economic hitman

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.

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.