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jehssuda's review against another edition
audiobook, need to listen to it while playing a game to focus
misspalah's review against another edition
3.0
“… Chuck made that prediction in 1979. Today, one can see that to a large extent he was correct. We have become a paper economy, vulnerable to the whims of lawyers and investment bankers. The trading of corporations through mergers and acquisitions and the pushing of financial paper in the form of forwards, options, futures, swaps, and other derivatives are huge parts of our system. When the economy peaked, just before the recession began in 2007, over 40 percent of U.S. profits were earned by the financial sector (al-though it turned out to be "paper" profits).' The very nature of a derivative a financial contract whose value depends on (is derived from) the value of something else (for example, a commodity, stock, home mortgage, market index)-belies the trust conveyed by paper. Perhaps it is a sign of the times that today paper pushers seldom use paper; they do it all with the push of a button, electronically. Chuck's concerns about the manufacturing sector were prescient. Creating junk has brought our economy down. What Chuck, who was a Milton Friedman fan, did not understand was that our obsession with profit maximization was a large part of the problem. When you view the short-term bottom line as your measure of success, you set yourself up for calamity”.
- Militarized Paper Economy : Hoodwinked by John Perkins
.
.
I’ve read the confession of an economic hitman in 2016 and remembered that i have loved it so much i recommended it to my students every semester. Unfortunately, Hoodwinked didn’t really deliver and it was more of repetitive and rehashing the points and events Perkins has made in his previous book. This is also one of the reasons that i will not review this book in details. Sure, I did learn some things from this book but not as much as i have expected. It was okay to repeat one or two points from the previous book but i felt it was almost 50% from it. Since this was published in 2009, a lot of solutions is outdated and some has been implemented but unfortunately it didn’t work. For example, Perkins suggested while capitalism cannot be abolished, profit maximisation motives can be discarded. Instead corporations can adapt the sustainable approach and thrive together with the community. Basically, Corporate Social Responsibility 101. This is not it as now, majority of companies are doing simply to get a tax cut and incentives - not really to empower the economy and people. I am not an economist but reading the solutions he listed seems like yeah, it can be done theoretically but in reality, so many factors should’ve been taken into consideration. Corruption, Loopholes in Legislation and even ‘Free Trade’ can water down these solutions. For example, when he emphasised the concept of stewardship in consumerism - basically being mindful in whatever you’re buying and pay more or buy other brands if you are doubting about the true cost of the product. Speaking from someone that raised in a middle class family, the point is to always buy something cheap. Maybe if you are rich and privileged, you can make that choice but not people who have to work hard to earn that itty bitty income. Other than that, i would say analysis on Obama’s economic policy once he took over the white house was enlightening. The reality of how much debt US government incurred is scary and saddening at the same time because they bowed to the demand of capitalists. I find it funny how Perkins mentioned Trump in the book as someone that cannot be worshipped just because he’s a millionaire - yet in 2016, it was that status and ‘MAGA’ rhetoric that won him the presidency. Other than that, the book highlighted predatory capitalism and how economic takeovers done by USA in Central American Countries. This is the part where it gets interested as I have read memoir written by Honduran woman and she have highlighted that most of the country resources were being robbed in a broad daylight simply because US intervention. They planted their own puppet, established ridiculous loan terms and pushed these country leaders to agree on those loans. The frustrating part is US and together with WTO and World Bank has ben doing this for so long in the name of ‘free trade’. Perkins that added an analysis how US income is comprised a huge portion of a paper trail. It can be bond, loan, investment, interest and so many more whereby most of the time only Financial institutions can make sense of this. Overall, i would say this is an average read. Sure i learned something from it but for those who’ve not read his work yet, confession of an economic hitmen should’ve been the top list. This one , you definitely can skip it.
- Militarized Paper Economy : Hoodwinked by John Perkins
.
.
I’ve read the confession of an economic hitman in 2016 and remembered that i have loved it so much i recommended it to my students every semester. Unfortunately, Hoodwinked didn’t really deliver and it was more of repetitive and rehashing the points and events Perkins has made in his previous book. This is also one of the reasons that i will not review this book in details. Sure, I did learn some things from this book but not as much as i have expected. It was okay to repeat one or two points from the previous book but i felt it was almost 50% from it. Since this was published in 2009, a lot of solutions is outdated and some has been implemented but unfortunately it didn’t work. For example, Perkins suggested while capitalism cannot be abolished, profit maximisation motives can be discarded. Instead corporations can adapt the sustainable approach and thrive together with the community. Basically, Corporate Social Responsibility 101. This is not it as now, majority of companies are doing simply to get a tax cut and incentives - not really to empower the economy and people. I am not an economist but reading the solutions he listed seems like yeah, it can be done theoretically but in reality, so many factors should’ve been taken into consideration. Corruption, Loopholes in Legislation and even ‘Free Trade’ can water down these solutions. For example, when he emphasised the concept of stewardship in consumerism - basically being mindful in whatever you’re buying and pay more or buy other brands if you are doubting about the true cost of the product. Speaking from someone that raised in a middle class family, the point is to always buy something cheap. Maybe if you are rich and privileged, you can make that choice but not people who have to work hard to earn that itty bitty income. Other than that, i would say analysis on Obama’s economic policy once he took over the white house was enlightening. The reality of how much debt US government incurred is scary and saddening at the same time because they bowed to the demand of capitalists. I find it funny how Perkins mentioned Trump in the book as someone that cannot be worshipped just because he’s a millionaire - yet in 2016, it was that status and ‘MAGA’ rhetoric that won him the presidency. Other than that, the book highlighted predatory capitalism and how economic takeovers done by USA in Central American Countries. This is the part where it gets interested as I have read memoir written by Honduran woman and she have highlighted that most of the country resources were being robbed in a broad daylight simply because US intervention. They planted their own puppet, established ridiculous loan terms and pushed these country leaders to agree on those loans. The frustrating part is US and together with WTO and World Bank has ben doing this for so long in the name of ‘free trade’. Perkins that added an analysis how US income is comprised a huge portion of a paper trail. It can be bond, loan, investment, interest and so many more whereby most of the time only Financial institutions can make sense of this. Overall, i would say this is an average read. Sure i learned something from it but for those who’ve not read his work yet, confession of an economic hitmen should’ve been the top list. This one , you definitely can skip it.
rangerpanties's review against another edition
3.0
Back when i first becoming radicalized I really enjoyed John Perkins the information he provided me. Since then I have come to find him being a green capitalist and as much as I want to believe we can save the world without purchasing power I do not agree. The book makes it clear that we are headed for a cliff perhaps already over it, much like coyote in the cartoon we just don't know that we are about to fall.
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