Global poverty isn't just a result of history - it's an active system designed to extract resources from developing countries while keeping them in debt. Former economic hitman John Perkins reveals how corporations and wealthy nations impoverish the places with the most resources, and why this threatens humanity's survival. We explore the connections between inequality, environmental destruction, and our global economic system, plus what each of us can do to transform the "death economy" into a "life economy."

John Perkins spent decades as chief economist at a major consulting firm, advising the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Fortune 500 corporations on projects around the world. But he was actually functioning as an "economic hitman" - engineering massive debt that allows corporations to control developing countries' resources.

Before that life, he lived in the Amazon rainforest studying with shamans, and he's continued that work alongside his career as an author, speaker and activist. His bestselling book "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" exposed how the global economy really works. His other books include “Shapeshifting”, "Touching the Jaguar", and most recently, the novel "Message from Pleiades." And he's a founder of the Pachamama Alliance, working with indigenous people to protect the Amazon rainforest and all of Earth’s ecosystems.

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ABOUT THE HUMAN SURVIVAL PROJECT:

The Human Survival Project combines two essential truths: humanity faces existential threats to our civilization, and these global threats require global management through a redesigned and much stronger United Nations.

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RESOURCES:

John Perkins’ website

https://johnperkins.org 

John’s latest book, "Message From Pleiades"

https://johnperkins.org/message-from-pleiades 

Pachamama Alliance

https://pachamama.org/ 

Dream Change

https://www.dreamchange.org/  

The Divide, by Jason Hickel

https://www.jasonhickel.org/the-divide  

TIMESTAMPS:

0:01 - Introduction

1:02 - The Human Survival Project - latest news

7:01 - John Perkins introduction and background

7:52 - What is an economic hitman?

10:15 - Shelby's perspective shift on global poverty

12:30 - How the corporate empire system works

16:53 - Who's really doing the corrupting?

21:18 - Why infrastructure money never reaches local communities

22:45 - Historical context - 200,000 years of human cooperation

24:00 - Global forces overwhelming indigenous communities

25:00 - Texaco in Ecuador - the propaganda and the reality

27:40 - Amazon destruction and environmental tipping points

28:49 - Amazon soil and climate cycles

30:32 - Economics destroying millions of years of evolution

31:00 - Mayan civilization - a cautionary tale

33:39 - Solutions: What should we do?

34:10 - Death economy vs. life economy

36:51 - Corporate responsibility and policy challenges

39:00 - The five questions for personal transformation

44:20 - We're all collaborators in the system

45:35 - American Revolution analogy - critical mass for change

47:06 - Arthur Ashe quote: "Start where you are"

47:53 - How can the world help developing countries?

49:53 - China's economic success vs. US mistakes

52:00 - Fair deals instead of exploitation

53:02 - Final thoughts and what we've missed

56:05 - John leading tours to the Amazon

57:01 - We're evolving as a species