The Road
I'm back after seven days on the road. Thankfully, it appears nothing has changed. Iraq remains a disaster, Bush continues his popular swoon, and bloggers are so bored they're speculating about Lindsay Graham getting the GOP nod in 08'. Lindsay? Graham? That's a really slow news cycle or a few.
While traveling, I've been reading "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins. It's Greg Palast and "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" redux, but instead of "some little bird" littering Palast's desk with papers about oil and water deals and political corruption, Perkins appears to have been the guy actually generating those papers.
It's an interesting read, although not the compelling thriller type of book it's made out to be. I'm also a bit skeptical of a guy who claims to have had massive concerns and guilt about his rather nefarious job from day one but stayed with it for 10+ years. Then, after reaching the pinnacle of the profession, he quits on principle. It's the big stand in the book.
Then he goes to work shilling for power companies to build nuke plants and excess generating capacity as a hired gun. Ah, John, about that whole principle thing...
Anyway, the storyline isn't particularly surprising: resource exploitation of "less developed countries" for the benefit of the US Engineering, Construction and Oil industries. Massive land rapes that leave the natives in dire straits but enrich the few elites in the country and entrench their power.
Back here in reality, Milosevic is dead and that's too bad. He should have been forced to suffer the ego crushing humiliation of serving in solitary confinement for the rest of his days. Better yet, let him loose among a group of families who lived his reality and see what happens.
While traveling, I've been reading "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins. It's Greg Palast and "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" redux, but instead of "some little bird" littering Palast's desk with papers about oil and water deals and political corruption, Perkins appears to have been the guy actually generating those papers.
It's an interesting read, although not the compelling thriller type of book it's made out to be. I'm also a bit skeptical of a guy who claims to have had massive concerns and guilt about his rather nefarious job from day one but stayed with it for 10+ years. Then, after reaching the pinnacle of the profession, he quits on principle. It's the big stand in the book.
Then he goes to work shilling for power companies to build nuke plants and excess generating capacity as a hired gun. Ah, John, about that whole principle thing...
Anyway, the storyline isn't particularly surprising: resource exploitation of "less developed countries" for the benefit of the US Engineering, Construction and Oil industries. Massive land rapes that leave the natives in dire straits but enrich the few elites in the country and entrench their power.
Back here in reality, Milosevic is dead and that's too bad. He should have been forced to suffer the ego crushing humiliation of serving in solitary confinement for the rest of his days. Better yet, let him loose among a group of families who lived his reality and see what happens.
posted by John at 8:31 PM
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