Transcript Staff Writer

The next generation is faced with worldwide social and economic problems, but there is hope for change, a self-described former economic hit man told about 75 University of Oklahoma students on campus Tuesday afternoon.

"You are the people who have inherited the challenges we created for you," said John Perkins, author of "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man."

Perkins worked as an economic hit man (EHM) for the United States for years before writing the best seller in 2004 that told his story of the corruption he'd been a part of.

As an EHM, Perkins said his job was to convince Third World countries to accept large loans for infrastructure development and to guarantee that the development projects were contracted to U.S. corporations.

Once the countries were saddled with huge debts, the U.S. government and the international aid agencies allied with it were able to control their economies and to ensure that oil and other resources were channeled to serve the interests of building a global empire, Perkins said.

When the EHM couldn't corrupt the leaders of developing countries by promising fortune, the U.S. would resort to assassination, he said. When those attempts failed, then the military was called in, he said.

The war in Iraq is a perfect example of this, he said. Saddam Hussein couldn't be bought or assassinated, so the U.S. invaded Iraq to protect its oil interests, he said.

Perkins' visit to OU was hosted by the OU chapter of Amnesty International.

When he appeared in Meacham Auditorium at Oklahoma Memorial Union, he was dressed comfortably in a long-sleeved gray polo shirt. His curly gray hair was shaggy but his lined face spoke of determination.

Perkins summarized his job as an economic hit man, saying these U.S. policies created the current state of the world, where poverty runs rampant and a small part of the population exploits the majority.

The ones who control the policies are not politicians, but what Perkins called the "corporatocracy," he said. This is the group of executives that lead companies that exploit the world's resources.

The corporatocracy isn't a conspiracy; the individuals don't get together and conspire to do dark deeds, he said.

"They all follow the unspoken goal of big corporations, and that goal is to consistently make huge profits, regardless of the social and environmental costs," he said.

While he explained the state of the world, Perkins was suprisingly upbeat, pointing out progress that had been made.