DAPAT KALBUHIN NA ITONG TAONG ITO.
Martes, Agosto 26, 2014
JIM PAREDES, GAGO PA RIN!
DAPAT KALBUHIN NA ITONG TAONG ITO.
MAY SIRA SA ULO SI KIM HENARES
"EH DAPAT NGA I-TAX NA RIN ANG MGA SARI-SARI STORE OWNERS . . . ."
"DAOT BA KA OG OTOK MISS?"
OPINION
Seditious
- Written by Tribune Wires
- Monday, 25 August 2014 00:00
Why would President Aquino III seek
to weaken the Supreme Court? Has he gone mad? He already made Congress an
adjunct of the Presidency by usurping the congressional power of the
purse. Shouldn’t he be working for the strengthening of political
institutions as a way of making the country’s budding democracy stronger and
enduring?
If Mr. Aquino was truly committed to a system of government that is different from the authoritarian regime that the 1987 Constitution sought to replace, he should embrace, not fight, the Supreme Court decision that ruled his Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional.
The Philippine Constitutional Association (Philconsa) was right when it described as “seditious or treasonous” President Aquino’s motion for the Supreme Court to reconsider its unanimous ruling that the DAP is unconstitutional.
“To initiate or encourage any measure to subvert or undermine or spoil the enforcement of the unanimous decision of the Court applying and interpreting the Constitution is seditious or treasonous. It is a mutiny against the Constitution,” Philconsa warned.
Why should Mr. Aquino try to weaken the Judiciary, and consequently strengthen the Presidency, when the Philippine president is unquestionably already very powerful. In fact, the Philippine president is stronger than the President of the United States, the mightiest militarily and most democratic country on Planet Earth.
In a tripartite system of government – the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary – the President, representing the Executive Department, is primus inter pares (a first among equals).
The President is the Commander-in-Chief of 129,780-strong armed forces of the Philippines. He commands a 196,245 police officers and men of the Philippine National Police. In most countries, peace and order is a local concern and thus implemented by local authorities. In the Philippines, the Philippine National Police is national in scope and hence under the direct
command and supervision of the President.
The President supervises all local government units – the 81 provinces, 144 cities, 1,490 municipalities, and 42,028 barangays.
The President is the country’s chief executive officer (CEO). He is the boss of some 1.2 million civil servants. Compare that with Congress’ 6,084 workers (one half of one percent of the entire bureaucracy, and with the Judiciary’s 25,247 justices and court employees, or about 2.1 percent of the entire bureaucracy.
The President commands an army and a national police. He controls the biggest chunk of government resources. Remember, he is just one individual exercising all these awesome powers. He can be a virtual dictator within the Executive Department. He can decide quickly and implement such decision promptly.
By contrast, the other co-equal branches of government – Congress and the Supreme Court – are collegial bodies. Decision-making is slow, oftentimes tedious, and decisions are arrived at through consensus. Notice, for example, how long it took the High Court to decide on the DAP issue.
Once a law is passed, Congress has no way of compelling the President to implement it; hence, the existence of many unfunded and unimplemented laws. Unless some concerned individuals or groups bring the case to the Supreme Court, there is no way such unimplemented laws may be enforced. Congress has no army of its own.
But even if the Supreme Court rules against the President, the High Court has no way of compelling the President to implement its decision. The Supreme Court, too, has no army of its own.
That is why honoring and respecting the rule of law is expected of all public officials. No less than the President has sworn to “uphold and defend” the Constitution of the Philippines.
Relative to the President, Congress is weaker because of its bicameral structure. In order to control Congress, all that the President has to do is control one of the two Houses of Congress. Mr. Aquino controls both Houses.
ON BUDGET MAKING AND IMPLEMENTATION, PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT IS MORE POWERFUL THAN THE US PRESIDENT
On budget making and implementation, the Philippine president is more powerful than the US president. First, the Philippine president has line-item veto power. Through it, the president may line out specific items in the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) and then sign the modified bill into law.
By comparison, the US President does not have line-item veto power. US Presidents have been asking for line-item veto power for a long time. It was in 1876, during President Grant’s term of office, that the line-item veto power was first raised before Congress. In 1996, the US Congress passed the Line Item Veto Act, which then President Clinton signed into law.
Several senators challenged it and raised the issue before the US Supreme Court, which found the law unconstitutional. The High Court ruled that the law violates the Presentment and Bicameral Clauses of the Constitution (Article I, Section 7, Clauses 2 and 3) that vests Congress with “all legislative powers.” Moreover, the “Non-delegation Doctrine” holds that one branch can’t transfer its constitutional powers to another branch or entity.
Second, in implementing the budget the Philippine president is not constrained by an Impoundment Control Act (ICA 1974), which the US president has to face. The ICA 1974 restricts the President’s power to impound appropriations.
The ICA 1974 gave the US President the power to both delay the expenditure of funds (deferral authority) and to cancel funds (rescission authority). But, to rescind funds, the President needs congressional concurrence within 45 days. In practice, Congress has ignored most Presidential requests to cancel funds.
Third, under existing Philippine budget rules, the budget of the previous year is automatically reenacted should Congress fail to approve the ensuing budget before the start of the fiscal year. Hence, there does not exist any threat that government operations will come to a halt should Congress delay the passage of a new general appropriations act.
In reality, Congress may not hold the President hostage by threatening to stall budget approval. In the US, the threat of stalling the approval of the budget (s) [since the US Congress approves several disparate budgets], and hence closing down part of government, is all too real. It has happened before and it could happen again in the future.
The US President is subject to ‘blackmail’ by an uncooperative Congress; the Philippine President is not since the Constitution provides for the automatic reenactment of the previous budget pending approval of a new budget.
All the foregoing discussions point to one indisputable fact: the powers of the Philippine President vis-à-vis Congress and the Judiciary are, right now, quite awesome.
The Philippine president’s budget formulation and implementation powers are even more formidable than those of the US President.
Hence, Mr. Aquino’s obsession to weaken the Supreme Court, and by implication strengthen the powers of the President, is at best, quizzical, and at worst, insane.
In his final days in Malacanang, Mr. Aquino should seek to rebuild and strengthen, rather than weaken, political institutions. In addition, he should spend his limited time solving the more crucial social and economic problems like hunger, poverty, unemployment, and the crumbling public infrastructure
If Mr. Aquino was truly committed to a system of government that is different from the authoritarian regime that the 1987 Constitution sought to replace, he should embrace, not fight, the Supreme Court decision that ruled his Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional.
The Philippine Constitutional Association (Philconsa) was right when it described as “seditious or treasonous” President Aquino’s motion for the Supreme Court to reconsider its unanimous ruling that the DAP is unconstitutional.
“To initiate or encourage any measure to subvert or undermine or spoil the enforcement of the unanimous decision of the Court applying and interpreting the Constitution is seditious or treasonous. It is a mutiny against the Constitution,” Philconsa warned.
Why should Mr. Aquino try to weaken the Judiciary, and consequently strengthen the Presidency, when the Philippine president is unquestionably already very powerful. In fact, the Philippine president is stronger than the President of the United States, the mightiest militarily and most democratic country on Planet Earth.
In a tripartite system of government – the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary – the President, representing the Executive Department, is primus inter pares (a first among equals).
The President is the Commander-in-Chief of 129,780-strong armed forces of the Philippines. He commands a 196,245 police officers and men of the Philippine National Police. In most countries, peace and order is a local concern and thus implemented by local authorities. In the Philippines, the Philippine National Police is national in scope and hence under the direct
command and supervision of the President.
The President supervises all local government units – the 81 provinces, 144 cities, 1,490 municipalities, and 42,028 barangays.
The President is the country’s chief executive officer (CEO). He is the boss of some 1.2 million civil servants. Compare that with Congress’ 6,084 workers (one half of one percent of the entire bureaucracy, and with the Judiciary’s 25,247 justices and court employees, or about 2.1 percent of the entire bureaucracy.
The President commands an army and a national police. He controls the biggest chunk of government resources. Remember, he is just one individual exercising all these awesome powers. He can be a virtual dictator within the Executive Department. He can decide quickly and implement such decision promptly.
By contrast, the other co-equal branches of government – Congress and the Supreme Court – are collegial bodies. Decision-making is slow, oftentimes tedious, and decisions are arrived at through consensus. Notice, for example, how long it took the High Court to decide on the DAP issue.
Once a law is passed, Congress has no way of compelling the President to implement it; hence, the existence of many unfunded and unimplemented laws. Unless some concerned individuals or groups bring the case to the Supreme Court, there is no way such unimplemented laws may be enforced. Congress has no army of its own.
But even if the Supreme Court rules against the President, the High Court has no way of compelling the President to implement its decision. The Supreme Court, too, has no army of its own.
That is why honoring and respecting the rule of law is expected of all public officials. No less than the President has sworn to “uphold and defend” the Constitution of the Philippines.
Relative to the President, Congress is weaker because of its bicameral structure. In order to control Congress, all that the President has to do is control one of the two Houses of Congress. Mr. Aquino controls both Houses.
ON BUDGET MAKING AND IMPLEMENTATION, PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT IS MORE POWERFUL THAN THE US PRESIDENT
On budget making and implementation, the Philippine president is more powerful than the US president. First, the Philippine president has line-item veto power. Through it, the president may line out specific items in the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) and then sign the modified bill into law.
By comparison, the US President does not have line-item veto power. US Presidents have been asking for line-item veto power for a long time. It was in 1876, during President Grant’s term of office, that the line-item veto power was first raised before Congress. In 1996, the US Congress passed the Line Item Veto Act, which then President Clinton signed into law.
Several senators challenged it and raised the issue before the US Supreme Court, which found the law unconstitutional. The High Court ruled that the law violates the Presentment and Bicameral Clauses of the Constitution (Article I, Section 7, Clauses 2 and 3) that vests Congress with “all legislative powers.” Moreover, the “Non-delegation Doctrine” holds that one branch can’t transfer its constitutional powers to another branch or entity.
Second, in implementing the budget the Philippine president is not constrained by an Impoundment Control Act (ICA 1974), which the US president has to face. The ICA 1974 restricts the President’s power to impound appropriations.
The ICA 1974 gave the US President the power to both delay the expenditure of funds (deferral authority) and to cancel funds (rescission authority). But, to rescind funds, the President needs congressional concurrence within 45 days. In practice, Congress has ignored most Presidential requests to cancel funds.
Third, under existing Philippine budget rules, the budget of the previous year is automatically reenacted should Congress fail to approve the ensuing budget before the start of the fiscal year. Hence, there does not exist any threat that government operations will come to a halt should Congress delay the passage of a new general appropriations act.
In reality, Congress may not hold the President hostage by threatening to stall budget approval. In the US, the threat of stalling the approval of the budget (s) [since the US Congress approves several disparate budgets], and hence closing down part of government, is all too real. It has happened before and it could happen again in the future.
The US President is subject to ‘blackmail’ by an uncooperative Congress; the Philippine President is not since the Constitution provides for the automatic reenactment of the previous budget pending approval of a new budget.
All the foregoing discussions point to one indisputable fact: the powers of the Philippine President vis-à-vis Congress and the Judiciary are, right now, quite awesome.
The Philippine president’s budget formulation and implementation powers are even more formidable than those of the US President.
Hence, Mr. Aquino’s obsession to weaken the Supreme Court, and by implication strengthen the powers of the President, is at best, quizzical, and at worst, insane.
In his final days in Malacanang, Mr. Aquino should seek to rebuild and strengthen, rather than weaken, political institutions. In addition, he should spend his limited time solving the more crucial social and economic problems like hunger, poverty, unemployment, and the crumbling public infrastructure
SAN MIGUEL CORPORATION, AKING KAMAG-ANAK
Govt to guarantee MRT 7 rail
By Alena Mae S. Flores | Aug. 25, 2014 at 12:01am
The government has agreed to provide
a financial guarantee to Metro Rail Transit Line 7, allowing proponent San
Miguel Corp. to start the construction of the P62.7-billion rail project within
the year, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said over the weekend.
Abaya said the Finance Department
issued the performance undertaking for the 22.8-kilometer rail project.
A performance undertaking, or a
financial guarantee given by the government to the contractor, is a requirement
for the financial closure of a project that would be partially funded by
official development assistance from multilateral banks or foreign lenders.
“The performance undertaking has
been signed by [Finance] Secretary [Cesar] Purisima. We have signed our
implementing guidelines, so it is a matter of calling them [proponent] and
giving it to them, so that’s already a go,” Abaya told reporters.
“The next step, once the performance
undertaking is given to them, they should commence financial close. What I’m
requesting them to do is to do it sooner than 18 months, but they’re saying
they could do advanced works once they get the green light. I hope they can do
it before next year,” Abaya said.
The National Economic and
Development Authority board, chaired by President Benigno Aquino III, approved
the MRT 7 project, an unsolicited offer from conglomerate San Miguel Corp. in
November 2013.
MRT 7 involves the construction of a
22.8-kilometer rail system from North Avenue station in Quezon City, passing
through Commonwealth Avenue, Regalado Avenue and Quirino Highway, to the
proposed intermodal transportation terminal in San Jose del Monte City,
Bulacan.
The project, first proposed by Universal
LRT Corp. Ltd. nearly a decade ago, was delayed because of the company’s
failure to secure a performance undertaking from the Finance Department.
San Miguel, through unit San Miguel
Holdings Corp., acquired a 51-percent interest in Universal LRT in 2010.
San Miguel awarded the engineering,
procurement, construction contract to the Marubeni-DMCI consortium.
San Miguel earlier said once the
performance undertaking was given by the Finance Department, the processing for
the financial closure could be received within the year.
The company said construction of the
project was estimated to take 42 months. Once completed, MRT 7 is
expected to serve 850,000 passengers daily.
Biyernes, Agosto 22, 2014
COLOMANG GAGO
BLACK MANDARIN
why do they call me the Black Mandarin . . .. ?
Ikaw naman, parang hindi mo alam!!! Ikaw naman ang nagdidikta kay Noynoy di ba? Basta PERA, ikaw di ba???
PENALIZE SHOEMART
Bill to penalize stores that will not give exact
change to customers
The Philippine coins. Photo courtesy
of Ebay.com
MANILA, 29July2014 (PNA) — A
lawmaker has filed a bill, imposing a penalty against erring business
establishments that fail to give the exact amount of change to customers.
Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian (1st
District, Valenzuela City) filed House Bill 4433 seeking to protect consumers
from deceptive, unfair and unconscionable sales act and practices.
Gatchalian said the bill seeks to
stop the practice of many business establishments like supermarkets of giving
candies instead of paying the exact amount of change to customers.
The bill seeks to amend Republic Act
7394, otherwise known as the “Consumer Act of the Philippines,” particularly
the provision on unfair or unconscionable sales provision.
“RA 7394 is a government regulation
that is aimed at protecting consumers’ rights and welfare. It has been in
existence for 22 years with some minor amendments. In order to be responsive to
the prevailing times, this measure intends to add another provision in Article
52 to further protect consumers,” Gatchalian said.
According to Gatchalian, Article 52
of RA 7394 provides that an unfair or unreasonable sales act or practice by a
seller or supplier in connection with a consumer transaction violates Chapter I
– Deceptive, Unfair and Unconscionable Sales Acts or Practices, whether it
occurs before, during or after the consumer transaction.
Gatchalian said an act or practice
shall be deemed unfair and unconscionable whenever the producer, manufacturer,
distributor, supplier or seller, by taking advantage of the environment or
surroundings, induces the consumer or gross one-side in favor of the producer,
manufacturer, distributor, supplier or seller.
Gatchalian cited Article 48 of RA
7394, which provides that the State shall promote and encourage fair, honest
and equitable relations among parties in consumer transactions and protect the
consumer against deceptive, unfair and unconscionable sales acts or practices.
Gatchalian proposed to amend Article
48 by providing additional circumstance by including that the consumer
transaction was denied because of an alleged shortage of coins or change on the
part of the seller, or that the consumer was shortchanged by the giving of
candies or other items in lieu of money as change, or when due to lack of time,
the consumer enters into the transaction even if it means waiving the change
due.
Under the bill, violators face
one-year imprisonment and a fine of not more than P10,000. (PNA)
Get that exact change
Dear DTI Consumer Power,
What happens to those who do not give exact change to their customers? Is it really that grave if we do not get that peso or centavo as change? I usually just ignore it since it’s a very small amount.
What happens to those who do not give exact change to their customers? Is it really that grave if we do not get that peso or centavo as change? I usually just ignore it since it’s a very small amount.
Kris, Marikina
Dear Kris,
Shortchanging is a violation against the law, because businesses who commit this are giving consumers less of what is due to them. Needless to say, it is a form of cheating. The law that is being implemented to address this problem is called the “Exact Change Act” which seeks to “(a) prohibit the giving of insufficient change or no change at all to consumers; (b) prohibit the giving of change in any form other than money; (c) require the posting of signs reminding consumers to ask for their exact change; and (d) require the use of price tags, when appropriate, that will reflect the exact price per unit or service, already incorporating the applicable tax or taxes.”
Shortchanging is a violation against the law, because businesses who commit this are giving consumers less of what is due to them. Needless to say, it is a form of cheating. The law that is being implemented to address this problem is called the “Exact Change Act” which seeks to “(a) prohibit the giving of insufficient change or no change at all to consumers; (b) prohibit the giving of change in any form other than money; (c) require the posting of signs reminding consumers to ask for their exact change; and (d) require the use of price tags, when appropriate, that will reflect the exact price per unit or service, already incorporating the applicable tax or taxes.”
Any person or business that violates
the Exact Change Act shall be fined P500 for the first offense; P15,000 for the
second offense and suspension for three months of their license to operate; and
P25,000 for the fourth offense and their license to operate revoked.
In addition to the amount of fines
mentioned, the total amount of change that the establishment failed or refused
to give, as determined from the audit of the Department of Trade and Industry,
shall be paid by the said establishment to the government, unless it can be
determined with reasonable certainty that the change is due and payable to a
particular person or persons.
Consumers tend to ignore it when a
mere 10 centavos, 25 centavos, or P1 less of their change. What they don’t
realize is the gravity and implications of committing shortchanging. Imagine a
restaurant serving 500 customers a day and all of them get a change short of
P1. If you do the math, the restaurant gets P500 a day, P2,000 a week, P8,000 a
month and P96,000 a year. This amount could have bought their customers, whom
they didn’t give exact change to, extra decent meals or other valuable
products/services.
Shortchanging is a trade
malpractice. When tolerated by consumers, makes it seem acceptable by the
society when it should be stopped. This also defeats the purpose of putting
laws and policies in place to give order to the community. Consumers must
realize the importance of asserting their rights. This is one way of achieving
a balance between doing business and protecting the welfare of the consuming
public.
***
The Department of Trade and Industry
welcomes all inquiries, complaints, comments and suggestions from consumers.
Call DTI Direct at 751-3330 from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or
visit the DTI website www.dti.gov.ph
Miyerkules, Agosto 13, 2014
HENRY SY NG SM, MANDURUGAS, VIOLATOR OF CONSUMER CODE
DI BA'T ANG YAMAN MO NA???
ILLEGAL CHINESE WORKERS
TUCP said the Senate and the House of Representatives must conduct a probe and come up with measures to curb the rising number of foreigners working in the country without government permits because this has adverse implications on local industries and in the employment situation of Filipinos.
Under the law, foreigners seeking employment in the Philippines are required to apply for an Alien Employment Permit.
But last week, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) arrested 50 Chinese, one British and one Australian employed at the construction of a coal-fired plant in Davao City for working without permits, the TUCP reported.
The BI also deported last year more than 200 foreign workers employed at construction sites in Bataan and Batangas provinces, again for working without permits, the labor group added.
“There is indeed a clear, continuing and growing violation of our domestic laws. This further undermines the job security in the country as they compete with the already limited jobs generated for the Filipinos in our homeland,” TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay pointed out.
TUCP party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza earlier filed House Resolution 974, which seeks to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on illegal foreign workers in the country.
The investigation of Congress, Tanjusay noted, would benefit not only local workers but migrant workers as well, since it would ensure better working conditions for them.
Currently, illegal migrant workers are not covered by the law and therefore vulnerable to violation and exploitation of their basic rights.
Tanjusay also clarified that the TUCP is not against the entry of foreign workers in the country, but of its adverse impact on employment of Filipino workers, who leave the country to work abroad simply because there are no available jobs for them here
ATTENTION MISON AT DIMACULANGAN!!! MAGKANO ANG SINISINGIL NINYO?????
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SUPPORTER NI AQUINO JIM PAREDES
KAWATAN SA IMMIGRATION
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WHY?
SOLAIRE IS THE KEY WORD.
UNDER ORDERS FROM "MALACANANG"
CHECK IT OUT WITH THE BI INSIDERS TO VERIFY.
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PURISIMA AT RECTO
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" MAGANDA NAMAN ANG E-VAT AH?
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"THE 30 BILLION PESO-BUDGET GIVEN TO US BY ABAD AT THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT OFFERS A GREAT HELP TO THE PHILIPPINE ECONOMY.
THE MORE BUDGET WE HAVE, THE BETTER FOR ALL OF US."
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WORLD BANK - IMF CONSPIRACY
Economic hit men
(EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out
of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, U.S. Agency for
International Development, and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers
of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's
natural resources. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and
murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and
terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.
I should know; I
was an EHM.
I wrote that in
1982, as the beginning of a book with the working title
Conscience
of an Economic Hit Man. The book was dedicated to the
presidents of two countries, men who had been my clients, whom I respected and
thought of as kindred spirits—Jaime Roldós, president of Ecuador, and Omar
Torrijos, president of Panama.
Both had just died
in fiery crashes. Their deaths were not accidental. They were
assassinated
because they opposed that fraternity of corporate, government, and banking heads
whose goal is global empire. We EHMs failed to bring Roldós and Torrijos around,
and the other type of hit men, the CIA-sanctioned jackals who were always right
behind us, stepped in.
I was persuaded to
stop writing that book. I started it four more times during the
next twenty years.
On each occasion, my decision to begin again was influenced by
current world
events: the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1980, the first Gulf War, Somalia, and
the rise of Osama bin Laden. However, threats or bribes always convinced me to stop.
In 2003, the
president of a major publishing house that is owned by a powerful
international
corporation read a draft of what had now become Confessions of an
Economic
Hit Man. He described it as “a riveting story that needs to be told.”
Then he sadly, shook his head, and told me that since the executives at world
headquarters might
object, he could not afford to risk publishing it.
2
He advised me to
fictionalize it. “We could market you in the mold of a novelist
like John Le Carre
or Graham Greene.”
But this is not
fiction. It is the true story of my life. Amore courageous
publisher, one not
owned by an international corporation, has agreed to help me tell it.
This story must be
told. We live in a time of terrible crisis—and tremendous
opportunity. The
story of this particular economic hit man is the story of how we got to where
we are and why we currently face crises that seem insurmountable. This story
must be told
because only through understanding our past mistakes will we be able to take
advantage of future opportunities, because 9/11 happened and so did the second war
in Iraq, because in addition to the three thousand people who died on September
11 at the hands of terrorists, another twenty-four thousand died from hunger
and hunger related causes. In fact, twenty-four thousand people die every
single day because they are unable to obtain life-sustaining food. Most
importantly, this story must be told because today, for the first time in
history, one nation has the ability, the money, and the power to change all
this. It is the nation where I was born and the one I served as an
EHM: the United
States of America.
What finally
convinced me to ignore the threats and bribes?
The short answer is
that my only child, Jessica, graduated from college and went
out into the world
on her own. When I recently told her that I was considering
publishing this
book and shared my fears with her, she said, “Don't worry, dad. If they get
you, I'll take over where you left off. We need to do this for the
grandchildren I hope to give you someday!”
The longer version
relates to my dedication to the country where I was raised,
my love for the
ideals expressed by our founding fathers, my deep commitment to the American
republic that today promises “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for all
people, everywhere, and to my determination after 9/11 not to sit idly by any
longer while EHMs turn that republic into a global empire. That is the skeleton
version of the long answer; the flesh and blood are added during the chapters
that follow.
This is a true
story. I lived every minute of it. The sights, the people, the
conversations, and
the feelings I describe were all a part of my life. It is my personal story and
yet it happened within the larger context of world events that have shaped
our history, brought us to where we are today, and form the foundation
for our children’s futures. I have made every effort to present these experiences,
people, and conversations accurately. Whenever I discuss historical events or re-create
conversations with other people, I do so with the help of several tools, including
published documents; personal records and notes;
recollections—my own and those of others who participated; the five manuscripts
I began previously; and historical accounts by other authors, most notably
recently published
ones that disclose information that formerly was classified or
otherwise
unavailable. Footnotes and references are provided to allow interested readers to
pursue these subjects in more depth.
My publisher asked
whether we actually referred to ourselves as economic hit
men. I assured him
that we did, although usually only by the initials. In fact, on the day in 1971
when I began working with my teacher Claudine, she informed me,
3
“My assignment is to
mold you into an economic hit man. No one can know
about your
involvement—not even your wife.” Then she turned serious. “Once you're in,
you're in for life.” After that she seldom used the full name, we were simply EHMs.
Claudine's role is a
fascinating example of the manipulation that underlies the
business I had
entered. Beautiful and intelligent, she was highly effective; she
understood my
weaknesses and used them to her greatest advantage. Her job was
typical of the cogs
that keep the system on track. Claudine pulled no punches when
describing what I would
be called upon to do. My job, she said, was “to encourage
world leaders to
become part of a vast network that promotes U.S. commercial interests. In the
end, those leaders become ensnared in a web of debt that ensures their loyalty.
We can draw on them
whenever we desire—to satisfy our political, economic, or
military needs. In
turn, they bolster their political positions by bringing industrial parks, power
plants, and airports to their people. The owners of U.S. engineering and construction
companies become fabulously wealthy.”
Today we see the
results of this system run amok. Executives at our most
respected companies
hire people at near-slave wages to toil under inhuman conditions in Asian
sweatshops. Oil companies wantonly pump toxins down rain forest rivers, consciously
killing people, animals, and plants and committing genocide among ancient cultures.
The pharmaceutical industry denies life-saving medicines to millions of
HIVinfected Africans. Twelve million families in our own United States worry about
their
next meal. The energy
industry creates an Enron. The accounting industry creates an Andersen. The
income ratio of the one-fifth of the world’s population in the wealthiest countries
to the one-fifth in the poorest went from 30:1 in 1960 to 74:1 in 1995. The United
States spends over $87 billion conducting a war in Iraq while the United
Nations estimates that for less than half that amount we could provide clean
water, adequate diets, sanitation services, and basic education to every person
on the planet. And we wonder why terrorists attack us?
Some would blame our
current problems on an organized conspiracy. I wish it
were so simple.
Members of a conspiracy can be rooted out and brought to justice. This system,
however, is fueled by something far more dangerous than conspiracy. 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.
The concept is, of
course, erroneous. We know that in many countries economic
growth benefits only
a small portion of the population and may in fact result in
increasingly
desperate circumstances for the majority. This effect is reinforced by the corollary
belief that the captains of industry who drive this system should enjoy a special
status, a belief that is the root of many of our current problems and perhaps
is also the reason that conspiracy theories abound. When men and woman are
rewarded for greed, greed becomes a corrupting motivator. When we equate the
gluttonous consumption of the earth's resources with a status approaching
sainthood, when we teach our children to emulate people who live unbalanced
lives, and when we define
4
huge sections of the
population as subservient to an elite minority, we ask for trouble. And we get
it.
In their drive to
advance the global empire, corporations, banks, and
governments
(collectively the corporatocracy) use their financial and political muscle to ensure
that our schools, businesses, and the media support both the fallacious concept
and its corollary. They have brought us to a point where our global culture is
a
monstrous machine
that requires exponentially increasing amounts of fuel and
maintenance, so much
so that in the end it will have consumed everything in sight and will be left
with no choice but to devour itself.
The corporatocracy is
not a conspiracy, but its members do endorse common
values and goals. One
of corporatocracy's most important functions is to perpetuate and continually
expand and strengthen the system. The lives of those who “make
it,” and their accouterments—their mansions, yachts, and private jets—are
presented as models to inspire us all to consume, consume, consume. Every
opportunity is taken to convince us
that purchasing things is our civic duty, that pillaging the earth is good for
the
economy and
therefore serves our higher interests. People like me are paid outrageously high
salaries to do the system's bidding. If we falter, a more malicious form of hit
man, the jackal, steps to the plate. And if the jackal fails, then the job
falls to the military.
This book is the
confession of a man who, back when he was an EHM, was part
of a relatively
small group. People who play similar roles are more abundant now. They have
more euphemistic titles, and they walk the corridors of Monsanto, General Electric,
Nike, General Motors, Wal-Mart, and nearly every other major corporation in the
world. In a very real sense, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is their
story, as well as mine.
It is your story
too, the story of your world and mine, of the first truly global
empire. History
tells us that unless we modify this story, it is guaranteed to end
tragically. Empires
never last. Every one of them has failed terribly. They destroy many cultures
as they race toward greater domination, and then they themselves fall. No country
or combination of them can thrive in the long term by exploiting others.
This book was
written so that we may take heed and remold our story. I am
certain that when
enough of us become aware of how we are being exploited by the
economic engine
that creates an insatiable appetite for the world's resources and that results
in systems that foster slavery, we will no longer tolerate it. We will reassess
our role in a world where a few swim in riches and the majority drown in
poverty, pollution, and violence. We will commit ourselves to navigating a
course toward compassion, democracy, and social justice for all.
Admitting to a
problem is the first step toward finding a solution. Confessing a
sin is the
beginning of redemption. Let this book, then, be the start of our salvation.
Let it inspire us to new levels of dedication, and drive us to realize our
dream for balanced and honorable societies.
5
Prologue
Quito, Ecuador’s
capital, stretches across a volcanic valley high in the Andes, at an
altitude of nine
thousand feet. Residents of this city, which was founded long before Columbus
arrived in the Americas, are accustomed to seeing snow on the surrounding peaks,
despite the fact that they live just a few miles south of the Equator.
The city of Shell,
a frontier outpost and military base hacked out of Ecuador’s
Amazon jungle to
service the oil company whose name it bears, is nearly eight thousand feet
lower than Quito. A steaming city, it is inhabited mostly by soldiers, oil
workers, and the indigenous people from the Shuar and Kichwa tribes who work
for them as prostitutes and laborers.
To journey from one
city to the other, you must travel a road that is both
tortuous and
breathtaking. Local people will tell you that during the trip you experience all
four seasons in a single day.
Although I have
driven this road many times, I never tire of the spectacular
scenery. Sheer
cliffs punctuated by cascading waterfalls and brilliant bromeliads, rise up one
side. On the other side, the earth drops abruptly into a deep abyss where the
Pastaza
River, a headwater
of the Amazon, snakes its way down the Andes. The Pastaza carries water from
the glaciers of Cotopaxi, one of the world’s highest active volcanoes, and a deity
in the time of the Incas, to the Atlantic Ocean more than three thousand miles away.
In 2003, I left
Quito in a Subaru Outback and headed for Shell on a mission that
was like no other I
had ever accepted. I was hoping to end a war I had helped create. As is the
case with so many things we EHMs must take responsibility for, it is a war that
is virtually unknown anywhere outside the country where it is fought. I was on
my way to meet with the Shuar, the Kichwa, and their neighbors, the Achuar,
Zaparos, the Shiwiars—tribes determined to prevent our oil companies from
destroying their homes, families, and lands, even if it means they must die in
the process. This is a war that for them is about the survival of their
children and cultures, while for us it is about power, money, and natural
resources. It is one part of the struggle for world domination and the
dream of a few
greedy men—global empire.
That is what we
EHMs do best: we build a global empire. We are an elite group
of men and women
who utilize international financial organizations to foment
conditions that
make other nations subservient to the corporatocracy that runs our
biggest corporations,
our government, and our banks. Like our counterparts in the
Mafia, we provide
favors. These take the form of loans to develop infrastructure—
electric generating
plants, highways, ports, airports, or industrial parks. One condition of such
loans is that engineering and construction companies from our own country
must build all these
projects. In essence, most of the money never leaves the United States; it is
simply transferred from banking offices in Washington to engineering offices in
New York, Houston, or San Francisco.
Despite the fact that
the money is returned almost immediately to corporations
that are members of
the corporatocracy (the creditors), the recipient country is required to pay it
all back, principal plus interest.
6
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, like the Mafia, we demand
our pound of flesh, which often includes one or more of the following:
control over United
Nations votes, the installations of military bases, or access to
precious resources,
like oil or the Panama Canal. Of course, the debtor still owes us the money—and
another country is added to our global empire.
Driving from Quito
toward Shell on this sunny day in 2003, I thought back
thirty-five years to
the first time I arrived in this part of the world. I had read that
although Ecuador is
only about the size of Nevada, it has more than thirty active
volcanoes, over 15
percent of the world’s bird species, and thousands of as-yet
unclassified plants,
and that it is a land of diverse cultures where nearly as many people speak
ancient indigenous languages as speak Spanish. I found it to be fascinating and
certainly exotic; yet, the words that kept coming to mind back then were pure, untouched,
and innocent.
Much has changed in
thirty-five years.
At the time of my
first visit in 1968, Texaco had only just discovered petroleum
in Ecuador’s Amazon
region. Today, oil accounts for nearly half the country’s exports. A
trans-Andean pipeline, built shortly after my first visit has since leaked over
a half
million barrels of
oil into the fragile rain forest—more than twice the amount spilled by
the Exxon Valdez.
Today, a new $1.3 billion, 300-mile pipeline constructed by an
EHM-organized
consortium promises to make Ecuador one of the world’s top ten
suppliers of oil to
the United States. Vast areas of rain forest have fallen, macaws and jaguars
have all but vanished, three Ecuadorian indigenous cultures have been driven to
the verge of collapse, and pristine rivers have been transformed into flaming
cesspools.
During this same
period, the indigenous cultures began fighting back. As one
result, on May 7,
2003, a group of American lawyers representing more than thirty
thousand indigenous
Ecuadorian people filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Chevron
Texaco Corp. The suit
asserts that between 1971 and 1992 the oil giant dumped into
open holes and rivers
over four million gallons per day of toxic wastewater,
contaminated with
oil, heavy metals, and carcinogens, and that the company left behind nearly 350
uncovered waste pits that continue to kill both people and animals.
Outside the window of
my Outback, great clouds of mist rolled in from the
forests and up the
Pastaza’s canyons. Sweat soaked my shirt and my stomach began to churn, but not
just from the intense tropical heat and the serpentine twists in the road.
Knowing the part I
had played in destroying this beautiful country was once again
taking its toll.
Because of me and my fellow EHMs, Ecuador is in far worse shape today than
before we introduced her to the miracles of modern economics, banking, and engineering.
Since 1970—during this period known euphemistically as the oil Boom— the
official poverty level grew from 50 to 70 percent, under- or unemployment increased
from 15 to 70 percent, and public debt increased from $240 million to $16 billion.
Meanwhile, the share of national resources allocated to the poorest segments of
the population declined from 20 to 6 percent.
Unfortunately,
Ecuador is not the exception. Nearly every country we EHMs
have brought under
the global empire’s umbrella has suffered a similar fate.
7
The Subaru slowed as
it meandered through the streets of the beautiful resort
town of Baños, famous
for the hot baths created by underground volcanic rivers that flow from the
highly active Mount Tungurahgua. Children ran along beside us, waving and
trying to sell us gum and cookies. Then we left Baños behind. The spectacular scenery
ended abruptly. The Subaru sped out of paradise and into a modern vision of
Dante's Inferno.
A gigantic monster
reared up from the river, a mammoth gray wall. Its dripping
concrete was totally
out of place, completely unnatural and incompatible with the
landscape. Of course,
seeing it there should not have surprised me. I knew all along that it would be
waiting in ambush. I had encountered it many times before and in the past had
praised it as a symbol of EHM accomplishments. Even so, it made my skin crawl.
That hideous,
incongruous wall is a dam that blocks the rushing Pastaza River,
diverts its waters
through huge tunnels bored into the mountain, and converts their
energy to
electricity. This is the 156-megawatt Agoyan Hydroelectric Project. It fuels the
industries that make a handful of Ecuadorian families wealthy, and it has been
the source of untold suffering for the farmers and indigenous people who live
along the river. This hydroelectric plant is just one of many projects
developed through my efforts
and those of other
EHMs. Such projects are the reason Ecuador is now a member of the global empire,
and also the reason why the Shuar, the Kichwa, and their neighbors have declared war on our oil companies.
Because of EHM
projects, Ecuador is awash in foreign debt and must devote an
inordinate share of
its national budget to paying this off, instead of using its capital to help
the millions of its citizens officially classified as dangerously impoverished.
The only way Ecuador can buy down its foreign obligations is by selling its
rain forests to the oil companies. Indeed, one of the reasons the EHMs set
their sights on Ecuador in the first place was because the sea of oil beneath
its Amazon region is believed to rival the oil fields of the Middle East. The
global empire demands its pound of flesh in the form of oil concessions.
These demands became
especially urgent after September 11, 2001, when
Washington feared
that Middle Eastern supplies might cease. On top of that, Venezuela, our
third-largest oil supplier, had elected a populist president, Hugo Chavez, who
took a strong stand against what he referred to as U.S. imperialism; he
threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States. The EHMs had failed in
Iraq and Venezuela. But we had succeeded in Ecuador; now we would milk it for
all it is worth.
Ecuador is typical of
countries around the world that EHMs have brought into
the
economic-political fold. For every $100 of crude taken out of the Ecuadorian
rain forests, the oil companies receive $75. Of the remaining $25, three
quarters must go to paying off the foreign debt. Most of the remainder covers
military and other government expenses— which leaves about $2.50 for health,
education, and programs aimed at helping the poor. Thus, out of every $100
worth of oil torn from the Amazon, less than $3 goes to the people who need the
money most, whose lives have been so adversely impacted by the dams, the
drilling, and the pipelines, and who are dying from lack of edible food and
drinkable water.
8
Every one of those
people—millions in Ecuador, billions around the planet—is a
potential terrorist.
Not because they believe in communism or the tenets of anarchism, nor because
they are intrinsically evil, but simply because they are desperate. Looking at
this dam, I wondered—as I have so often in so many places around the world—when
these people would take action, like the Americans against England in the 1770s
or
Latin Americans
against Spain in the early 1800s.
The subtlety of this
modern empire-building puts the Roman centurions, the
Spanish
conquistadors, and the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European colonial powers
to shame. We EHMs are crafty; we learned from history. Today we do not carry
swords. We do not
wear armor or clothes that set us apart. In countries like Ecuador, Nigeria,
and Indonesia, we dress like local schoolteachers and shop owners. In Washington
and Paris, we look like government bureaucrats and bankers. We appear humble,
normal. We visit project sites and stroll through impoverished villages. We profess
altruism, talk with local papers about the wonderful humanitarian things we are
doing. We cover the conference tables of government committees with our
spreadsheets and financial projections, and we lecture at the Harvard Business
School about the miracles of macroeconomics. We are on the record, in the open.
Or so we portray ourselves, and so are we accepted. It is how the system works.
We seldom resort to anything illegal because the system itself is built on
subterfuge, and the system is by
definition
legitimate.
However—and this is a
very large caveat—if we fail, an even more sinister
breed steps in, ones
we EHMs refer to as the jackals, men who trace their heritage
directly to those
earlier empires. The jackals are always there, lurking in the shadows.
When they emerge,
heads of state are overthrown or die in violent “accidents.” And if by chance
the jackals fail, as they failed in Afghanistan and Iraq, then the old models resurface.
When the jackals fail, young Americans are sent in to kill and die.
As I passed the
monster, that hulking mammoth wall of gray concrete rising
from the river, I was
very conscious of the sweat that soaked my clothes and the
tightening of my
intestines. I headed on down into the jungle to meet with the
indigenous people who
are determined to fight to the last man in order to stop this
empire I helped
create, and I was overwhelmed with feelings guilt.
How, I asked myself,
did a nice kid from rural New Hampshire ever get into
such a dirty
business?
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