Corporate Hit Men Colonize America

John Perkins

In the first of my Confessions of an Economic Hit Man trilogy, I wrote about how people like me helped the US government and corporations colonize countries that had resources we wanted, like oil. Economic hit men (EHM) are highly paid professionals that cheat countries around the world out of trillions of dollars. 

In the follow-on books, I described the ways the EHM model was adapted to exploit our own US citizens. Two recent rulings – one by the Justice Department and the other by the Supreme Court – have given Corporate Hit Men tools that elevate their powers to terrifying new levels and will contribute to the colonization of America by powerful corporations.

The Justice Department 

After being accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States for its role in two fatal 737 Max crashes, Boeing has reached a deal with the Justice Department  whereby the corporation pleads guilty to one charge of conspiracy. Boeing will pay up to $487 million in fines — a fraction of the $24.8 billion sought by the families of crash victims. Although the corporation pleaded guilty, no Boeing executives face criminal charges.

So, corporations that have the rights of individuals can plead guilty to a conspiracy that killed 346 people, but no one is accountable? Is that justice? Were no humans, no Boeing executives, involved in the conspiracy and subsequent coverup?

From The New York Times: 

According to the charges, the company defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration during the process of certifying the 737 Max to carry its first passengers. … Investigations revealed a design flaw in its autopilot system. Boeing has admitted responsibility for the fatal crashes, and that its employees withheld information about the design flaw from the FAA during certification.

In January 2021, the federal prosecutors and Boeing reached an agreement to settle criminal charges and defer any prosecution on the matter. During a three-year probationary period that followed, Boeing agreed to improve its quality issues and transparency with the government. …

In May [2024], the DOJ said it was looking into bringing criminal charges against Boeing once again due to a potential violation of that January 2021 agreement. Boeing had argued in its own court filings that it did not violate the agreement and that it should be spared prosecution. Sunday night’s guilty plea, which came just before a midnight deadline set by the DOJ, settled that issue.

This “deal” is heavily biased in favor of the executives of and rich investors in a huge, powerful corporation. Boeing employees “withheld information” and executives whose annual compensation is in the millions of dollars conspired to hide criminal acts from a federal agency and the public. And yet no one is accountable? 

Can you send a corporation to prison? 

Question: Why such a sweet deal for Boeing?

Answer: Because Boeing’s highly paid Corporate Hit Men (lawyers, lobbyists, politicians, and consultants) were able to corrupt government officials through bribes and threats (that aren’t considered illegal because they’ve been codified into law — as described extensively in my books).

Winners: Boeing executives who endorsed criminal actions and coverups and institutional and other high-roller investors.

Losers: The American people and people around the world whose lives are in jeopardy when flying airplanes that may not meet safety regulations. 

The Supreme Court

The Court’s decision in late June 2024 to restrict the regulatory authority of federal agencies is a major blow to the rights of Americans to be protected against exploitative and illegal actions by corporations.

From The New York Times:

This ruling could lead to the elimination or weakening of thousands of rules on the environment, health care, worker protection, food and drug safety, telecommunications, the financial sector and more.

The decision is a major victory in a decades-long campaign by conservative activists to shrink the power of the federal government, limiting the reach and authority of what those activists call “the administrative state.”…

“If Americans are worried about their drinking water, their health, their retirement account, discrimination on the job, if they fly on a plane, drive a car, if they go outside and breathe the air — all of these day-to-day activities are run through a massive universe of federal agency regulations,” said Lisa Heinzerling, an expert in administrative law at Georgetown University. “And this decision now means that more of those regulations could be struck down by the courts.”…

[Conservatives] believe the courts, not administrative agencies, should have the power to interpret statutes. The effort was led by Republican attorneys general, conservative legal activists and their funders, several with ties to large corporations, and supporters of former President Donald J. Trump.

It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court has ruled that the interpretation and enforcement of congressionally established laws should fall on a justice system that has just ruled in favor of Boeing’s executives and against the victims of crimes committed by that corporation. At the same time, the Supreme Court has taken the enforcement of corporate regulations away from agencies that are mandated to assure that such regulations are properly interpreted and enforced. And this is coming from a Supreme Court with the highest disapproval rating in recent US history – to a large degree because of alleged corruption on the part of several justices.

Note: If We the People want to change or reduce regulations, it is important to understand that it must be done through Congress. The DOJ, the Supreme Court, and the regulatory agencies do not establish regulations. Until this recent ruling, it was the job of trained experts at the regulatory agencies to enforce regulations made by our elected representatives. This ruling transfers that job to lawyers and judges who often lack any education or knowledge in these subjects.

Question: Why did this decision happen?

Answer: Corporate Hit Men employed their tools to convince the Supreme Court that judges should replace scientists, engineers, and other specialists at federal agencies in determining whether or not corporations adhere to regulations that are intended to protect the American people. 

Winners: Corporations that may avoid meeting regulatory requirements.

Losers: US consumers and those in other countries who buy products made by US corporations. 

Three decades ago, my friend David Korten wrote a bestselling book entitled When Corporations Rule the World. A decade after that I published the first of the Confessions of an Economic Hit Man trilogy. The intersection of the ideas behind these two books is telling. The new generation of Corporate Hit Men have taken the global rule of corporations to new levels that have resulted in the colonization of the American people in ways neither David nor I could have imagined back then.

For more on the interweaving of corporate and political corruption, read my Confessions of an Economic Hit Man trilogy and David Korten’s When Corporations Rule the World.