John will be speaking at InfoReset Seminars, SKYCITY Auckland on 25 March 2018. For more information, visit: www.inforeset.com
This new dream is of an economy that cleans up polluted waters, soil, and air; empowers hungry and starving people to
feed themselves; develops transportation, communications, and energy systems that do not deplete resources; creates
market and exchange systems that are community oriented and not based on debt currencies or war. In essence, it is a new
dream, founded on courage and love rather than fear and hatred.
Since 2004, when the original of this book was published, I’ve spoken at conferences of business executives, at rock
concerts, and at consumer summits. I’ve met with government leaders and lectured at universities in many countries. I’ve
grown increasingly impressed with the messages I’ve heard. Entrepreneurs, lawyers, executives, farmers, and homemakers —
people from all walks of life — are changing their dreams from the ones prevalent ten years ago, about wealth and power,
to the ones more common today, about the desire to raise families in an environmentally sustainable, socially just, and
personally fulfilling world.
People everywhere understand the need for this revolution. We know that we must do whatever it takes to birth a life
economy. We also know that each of us must do the things we love. You and I—we—are the ones to make this revolution
happen. To do that, we must love who we are and what we do.
This book demonstrates that global corporations run this failed geo- political/economic system. To change the system, we
must change the dream of corporations.
Some argue that we need to rid the planet of corporations; however, the likelihood of this happening—at least in my
lifetime—is extremely low. I think, instead, we need to take the shamanic approach, to transform — shapeshift — the
attitudes and goals of those who own and man- age the corporations.
Corporations are highly effective at channeling brilliant ideas into concrete action. But their dream of maximizing
profits without regard for the environmental and social costs, their orientation toward pillaging resources and
promoting debt and materialism, has been disastrous. It is time for a new dream that is based on serving the earth, the
public, and future generations—not just of humans but of all beings.
We are empowered by the many ways we’ve changed corporations in the recent past—by boycotting ones that supported
apartheid, polluted our rivers, refused to hire women or minorities, objected to same-sex marriages, rejected organic
produce, opposed food labeling, and so much more.
We are encouraged by the knowledge that many executives and business owners are as concerned as anyone else. Whether
they are employees of Fortune 500 corporations or proprietors of mom-and-pop stores, they are not members of the
corporatocracy and therefore are exploited along with the rest of us. Even the 0.01 percent are threatened. If this
space station crashes, we all crash.
When I was first invited to speak at corporate conferences and MBA programs, I asked the organizers why they would want
to hear from the author of a book such as mine. They answered that their people are smart enough to recognize that the
current system verges on collapse. Until now, businesspeople may not have thought in terms of a death economy versus a
life economy, but they understand that, to be successful, they will have to embrace new models. They are searching for
innovative approaches and ways to implement them.
CEOs who desire to change their corporate strategies tell me that they fear that if they lose short-term market share or
profits they will be replaced by someone who cares only about market share or profits. Feeling trapped in an archaic
structure, they crave consumer movements that generate thousands of letters and e-mails saying things like “I love your
product but will not buy it until you pay your workers a living wage.” They can then take this information to their
executive committee, key stockholders, the founder, or whoever has the ability to fire them.
For me, hearing such admissions is encouraging, because it identifies us as the ones with the real power. It tells us
that the marketplace is a democracy, if we choose to use it as such; that every time we buy something we cast a vote. It
also provides a way to enlist the people on the inside of corporations. This revolution needs people on the inside. They
can play major roles in creating the new economy.
We are in this together. All of us. We must do what it takes to cultivate the life economy. Now. It is time to admit
that we are not fighting a war against terrorists, corporations, or any other “them.” We are engaged in a course of
action to end the EHM system. We all are part of a process that has failed us. We’ve bought into it, we’ve supported it,
we’ve praised and glorified it. Now we must act to change it.
About the author
John Perkins is the author of New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2016), the New York Times bestsellers Confessions
of an Economic Hit Man (2004) & The Secret History of the American Empire (2007).
He is an ex Economic Hit Man who exposes the clandestine operations that has created the current global economic crises.
John speaks regularly at international economic summits alongside prominent world leaders such as Russian President
Vladimir Putin & UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. He proposes a masterplan to transform what he calls a failing ‘Death Economy’
into a thriving ‘Life Economy’ that provides sustainable abundance for all. John is also recognized as a leading expert
on indigenous cultures and shamanism.