61 Quotes by John Perkins

I’ve never met anyone who wanted to be a terrorist. They are desperate people.

If you bomb a city, then rebuild it, the data shows a huge spike in economic activity.

Jangan menjadi pengikut Buddha. Dunia tidak butuh pengikut Buddha lebih banyak lagi. Tapi sebarkanlah kasih sayang. Dunia membutuhkan banyak kasih sayang. -Dalai Lama.

Admitting to a problem is the first step toward finding a solution. Confessing a sin is the beginning of redemption.

Our own statistics about violence, depression, drug abuse, divorce, and crime indicated that although ours was one of the wealthiest societies in history, it may also be one of the least happy societies. Why would we want others to emulate us?

If an EHM is completely successful, the loans are so large that the debtor is forced to default on its payments after a few years. When this happens, then like the Mafia we demand our pound of flesh. This often includes one or more of the following: control over United Nations votes, the installation of military bases, or access to precious resources such as oil or the Panama Canal. Of course, the debtor still owes us the money – and another country is added to our global empire.

It is driven not by a small band of men but by a concept that has become accepted as gospel: the idea that all economic growth benefits humankind and that the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefits. This belief also has a corollary: that those people who excel at stoking the fires of economic growth should be exalted and rewarded, while those born at the fringes are available for exploitation.

Fear and debt. The two most powerful tools of empire.” He.

It occurred to me that everything I was doing in Indonesia was more like a game than reality. It was as though we were playing a game of poker. We kept our cards hidden. We could not trust each other or count on the reliability of the information we shared. Yet, this game was deadly serious, and its outcome would impact millions of lives for decades to come.