Our Brand is Crisis (2005) a film that followed the campaign of Jamil Mahuad, in Ecuador.  Jamil had hired an American consulting firm to help him run his campaign.  The implemented the many tactics that were used by many other world leaders to win campaigns.  They used easy slogan for people to “buy”, had focus groups that would survey real constituents about how they felt about commercials to appeal to the masses.  They would make ambiguous statements that would convince people to agree and follow.  The tactics worked for the “democratic” system in Ecuador, even though he did not win the majority of the votes.  All hell broke loose when he became president because the “promises” were not met.  Just like his campaign, his political intentions were foreign based with foreign backing and with little domestic benefits.  He wanted to bring Western influences in the country without fixing there economic crisis or caring for the people.  His presidency was a complete disaster and luckily the people took to their right to a voice and exiled him from the country.

John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hitman Part 1, is the perfect example of how American corporations and influence in other countries destroys cultures, lives, and land.  He was part of this multicorporation society that controls major economic aspects of the world.  They have been a part of a large conspiracy to bring profit without a care for human life (xvi).  He was brought into the society in a series of coincidences that led him primarily led him to the Peace Corps (7).  He worked for the Peace Corps but would write economic reports that led the leader to believe he was capable for their society.   Everything was very vague but he was given a surplus of resources (17). He recognized how statics could be skewed certain ways and he was to keep highly influential and wealthy people happy (18).  Their job was to promote American commercial interest around the world (20).

John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hitman Part 2, was the mission that took place in Ecuador and Panama.  The corporate conspiracies looked for governments in trouble and leaders needed platform to lean (168).  For Ecuador, petroleum is what they had to offer and this allowed it to be owned and exploited with American influence and domestic government support.  Within the corporate conspiracy there was not loyalty because money was the game and people would lose their jobs strictly based on greed (171).  The fact that a person would leave this “empire” voluntarily was absurd to most members but once he did he was able to follow events more closely.  The issue occurring in Ecuador mirrored the change happening in the United States with the election of Regan who wanted Ecuador’s president to be seen as another Castro.  He was not liked by the corporation or the oil companies and soon after he was killed and a plane crash.  It was seen as an accident with little American press coverage and soon after Panama’s president became a target. Ecuador after the influx of oil tycoons became hit with major economic and social disasters.  People were manipulated by corporations, banks, and government agencies and it was decades in the making.

Since the end of the Cold War, The United States has taken full advantage of their world polarity.  They are a single world power that has the center of the IMF and World bank at their fingertips, the major multinational corporations are based here, and United Nations influence is substantial.  This has allowed for EHM to take advantage of other countries, people, cultures, resources, and governments for a profit and a large one at that.  The amount of money this elite group of people is making could save millions of lives a year but the power and prestige they hole in international relations and politics allows them to be undetected.  The minority elite groups of society are control majority of the world population with money and intimidation without any recourse.  It is people like John Perkins who need to stand up and create a change before it all come tumbling down on us.