Quotes by John Perkins

The condition was that Saudi Arabia would use its petrodollars to purchase US government securities; in turn, the interest earned by these securities would be spent by the US Department of the Treasury in ways that enabled Saudi Arabia to emerge from a medieval society into the modern, industrialised world. In other words, the interest compounding on billions of dollars of the kingdom's oil income would be used to pay US companies to fulfil the vision I had come up with... Our own US Department of the Treasury would hire us, at Saudi expense, to build infrastructure projects and even entire cities throughout the Arabian Peninsula.

Instead of sending in the Marines [to Iran], Washington dispatched CIA agent, Kermit Roosevelt (Theodore's grandson). He performed brilliantly, winning people over through payoffs and threats. He then enlisted them to organise a series of street riots and violent demonstrations, which created the impression that Mossadegh was both unpopular and inept. In the end, Mossadegh went down ... the pro-American Mohammad Reza Shah became the unchallenged dictator.

The ability to print money gives us immense power. It means, among other things, that we can continue to make loans that will never be repaid ... By the beginning of 2003, the US national debt exceeded a staggering $6 trillion and was projected to reach $7 trillion before the end of the year - roughly $24,000 for each US citizen.

My contemporaries and I, and our modern corporate equivalents, had managed to bring [Ecuador] to virtual bankruptcy. We loaned it billions of dollars so it could hire our engineering and construction firms to build projects that would help its richest families. As a result, in those 3 decades, the official poverty level grew from 50 - 70%... and the share of national resources allocated to the poorest citizens declined from 20% to 6%. Today Ecuador must devote nearly 50% of its national budget simply to paying off its debts...

Today, we still have slave traders. They no longer find it necessary to march into the forests of Africa looking for prime specimens who will bring top dollar on the auction blocks in Charleston. Cartagena, and Havana. They simply recruit desperate people and build a factory to produce the jackets, blue jeans, tennis shoes, automobile parts, computer components, and thousands of other items they can sell in the markets of their choosing...

These executives fanned out across the planet. They sought the cheapest labour pools, the most accessible resources, and the largest markets. They were ruthless in their approach. ... Like us, they ensnared communities and countries. They promised affluence, a way for countries to use the private sector to dig themselves out of debt. ... In the end, however, if they found cheaper workers or more accessible resources elsewhere, they left. When they abandoned a community whose hopes they had raised, the consequences were often devastating...

The example of organised crime seemed to offer a metaphor. Mafia bosses often start out as street thugs. But over time, the ones who make it to the top transform their appearance. They take to wearing impeccably tailored suits, owning legitimate businesses, and wrapping themselves in the cloak of upstanding society. They support local charities and are respected by their communities... However, beneath this patina is a trail of blood. When the debtors cannot pay, hitmen move in to demand their pound of flesh.

Surely, [Omar Torrijos] knew that the foreign aid game was a sham - he had to know. It existed to make him rich and to shackle his country with debt. It was there so Panama would be forever obligated to the United States and the corporatocracy. It was there to keep Latin America ... forever subservient to Washington and Wall Street. I was certain that he knew that the system was based on the assumption that all men in power are corruptible, and that his decision not to use it for his personal benefit would be seen as a threat.

Claudine told me that there were two primary objectives of my work. First, I was to justify huge international loans that would funnel money back to MAIN and other US companies (such as Bechtel, Halliburton, Stone and Webster, and Brown and Root) through massive engineering and construction projects. Second, I would work to bankrupt the countries that received these loans (after they had paid MAIN and the other US contractors, of course) so that they would be forever beholden to their creditors, and so they would present easy targets when we needed favours, including military bases, UN votes, or access to oil and other natural resources.

For every $100 of crude taken out of the Ecuadorian rain forests, the oil companies receive $75. Of the remaining $25, three-quarters must go to paying off the foreign debt. Most of the remainder covers military and other government expenses - which leaves about $2.50 for health, education, and programs aimed at helping the poor. Thus, out of every $100 worth of oil torn from the Amazon, less than $3 goes to the people who need the money most, those whose lives have been so adversely impacted by the dams, the drilling, and pipelines, and who are dying from lack of edible food and potable water.