended that I give it a shot, and I respected his opinion, so I dug into it. Holy shit. It was an eye opener. I highly recommend it. If you see the disparity of wealth and the power of corporations as a problem, not just in the U.S. but worldwide, you should check it out. It's not as dry as you'd expect. I'll leave it that. Almost.
The reason why it was on my mind is because I ran into a friend while bodysurfing today. I hadn't seen him since last summer, so between sets we were getting caught up. I asked how his son was, because roughly ten years ago when his kid was in high school I'd see the two of out in the water together. He said his kid was doing well. I asked him if his kid was still working in the financial world, kind of hoping that he wasn't. I should have known better. This was a kid who was reading Forbes at the beach when he was still in high school. (His dad, my friend, owned a small landscaping business). He told me his kid was doing great, making infrastructure deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars for his company in Colombia and Venezuela. Uh oh. If you've read Perkins book, you'll know why this was familiar. Then, bracing myself, I dared ask what company he worked for. The answer: Deutsche Bank. Fuck. His kid is an EHM, an economic hit man. Holy shit. If you haven't read Perkins's book, you need to. That will give you an idea why I had the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money" in my head on the way home.
The reason why it was on my mind is because I ran into a friend while bodysurfing today. I hadn't seen him since last summer, so between sets we were getting caught up. I asked how his son was, because roughly ten years ago when his kid was in high school I'd see the two of out in the water together. He said his kid was doing well. I asked him if his kid was still working in the financial world, kind of hoping that he wasn't. I should have known better. This was a kid who was reading Forbes at the beach when he was still in high school. (His dad, my friend, owned a small landscaping business). He told me his kid was doing great, making infrastructure deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars for his company in Colombia and Venezuela. Uh oh. If you've read Perkins book, you'll know why this was familiar. Then, bracing myself, I dared ask what company he worked for. The answer: Deutsche Bank. Fuck. His kid is an EHM, an economic hit man. Holy shit. If you haven't read Perkins's book, you need to. That will give you an idea why I had the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money" in my head on the way home.
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Listen:The O'Jays - For the Love of Money mp3 at Man In the Maze
Visit:
The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man at Berrett-Koehler Publishers
John Perkins speaking about The New Confessions an Economic Hit Man at YouTube
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