Customer Reviews

Hoodwinked: An Economic Hit Man Reveals Why the Global Economy IMPLODED -- and How to Fix It

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Read Confessions before delving into any of Perkins' other books. Hoodwinked offers additional information but not the same insider account as presented in Confessions. What Hoodwinked does is address how to respond to the knowledge from Confessions, (as well as from the economic crisis). This is invaluable because the duplicity in Confessions is shocking and demands an action plan. Perkins uses Hoodwinked to articulate that plan, broken down into manageable pieces. For anyone having just read Confessions who's feeling burdened by things they wish they didn't know, Hoodwinked will hopefully provide some thoughts on how to respond.

Hoodwinked is a quick read and a fairly edifying book that unfortunately falls short of its predecessor's punch. For those who haven't read Perkins' earlier book, "Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man", the book may indeed seem weak. There are ample references to the earlier work, though unlike the earlier confessional, this book focuses on more recent history and tries to be prescriptive.

The book is divided into two sections: The Problem, and The Solution. Perkins identifies today's problems as the result of developed countries' longstanding economic and political policies, He notes specifically the enormous transfer of wealth to governments, corporations and citizens that those policies engendered, and cites many examples to support his case: Robber Barons of old; the IMF and World Bank (including the part he played as an Economic Hit Man (EHM)), and even notes the internal redistribution of wealth caused by domestic players such as Enron and Wall Street.

The solution, apparently is not to discard capitalism, but to reshape it. Consumers need to reassert their power via their consumption choices; through their environmental choices; through re-thinking what it means when we label people and peoples as enemies and terrorists; and by accepting responsibility and stewarding a new, healthier capitalism. It's here that Perkins' book starts to take on a `motherhood and apple pie' tone, and to lose some of what makes the earlier chapters and his earlier book most compelling.

What does remain interesting is Perkins' unique perspective - he is neither a footnoting conspiracy theorist like Naomi Klein (Shock Doctrine), nor an academically oriented economist (Krugman, Shiller, Stiglitz etc.). His suggested economic and political remedies are drawn from decades as an EHM in the international economic trenches, and as such they are matter-of-fact and lack the shrill accusations of Klein and the detached theorizing of the Nobel laureates. This same readability, though, is what may leave some readers unsatisfied - closer to a long PoliSci 400 essay than a lasting work. Perkins is a less compelling writer with this subject matter, and readers may want to pick up his earlier confessions over this book.

This book opened my eyes as to the power of money; more powerful than any government. Also emphasises the evil of greed for money and how the world got into the current economic situation.

John Perkins, simply put, is one of the most honest men to ever put pen to paper. To read is to believe. When an elected leader initiates a policy that appears to go against the best interests of the electorate, we had better believe that that politician has likely been comprimised by external interests intent on furthing the goals of the Military Industrial Complex and the NWO. Their agents are everywhere at every level. Take action wherever you can to expose this evil system of interference.