John Perkins has seen the signs of today's economic meltdown before. The subprime mortgage fiascos, the banking industry collapse, the rising tide of unemployment, the shuttering of small businesses across the landscape are all too familiar symptoms of a far greater disease. In his former life as an economic hit man, he was on the front lines both as an observer and a perpetrator of events, once confined only to the third world, that have now sent the United States—and in fact the entire planet—spiraling toward disaster. Here, Perkins pulls back the curtain on the real cause of the current global financial meltdown. He shows how we've been hoodwinked by the CEOs who run the corporatocracy—those few corporations that control the vast amounts of capital, land, and resources around the globe—and the politicians they manipulate. These corporate fat cats, Perkins explains, have sold us all on what he calls predatory capitalism, a misguided form of geopolitics and capitalism that encourages a widespread exploitation of the many to benefit a small number of the already very wealthy. Their arrogance, gluttony, and mismanagement have brought us to this perilous edge. The solution is not a "return to normal." But there is a way out. As Perkins makes clear, we can create a healthy economy that will encourage businesses to act responsibly, not only in the interests of their shareholders and corporate partners (and the lobbyists they have in their pockets), but in the interests of their employees, their customers, the environment, and society at large. We can create a society that fosters a just, sustainable, and safe world for us and our children. Each one of us makes these choices every day, in ways that are clearly spelled out in this book. "We hold the power," he says, "if only we recognize it." Hoodwinked is a powerful polemic that shows not only how we arrived at this precarious point in our history but also what we must do to stop the global tailspin.

ジョン・パーキンズが描くのは、単なる経済分析ではありません。かつてエコノミック・ヒットマンとして暗躍した著者自らが、過去という罪のフィルターを通して告発する、あまりに生々しい現代の告白録です。この作品の魅力は、略奪的資本主義の裏側に潜む強欲と欺瞞を、冷徹かつ情熱的な筆致で暴き出す当事者の視点が持つ文学的な重厚感にあります。 本書は、私たちが企業の甘い言葉に欺かれ、世界の富が一部に集中する歪な構造を直視させます。しかし、真の見どころは絶望の先にある希望の提示です。個人の選択がいかに巨大な力を持ち、持続可能な未来を築く鍵となるかを説く言葉は、読者の魂を激しく揺さぶります。今こそこの真実を直視し、自らの手で正義を取り戻そうという魂の叫びに触れてください。