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KoKo

(84,711 posts)
Thu Aug 21, 2014, 06:20 PM Aug 2014

John Perkins: "Kill the Death Economy!" A Retro but Worth the Revisit! NSA/Snowden/etc.

If you read his book "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" you'd want to know what he's doing these days...and even though this interview is from 2013...it's still a very interesting watch. It refreshed MY Memory....since we are so bombarded with News these Days we forget some of the "Good Stuff."

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Published on Oct 18, 2013
Abby Martin speaks with John Perkins, best-selling author of 'Confessions of an Economic Hitman' & 'Hoodwinked', about the corporate takeover of world governments and the need to eradicate the death economy.





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KoKo

(84,711 posts)
2. Thanks...I read the first one..Excellent.....and it blew my mind..but "STUFF" got in the way...
Thu Aug 21, 2014, 08:02 PM
Aug 2014

Will Definitely Check that one out!

There's so much to read these days...and so much just Wastes One's Time with Fluff from Paid Sources...that it's hard to keep follow up.

So Thanks for Jogging my Memory that he had a Second Book!

 

arcane1

(38,613 posts)
3. I had an interesting experience this year, choosing to re-read a few books in sequence
Thu Aug 21, 2014, 08:49 PM
Aug 2014

They were:

"Confessions..."
"Hoodwinked"
"The Secret History of the American Empire" (which is also by Perkins. I forgot about that one!)
"The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein
"Vulture's Picnic" by Greg Palast
Currently halfway through re-reading Palast's "Armed Madhouse."

While it's been an economics overload, I am getting SO MUCH more out of these books now than after reading them all the first time over the course of several years. In addition to the the general added knowledge that time gives, reading them all in succession, seeing them interlink (Palast even mentions Perkins a few times. They used to be adversaries ), has made so many light bulbs go off in my head this spring and summer.

That combined re-reading made the knowledge in those books infinitely more than the sum of their parts.

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
4. Hey...at least I read three of those..
Thu Aug 21, 2014, 09:00 PM
Aug 2014

Naomi Klien's "Shock Doctrine" ...Greg Palast's, "Vultures Picnic" & "Confessions of a Hit Man".....

I got behind on the Rest... and your post is a good Nudge to make me read the rest! I try to read reviews and snips of the books to get the gist of what the authors are trying to inform us o, but...to keep informed but damned it's hard these days when so much is distracting to try to read the News Websites for current Info...as all moves so fast.

Some of us are sort of "Shell Shocked" these days and it's good to go "back aways" to refresh our memories of how we GOT TO...this Dreadful Time in Our History...by revisiting.

Thanks!

 

arcane1

(38,613 posts)
5. Indeed, reading "armed Madhouse" again is a huge flashback!
Thu Aug 21, 2014, 09:08 PM
Aug 2014

I have the good fortune of commuting 80 minutes a day on the train, otherwise I would have to fight for solid reading time. That gives me the opportunity to revisit things, and find nuggets that didn't stick at the time but stand out more now.

If it helps: if I had to choose the three most important books in that list of mine, it would probably be the three you already read. I'm on the fence about which Palast book would be #1

 

swilton

(5,069 posts)
6. With humility
Fri Aug 22, 2014, 10:41 AM
Aug 2014

I would like to add this video to the 'list' and one book to follow-up

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0155722/

Lumumba was assassinated in the early 1960's and this film sort of illuminates the stories Perkins is talking about. Belgian Congo wanted independence (following post WWII wave of independence movements) in the 60's and Lumumba was their democratically elected leader. But (in my own words with sarcasm) one couldn't have the natives controlling their own resources...Thus begins the saga of Western neo-colonialism in Africa and the lust for control of chocolate, and war-making materials (uranium, copper, rubber). There is a threshold crossed and very well portrayed in the movie where Lumumba post 'independence' in fact makes the choice not to retain the Belgian 'advisors'.

I reviewed this movie on another website and a colleague there referred me to Kwitny's Endless Enemies which sort of begins where Lumumba leaves off. Kwithny's argument which is very well documented is that there is a revolving door between big business, the CIA, and the government and thus this is how foreign policy is crafted. Some of the pages of this book (the copy that I had) were blank - having stopped mid sentence-paragraph/my guess is that they were redacted by the CIA...Kwitny was an award winning journalist and he succumbed to esophageal cancer, prematurely. It was also noteworthy (I double checked some of his references) that some of his sources, also critically acclaimed, also died prematurely. I found Kwiny's work on Amazon - but here is a link to his Wikkepedia bio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Kwitny

I've posted about Kwitny in other DU threads - my apologies if this post duplicates sources you are already aware of.

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