Excerpt:
Kinder IPO to Awaken ‘Sleepy’ Pipelines for Goldman, Carlyle
By - Nov 23, 2010 10:42 PM MT
The Kinder Morgan, Inc. Rockies Express natural gas pipeline runs for 1,679 miles from Colorado to Ohio. Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg News
McGill dug out the daily report sent to top managers and realized a number had been transposed. He explained the typo, and a satisfied Kinder hung up. McGill never forgot the lesson.
“He knew every morning what every pipeline was doing, what every power plant was generating, what every processing plant was producing,” said McGill, now senior vice president of natural-gas operations and engineering for Enbridge Inc.’s North American unit.
Kinder’s attention to detail may be his most valuable asset as he prepares an initial public offering of Kinder Morgan Inc., operator of the second-largest U.S. pipeline network, said Jim Murchie, founder of Energy Income Partners LLC in Westport, Connecticut. Just three years ago Kinder participated in a $22 billion leveraged buyout to take the company private.
Now investors who backed that buyout, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Carlyle Group, plan to raise as much as $1.5 billion in the stock sale while Kinder, 66, holds on to his 31 percent stake and is given the power to name five of the company’s 13 directors.
After quitting Enron in 1996 when he didn’t get the chief executive officer’s job, Kinder and a group of investors bought what he called “sleepy, old pipelines” from the Houston-based company that was shifting its focus to higher-profit trading in gas and electricity. That $40 million investment blossomed into a $27.2 billion empire.
Divergent Paths
Kinder’s departure from Enron marked the beginning of diverging paths for the two businesses. Enron, the product of the 1985 merger of InterNorth Inc. and Houston Natural Gas Corp., was on its rocket-ride up as one of America’s most successful companies.
Enron’s transformation involved shifting its focus to trading gas and power like stocks and currency, according to regulatory filings. By 2000, pipelines accounted for just 15 percent of its pretax earnings, down from 46 percent in 1996.
Five years after Kinder left, Enron was in cinders, consumed by accounting fraud investigations that sent CEO Jeff Skilling and finance boss Andrew Fastow to prison, obliterating the retirement nest eggs of thousands of employees.
$1 Salary
As he built his own business, Kinder paid himself a $1 salary and eschewed corporate jets and big bonuses to concentrate on hard assets that generate steady profits. Fourteen years after he started his new venture, Kinder Morgan’s annual return to investors averages 26 percent, outpacing the 5.3 percent gains in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
Kinder’s personal wealth has grown to about $3.6 billion, according to an estimate by Forbes Magazine this year.
Enron’s shareholders were wiped out almost nine years ago when the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
In a quest to find deals and build projects that will fuel growth for decades, Kinder announced $1.18 billion in acquisitions this year, eclipsing his original $450 million target. The largest was an $875 million agreement to buy a 50 percent stake in Petrohawk Energy Corp.’s gas-gathering network in the Haynesville Shale, a gas deposit that straddles the Louisiana-Texas border.
Kinder’s deal making signals a shift to pipelines serving the gas-drenched shale formations in the southern and eastern U.S. after focusing in recent years on hauling gas from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest and Northeast. The 1,679-mile (2,702-kilometer) Rockies Express conduit between Colorado and Ohio, co-owned with Sempra Energy and ConocoPhillips, began operating last year.
Pipeline Boom
“A lot of people like to count Rich out and say that he has peaked; how much can he grow?” said Kevin McCarthy, CEO of the Kayne Anderson MLP closed-end funds, the second- largest investor in Kinder Morgan Management LLC, the limited partner that manages the pipeline partnership. “He always seems to pull a rabbit out of the hat and continue to grow.”
New drilling techniques that made formerly impenetrable gas deposits accessible will spark a boom in pipeline construction over the next two decades, according to the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America. Pumping all of the gas from new wells in places like Texas and Pennsylvania to urban markets will require as much as $210 billion in new pipes and gas-processing plants, the association said.
Counting Pennies
The 37,000 miles of pipeline and 180 storage terminals operated by Kinder Morgan and its parent make it the largest transporter of fuels such as gasoline and jet fuel outside of the major oil companies and refiners.
To make money in these so-called midstream businesses, the company charges a fee for pumping natural gas or motor fuels through its system. Kinder Morgan’s Plantation pipeline, which it owns with Exxon Mobil Corp., collects about 3 cents on every gallon of gasoline shipped on its network from Louisiana to Washington D.C.
“These are assets where you pick up pennies at the margin,” said Haag Sherman, co-founder of money manager Salient Partners LP and a Kinder Morgan investor. “Kinder really understands the intricacies of the pipeline system and where value can be reaped.”
Kinder also understands the value of meticulous note- taking. The University of Missouri-trained lawyer carries a yellow legal pad into every meeting to jot down projections, estimates and ratios. His recall of seemingly mundane points months later can intimidate some, said Enbridge’s McGill.
Taking Notes
In presentations at Enron, McGill resorted to having co- workers take notes any time they saw Kinder writing something down. That way McGill would know what interested Kinder and where he might follow up.
“I don’t have any sympathy for CEOs that say, ‘Well I’m just a big picture guy; I don’t know what is going on,’” Kinder said in an April interview in his 10th floor office in downtown Houston.
Kinder Morgan Inc. operates the second-biggest U.S. pipeline network by volume through its control of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, a master limited partnership, or MLP.
Part of the partnership’s secret to success lies in the MLP structure that shields cash from the taxes imposed on corporations. MLP’s distribute cash to unitholders, who are taxed, leaving the parent with lower costs of capital and more money to fund expansion, said Jerry Swank, founder of Dallas-based Swank Group LLC, which manages about $865 million.
The Modern MLP
“Rich is the guy who made the image of the modern MLP,” Swank said. “He went out and proved you could make accretive acquisitions in this midstream space that added value to the shareholders substantially.”
In 2009, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners had $1.2 billion in cash available to distribute to its unitholders. This year the partnership plans to raise its distributions, or cash payments, to investors by 4.8 percent, placing it in the middle of the 30 competitors listed on the Cushing 30 MLP index.
Kinder’s focus on the nuts-and-bolts of daily operations, and aversion to risk-taking, are what make the company a desirable investment, said Fayez Sarofim, president of Houston-based Fayez Sarofim & Co., the second-largest holder of Kinder units. Kinder said he buys just one in every three or four of the assets on which he bids.
“In this fragile world you should” play it safe, said Sarofim, 81, who has $20 billion under management. “One wish is to make money. The other is not to lose it.”
‘Risk Averse’
Bill Morgan, who founded the company with Kinder and retired in 2003, said their cautious approach was informed by their stakes in the enterprise, which meant they stood to lose personally from any missteps.
“Early on, people said we needed to be more like Enron,” Morgan said. “Companies that were driven by earnings looked at things one way. We were driven by cash.”
“I guess that is risk averse in some people’s mind,” Kinder said. “But to us, it’s the only way to run a railroad.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Jordan Burke in New York at jburke29@bloomberg.net; Joe Carroll in Chicago at jcarroll8@bloomberg.net.
http://enr.construction.com/toplists/contractors/001-100.asp
ENR 400 (top 400 contractors)
http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Enron-Beginning-End/139070?read_essay
Enron: From The Beginning To The End
IntroductionWhen many people hear the word Enron, they immediately associate it with the most important accounting scandal of our lifetimes. Enron was an American gas company that began as the Northern Natural Gas Company in 1931. Internorth, a holding company in headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, purchased the Northern Natural Gas Company and reorganized it is 1979. Enron arose from the 1985 merger of Houston Natural Gas and Internorth. After building a large, new corporate headquarters in Omaha, the new Enron named former Houston Natural Gas CEO Kenneth Lay as CEO of the newly merged company, and soon moved Enron's headquarters to Houston, Texas. After becoming the newly created top executive, Lay later became chairman of the board and hired Jeffrey Skilling as Chief Executive Officer. Under their leadership, Enron adopted an aggressive growth strategy. Andrew Fastow, Enron’s Chief Financial Officer, helped create the complex financial structure for the new Enron. (Reinstein, et all, 2002)
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Products and Services
Enron was originally involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity and gas throughout the United States, and the development, construction, and operation of power plants, pipelines and other infrastructure worldwide. The corporation had a variety of products that it offered such as petrochemicals, plastics, power, pulp and steel. Enron also had a variety of service lines such as Energy and Commodities Services, Broadband Services, Capital and Risk Management Services, Energy Transportation and Upstream Services, and Commercial and Industrial Outsourcing Services.
Rapid Expansion
Government regulation is one way that society shows it cares about responsible conduct in business. In the early 1990s the Congress of the United States of America passed legislation deregulating the sale of electricity. It had done the same for natural gas some years earlier. Enron took advantage of the lack of regulation of its energy trading...
http://www.sec.gov/rules/other/35-27154.htm
Excerpt:
Commission Notice:
National Grid Group plc Acquisition of
New England Electric System
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
(Release No. 35-27154; International Series Release No. 1217; 70-9473 and 70-9519)
National Grid Group plc Acquisition of New England Electric System
Order Authorizing Acquisition of Registered Holding Company by Foreign Holding Company and Related Financings; Approving Other Related Requests; Discussing Individual Comments on the Acquisition; and Approving Service Transactions
March 15, 2000
The National Grid Group plc ("National Grid"), Coventry, U.K., a public limited company organized under the laws of England and Wales and a public-utility holding company exempt from registration under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, as amended ("Act"), by rule 5 under the Act, certain of its wholly owned subsidiaries that have been formed for purposes of the transactions described in this filing, National Grid (US) Holdings Limited, National Grid (US) Investments, all of Coventry, U.K., National Grid (Ireland) 1 Limited, National Grid (Ireland) 2 Limited, both of Luxembourg, National Grid General Partnership and NGG Holdings, Inc., both of Boston, Massachusetts (together, "Intermediate Holding Companies") and New England Electric System ("NEES"), Westborough, Massachusetts, a registered public-utility holding company (collectively, the "Merger Applicants"), have filed anhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Greene
Excerpt:
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world. Greene was notable for his ability to combine serious literary acclaim with widespread popularity.
Although Greene objected strongly to being described as a Roman Catholic novelist rather than as a novelist who happened to be Catholic, Catholic religious themes are at the root of much of his writing, especially the four major Catholic novels: Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter and The End of the Affair.[1] Several works such as The Confidential Agent, The Third Man, The Quiet American, Our Man in Havana and The Human Factor also show an avid interest in the workings of international politics and espionage.
Greene suffered from bipolar disorder,[2] which had a profound effect on his writing and personal life. In a letter to his wife Vivien he told her that he had "a character profoundly antagonistic to ordinary domestic life", and that "unfortunately, the disease is also one's material".[3]
http://www.bizsum.com/2page/b_ConfessionsofanEconomicHitMan.php
http://store.innertraditions.com/isbn/978-0-89281-865-5
Excerpt:
• Tribe members explain their practices of shapeshifting and headhunting; the interdependence of humans and the environment; the role of ecstatic sex; their belief in war as a path to peace; and their faith in arutam, the life spirit.
The indomitable Shuar of the Amazon--reputed to be the only tribe in the Americas that has never been conquered--have lived as warriors, hunters, cultivators, and healers for generations. Even in today's acquisitive, often wasteful world they defend their rainforests and sustainable ways of life and offer their philosophy of love, joy, and hope.
More than three decades after first befriending members of the Shuar, author and environmentalist John Perkins and his publisher, Ehud Sperling, inspired Shakaim Mariano Chumpi-a young Shuar warrior who has fought in the jungle war between his native Ecuador and Peru-to travel among his people and record their thoughts, history, and customs. The result is Spirit of the Shuar.
Here, in their own words, the Shuar share their practices of shapeshifting, "dreaming the world," and ecstatic sex, including the role older women play in teaching uninitiated men how to please. They explain the interdependence of humans and the environment, their formula for peace and balance, and their faith in arutam, the life-giving spirit of nature that allows each of us to transform ourselves. And they describe how their ancient-and current-practice of shrinking heads fits into their cultural philosophy.
Scribd Perkins Confessions of an Economic Hit Man 2004 Synopsis
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15724275/Perkins-Confessions-of-an-Economic-Hit-Man-2004-Synopsis
Digging Deeper VI: The Corporation at Work in Peace & War (http://www.ufppc.org/)
June 20, 2005
John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (San Francisco: Berrett-
Koehler Publishers, 2004).
Preface.Originally conceived in 1982, after
assassinations of Jaime Roldós, president of Ecuador,
and Omar Torrijos, president of Panama (ix). “This is
not fiction. It is the true story of my life” (x). Decision
to ignore bribes & threats and write the book inspired
by daughter Jessica, and dedication to American ideals
(x). Essence of system is ensnaring world leaders in a
web of debt to advance U.S. commercial interests (xi).
Not a conspiracy, an ideology rather (xii; see 216 for
statement of ideology). “In their drive to advance the
global empire, corporations, banks, and governments
(collectively the corporatocracy) use their financial and
political muscle to ensure that our schools, businesses,
and media support both the fallacious concept and the
corollary (xii-xiii). If economic hit men (EHMs) fail,
“jackals” [CIA], then military step in (xiii). Book written
to avoid empire’s tragic end by turning it “toward
compassion, democracy, and social justice for all” (xiii).
Acknowledgments (xiv-xv).
Prologue.2003 visit to Shell, Ecuador, to meet with
indigenous peoples fighting international oil
companies; recollections of work in Ecuador as EHM,
starting in 1968 (xvi-xix). “Subtlety of this modern
empire puts” earlier empire builders “to shame” (xx).
“We [EHMs] seldom resort to anything illegal because
the system itself is built on subterfuge, and the system
is by definition illegitimate” (xxi).
PART I: 1963-1971
Ch. 1: An Economic Hit Man Is Born.Born in
Hanover, NH, in 1945 (3). Father an ex-Navy
schoolteacher at Tilton School (3). Local schools;
family looked down on locals (4). At 14, Tilton School;
Middlebury on academic scholarship (4-5). Friendship
with Farhad, son of Iranian general (cf. 117); drops out
(5-6). Studies business administration at Boston
University (6). Marries Ann; to avoid draft, interviews
for NSA through Ann’s father and does well because “I
was seducible” (6-7). Chooses Peace Corps in Ecuador
instead (8-9). Meets Einar Greve, VP at Chas. T. Main
(MAIN), an international consulting firm, and later signs
on at age 26 as a MAIN economist (9-11).
Ch. 2: “In for Life.”MAIN a closely held corporation,
and so is little known (12). Mystification (12-13).
Meets and is seduced by Claudine Martin, whose
mission is “to mole me into an economic hit man”
whose job is “to justify huge international loans that
would funnel money back to MAIN and other U.S.
companies (such as Bechtel, Halliburton, Stone &
Webster, and Brown & Root) through massive
engineering and construction projects,” and then to
“work to bankrupt the countries that received those
loans (after they had paid MAIN and the other U.S.
contractors, of course) so that they would be forever
beholden to their creditors, and so they would present
easy targets when we need favors, including military
bases, UN votes, or access to oil and other natural
resources” (14-15). “The deceptive nature of GNP” a
key element in the scheme of justifying projects (16).
Most MAIN employees believe they are doing good
(16). Doubts (17). Origins of system: Kermit
Roosevelt engineers overthrow of Mossedegh (18).
1960s see development of symbiosis of government,
corporations, and multinational organizations to
achieve same ends, with EHMs whose work, if ever
exposed, “would be chalked up to corporate greed
rather than to government policy” (19).
Ch. 3: Indonesia: Lessons for an EHM.M AI N’ s
electrification project in Indonesia as part of plan to
“seduce Indonesia away from Communism” (20-21).
Marriage with Ann breaks up; Claudine warns him
“never to admit to anyone about our meetings” (22).
Ch. 4: Saving a Country from Communism.Part of
a team in 1971 to design electrification project for Java
led by Charlie Illingworth (23-25). Qualms: “my
college professors had not understood the true nature
of macroeconomics” (26). Rationalizations; also
promises to self “that one day I would expose the
truth” (27).
Ch. 5: Selling My Soul.Team moves to Bandung
(28). Howard Parker, retired chief load forecaster for
New England Electric System, troubles him with
accusation of being “in it for the money,” vows not to
inflate forecasts (29-31). Charlie presses for growth
rates of at least 17% per annum (32). Howard falls ill
(33).
PART II: 1971-1975
Ch. 6: My Role as Inquisitor.“Rasy,” his tutor in the
simplified Indonesian language of Bahasa, takes him on a night on the town (37-39). Has the impression that his pre-arranged meetings are all orchestrated (39-41).
Ch. 7: Civilization on Trial.After adalang
performance depicting U.S. bent on world conquest, a
“beautiful English major” explains that “The West―
especially its leader, the U.S. ― is determined to take
control of the world, to become the greatest empire in
history,” cites [and misquotes] Toynbee (45).
Ch. 8: Jesus, Seen Differently.Works on plan, gives
money to beggars (47). Wonders: “Is anyone in the
U.S. innocent?” (48). Imagines world in which U.S.
devotes itself to social causes (49). Dreams of Christ
(50). Failed attempt at reconciliation with wife (50-51).
Ch. 9: Opportunity of a Lifetime.Howard Parker
has been fired (52). Claudine had disappeared (53).
Produces desired economic forecast (54). Tries to emulate Robert McNamara; doubt system, but avoids
thinking about role in it (55-57).
Ch. 10: Panama’s President and Hero.Panam a’ s
history (58-59). Hopes raised by Omar Torrijos (59-60).
Monroe Doctrine (61). Assigned to close deal on MAIN
master development plan (62).
Ch. 11: Pirates in the Canal Zone.Fidel’ s
introduction to Panama (62-66).
Ch. 12: Soldiers and Prostitutes.Visit to bar;
prostitutes are refugees from fascist-dominated
countries (67-70).
Ch. 13: Conversations with the General.In
personal conversation, Torrijos asks for a reasonable,
not an inflated master plan (71-75).
Ch. 14: Entering a New and Sinister Period in
Economic History.OPEC crisis (76-77). Robert
McNamara’s role as “an agent of global empire on a
scale never before witnessed,” able to “bridge the
gaps between the primary components of the
corporatocracy,” like “his successors,” George Schultz,
Caspar Weinberger, Richard Helms, Richard Cheney
(78-80).
Ch. 15: The Saudi Arabian Money-Laundering
Affair.Saudi Arabia (81-83). In the long run, the oil
crisis served “to strengthen the corporatocracy” (83).
Schemes to funnel petrodollars back to U.S. economy
(83-84). Foundation of JECOR (U.S.-Saudi Arabian Joint
Economic Commission); MAIN the lead consultant (84).
Devises visionary plan to transform Saudi Arabian
economy as part of a project with no name, but which
they nicknamed SAMA (Saudi Arabian Money-
laundering Affair), all coordinated out of the Treasury
Dept., but without any Congressional oversight (84-91).
Believes Kissinger was the envoy employed to
implement the plan (91). Assigned to “Prince W.” to
bring him on board (92).
Ch. 16: Pimping, and Financing Osama bin
Laden.Procures sexual partners for prince (93-94).
Project finally “approved by the royal family,” MAIN
gets contract (95).
PART III: 1975-1981
Ch. 17: Panama Canal Negotiations and Graham
Greene.Success, wealth, partnership at MAIN (101).
Use of Markov modeling for pseudoscientific basis
(102-02). Published 1975 article in Boston Globe (103).
Chance meeting with Graham Greene in 1977 in
Panama; Greene encourages him to write book (104-
07).
Ch. 18: Iran’s King of Kings.Involvement in Iran,
1975-1978. Invitation from Yamin, a “radical” (109).
Conversation (110-12).
Ch. 19: Confessions of a Tortured Man.Yam in
introduces him to “Doc,” adviser to the Shah to turned against him and was tortured by SAVAK; he urges him to get MAIN out of Iran while he can (113-116).
Ch. 20: The Fall of a King.Chance encounter with
Farhad, who moralizes about U.S. involvement in Iran &
gives Perkins a ticket to get out (117-19).
Ch. 21: Colombia: Keystone of Latin America.
Columbia (120-22). Paula, a “catalyst” to change the
course of his life (122-23).
Ch. 22: American Republic versus Global Empire.
“‘Oh, Paula, I detest myself for playing this role’” (124-
27). The “old American republic” and the “new global
empire,” a “new highly subtle form of imperialism”
(127-29).
Ch. 23: The Deceptive Résumé.Examines his own
résumé (131-37). Agonizes over its deceptiveness and
his work for “a system that is morally repugnant and
ultimately self-destructive” (137-40).
Ch. 24: Ecuador’s President Battles Big Oil.J aime
Roldós, populist Ecuadorian president. (141-45).
Ch. 25: I Quit.Leinster Bay, St. John Island, Virgin
Islands: “I too had been a slaver” (146-50). Resigns
April 1, 1980.
PART IV: 1981-PRESENT
Ch. 26: Ecuador’s Presidential Death.New career
as expert witness (154). President Ronald Reagan,
“servant of the corporatocracy” (154-56).
Assassination of Jaime Roldós (156-57 [cf. ix]).
Ch. 27: Panama: Another Presidential Death.
Assassination of Torrijos (158-61 [cf. ix]).
Ch. 28: My Energy Company, Enron, and George
W. Bush.Marries Winifred Grant; father a Bechtel
architect (162). Founds Independent Power Systems (163). MAIN folds (165). Enron (165). G.W. Bush & Harken Energy (165-66).
Ch. 29: I Take a Bribe.Energy industry
developments (167-68). By selling deregulation to int’l
institutions like the World Bank, “it was easy to expand
the EHM concept into the larger community” (169).
Decision to write book (170). Aborted by a tacit bribe
in the form of a sinecure at Stone & Webster
Engineering Corporation (SWEC) (170-72).
Ch. 30: The United States Invades Panama.
Noriega’s memoir’s account of events in Panama (173-
78). 1989 invasion a sign of return to “old methods of
empire building” (176). Analysis of “my own
corruption” (179-80). Globalization advocate as
“modern slave trader” (180-81).
Ch. 31: An EHM Failure in Iraq.Iraq: oil, water,
geopolitics (182-84). Saddam as disobedient vassal
(184). Sells IPS to Ashland Oil (185). Founds non-profit
Dream Change Coalition (186). Wants to resume book,
but friends dissuade him (187-88).
Ch. 32: September 11 and Its Aftermath for Me,
Personally.Chat with Shakaim Chumpi of the Shuar
on Sept. 10, 2001 (189-90). Sept. 11 as letting in “the light” (191). Visit to Ground Zero, with more than one “odd coincidence” (190-95).
Ch. 33: Venezuela: Saved by Saddam. Venezuela
and its oil (196-97). Thoughts of book juxtaposing
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Venezuela (198). Attempted
coup in Venezuela: EHMs & jackals fail (199-202).
Ch. 34: Ecuador Revisited.Ecuador as “the
quintessential victim of the corporatocracy” (203-05).
Return to jungle town of Shell in 2003: “Change that
dream” (204-09). Widespread prophecies of “a period
of remarkable transition”; “The Prophecy of the Condor
and the Eagle” (209-10).
Ch. 35: Piercing the Veneer.Post-Iraq invasion,
muses on the state of the empire: the story is “leaking
out” (211-15). But it is not a conspiracy: “The
corporatocracy is ourselves ― we make it happen ―
which, of course, is why most of us find it difficult to
stand up and oppose it” (217). The real problem:
“We prefer to believe the myth that
thousands of years of human social evolution
has finally perfected the ideal economic
system, rather than to face the fact that we
have merely bought into a false concept and
accepted it as gospel. We have convinced
ourselves that all economic growth benefits
humankind, and that the greater the growth,
the more widespread the benefits. Finally,
we have persuaded one another that the
corollary to this concept is valid and morally
just: that people who excel at stoking the
fires of economic growth should be exalted
and rewarded, while those born at the
fringes are available for exploitation” (216).
Proclaims self a modern Paul Revere (217-19). But
“today, for the first time in history, one nation has the
ability, the money, and the power to change all this . . .
the United States of America” (219).
Epilogue.Things you could do (221-23). This book “is
my confession” and also “the first step toward
redemption” (223-24). Calls on others to “make your
own confession” (224-25).
John Perkins Personal History.Year- by- year
chronology (summary of book) (226-29).
Notes.10 pp.
Index.8 pp.
About the Author.3 pp. Web sites:
http://www.johnperkins.org/& http://www.dreamchange.org/
[Caveat: This work appears to be fictional, and leaves
clues to that effect: (1) “This is not fiction” (x; cf.
Balzac, Le Père Goriot, I: “Ce drame n’est ni une fiction
ni un roman.All is true, il est si véritable, que chacun
peut en reconnaître les éléments chez soi, dans son
coeur peut-être”). (2) Publisher “advised me to
fictionalize it” (x). (3) Greene allegedly tells him
“[Fiction] gives me much greater freedom . . . Why
don’t you write a book?” (107). (4) Claimed
publications seem not to exist (133, 234). (5) Resigns
on April Fools’ Day (150). (6) Repeats Graham
Greene’s expression “my fifth visit” to Panama (103,
159). (7) Failed overthrow of Chávez misdated by one
year for dramatic effect (this is not just a misprint)
(199-203). (8) “The real story is that we are living a
lie” (216). (9) Invokes Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s
Ride” in concluding (217-19). (10) “John Perkins
Personal History” is merely a plot summary (226-29).
(11) “About the author” asserts only that this is a “real-
life story” (248).].
http://www.economichitman.com/pix/veracitymemo.pdf
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man Confessions of an Economic Hit Man Confessions. This evidence includes numerousENR (also known as Engineering News Record),Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. Attached is aConfessions. There is alsoMainlines) and in articles that John wrote and speeches he gave during the period heMainlines’ story describing “aConfessions of an Economic Hit Man. For example,Mainlines), articlesPower Engineering (“The Engineering Magazine of PowerConfessions. Various other suchMainlines, not only confirmed John’s leadership of theMainlines story is reproduced in the book and contains various otherConfessions of an Economicso compelling – the fact that we finally have the account of a “true insider”Sleeping with the Devil: How, by Robert Baer; Inside the Mirage:, by Thomas Lippman; The Blood, by James S. Henry; The, by John H. Makin; , by Raul Madrid; , by Walden Bello, D.Global Dreams: Imperial Corporations and the New World, by Richard J. Barnet and John Cavanagh; American Dynasty: Aristocracy,, by Kevin Phillips; , by Joseph Stiglitz; One World, Ready or Not: The, by William Greider; When Corporations Rule the, by David Korten; and The Case Against the Global Economy, edited by JerryConfessions of an. For example, here are some of the conclusions published in anAcross the Board, which is the officialThe Blood Bankers, which offershalf of the funds borrowed by the largestThe Blood Bankers, provides detailedConfessions of an Economic Hit Man.Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. ForDevelopment Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines is based on 800Confessions of an Economic Hit Man apart is not its principalConfessions that has made it a national bestseller is that it “connects theConfessions has offered an especially interesting, understandable, and compellingTucson Citizen Confessions is aConfessions to publishers as a factualConfessions, I . For example, one correspondent told of a friendConfessions of an Economic Hit Man.spiersanti@bkpub.com, or mail it to our office at:
http://www.estandardsforum.org/saudi-arabia/standards/anti-money-laundering-combating-terrorist-financing-standard
Excerpt:
Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Terrorist Financing Standard
Intent Declared Summary
The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) 2006 Financial System Stability Assessment states that, according to a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) assessment conducted in February 2004, Saudi Arabia was compliant or largely compliant with most of the FATF's 40+8 Recommendations for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). However, this assessment was based on the FATF's old methodology which was subsequently revised in 2004. A 2009 report by the U.S. Department of State (DoS) concludes that the framework of Saudi Arabia's anti-money laundering regime meets FATF recommendations for combating money laundering and financing of terrorism. However, the DoS report does not specifically address Saudi Arabia's compliance level with each of the FATF recommendations. The FATF and U.S. DoS reports list key areas where Saudi Arabia's AML/CFT regime could be enhanced. Firstly, the terrorist financing offense lacks a clear definition to ensure that it is an offense if the funds are intended for terrorist use. Secondly, the status quo is such that access by the Saudi financial intelligence unit to information from financial institutions is unnecessarily restricted by requirements to go through the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, which slows and hinders AML/CFT investigations. Lastly, according to the U.S. DoS report, Saudi authorities currently over-rely on suspicious transaction reports to generate money laundering investigations. Despite the information provided in the 2006 IMF and the 2009 U.S. DoS reports, neither of these reports actually address Saudi Arabia's compliance with the revised FATF recommendations. A 2008-2009 Annual Report by the FATF, however, lists Saudi Arabia as one of the jurisdictions that has committed to implement the FATF's 40+9 recommendations.Re: The Veracity of John Perkins’ Accounts
Fr: Steven Piersanti, President and Publisher, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Some people have found John Perkins’ accounts in
to be so shocking and troubling that they have questioned whether his accounts are true.
John himself has been absolutely unequivocal that everything written in the book is
factual and is the true story of his life. John has clearly and unwaveringly affirmed the
veracity of his accounts numerous times: in the book itself, in every media interview that
he has done, and throughout the dozens of hours that he spent working through the
manuscript page-by-page with me as part of our editorial process.
Contrary to what some people have assumed, there is a great deal of evidence to support
the veracity of John’s accounts in
historical documents (see the attached copies of some of these documents) that confirm
many aspects of John’s work; extensive research that many other people have done that
support most of John’s principal allegations; confirmation from one of the persons who is
in the best position to validate the veracity of John’s story; confirmations from others
who knew and worked with John at Chas. T. Main; and the assessments of a number of
people who have had long acquaintance with John and/or who have had in-depth
discussions with him about the specifics of his accounts.
1. It is indisputable that John was employed for more than nine years by Chas. T. Main,
Inc. Many documents, some of which are attached, confirm this.
2. It is indisputable that, during the time that John was employed there, Chas. T. Main
(“MAIN”) was one of the largest and most internationally active firms in contracting,
planning, and managing many types of development projects around the world.
Attached is a copy of the “ENR 400” rankings of “The Top 400 Contractors” in 1982.
These annual rankings were then and continue to be today leading rankings in the
industry; they are compiled by
which is a top industry trade publication that is published by The McGraw-Hill
Companies. Chas. T. Main was the third-ranked company on the ENR 400 in 1982,
with total revenues of $5.7 billion, which placed it just ahead of The Bechtel Group,
Inc. The international focus of MAIN’s development projects is demonstrated by the
fact that $5.2 billion of its revenue was for foreign contracts, which was the greatest
foreign contract revenue of any U.S. company on the ENR 400.
3. It is indisputable that Chas. T. Main carried on all of the types of projects in all of the
countries that John details in
copy of a MAIN brochure that goes into great detail about MAIN’s services and
projects, which match precisely what John describes in
much further documentation of these projects in the MAIN company newsletter
(
was employed at MAIN; see, for example, the
comprehensive 25-year electrification plan which would bring electricity to all the
inhabitants of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
4. It is indisputable that John was personally involved in all of the types of projects in all
of the countries that he details in
attached are copies of articles in the MAIN company newsletter (
published by
Generation”), and a copy of a paper presented by John at the Fourth Iranian
Conference on Engineering in 1974 that all substantiate John’s involvement in the
types of projects and the countries that he details in
articles and papers are available if more confirmation is needed of this point.
5. It is indisputable that John held a key position at Chas. T. Main and played a leading
role in many development projects. He is referred to in many of these historical
documents as MAIN’s “Chief Economist and Manager of the Economics and
Regional Planning Department.” For example, a November 1978 story in MAIN’s
company newsletter,
Economics and Regional Planning Department and his title of Chief Economist but
also confirmed many aspects of John’s account about his job roles and
accomplishments at MAIN:
Looking over the faces behind the desks, it’s easy to tell that Economics and
Regional Planning is one of the most recently formed and rapidly growing
disciplines at MAIN. To date, there are about 20 specialists in this group,
gathered over a seven-year period. . . . While several people were influential in
getting the economics group started, it basically came about through the efforts of
one man, John Perkins, who is now head of the group. Hired as an assistant to the
head load forecaster in January, 1971, John was one of the few economists
working for MAIN at the time. For his first assignment, he was sent as part of an
11-man team to do an electricity demand study in Indonesia. . . . About a year
later, John became the head load forecaster and, as the demands from clients and
institutions such as the World Bank grew, he realized that more economists were
needed at MAIN. “While MAIN is an engineering firm,” he said, “the clients
were telling us we had to be more than that.” He hired more economists in 1973
to meet clients’ needs, and, as a result, formed the discipline which brought him
the title of Chief Economist.
This
confirmations of John’s accounts.
6. Given all of the above, it is indisputable that John Perkins was an insider in the
enormous build-up of the international development business led by U.S. firms in the
1970s. And this is the number one thing that has made
Hit Man
(as many readers and reviewers have commented) in the international development
business.
7. Numerous books and studies have supported John’s principal allegations of the
corruption, excesses, waste, overlending, fraud, looting, and money laundering in the
international development business. See, for example,
Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude
America’s Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia
Bankers: Tales from the Underground Global Economy
Global Debt Crisis: America’s Growing Involvement
Overexposed: U.S. Banks Confront the Third World Debt Crisis
Development Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines
Kinley, and E. Elinson;
Order
Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush
Globalization and Its Discontents
Manic Logic of Global Capitalism
World
Mander and Edward Goldsmith.
These books and many others – as well as hundreds of articles and studies – have
provided extensive documentation of the principal allegations in
Economic Hit Man
article in the March/April 2004 issue of
magazine of the prestigious business organization, The Conference Board. This
article, titled “Where the Money Went: How Did Developing Countries Wind Up
Owing $2.5 Trillion?,” was an excerpt from
extensively researched and well documented support for John’s principal allegations:
The fact is that conventional portraits of the global development crisis are
economists’ fairy tales. They leave out the blood and guts of what really
happened – all the payoffs for privatizations, fraudulent loans, intentionally
wasteful projects, black market “round-trip” transfers, arms deals, insider deals,
and the behind-the-scenes operation of the global-haven banking network that has
facilitated all this and more. They ignore the fact that in the mid-1970s, and again
in the mid-1990s, repeated warnings of deep trouble were ignored: Irresponsible
overlending, poorly conceived projects and privatizations, phony back-to-back
loans, outright looting of central-bank reserves, and massive capital flight
continued right under the noses of Western bankers and government officials who
were in a position to do something about the problems but chose not to. . . .
It is possible to estimate the volume and composition of the flight capital that was
financed by all this lending. Sag Harbor Group estimates rely on a combination
of statistical methods and interviews with more than 100 private bankers and their
wealthy clients. They show that at least
“debtor” countries flowed right out the back door, usually the same year or even
the same month that the loans arrived. For the developing world as a whole, this
amounted to a huge Marshall Plan in reverse. . . .
Hundreds of billions of Third World loans were devoted to nonproductive
projects and the corruption that encouraged them. Many of these debt-financed
projects also had harmful long-term consequences. In some cases, there was
novel chicanery on a purely local level. But what is most striking are the global
patterns – overpricing, rigged bids, endless delays, loans to front companies with
close ties to the government, investments in dubious technologies and excessively
capital-intensive projects, “public” projects undertaken for private motives, and
private debts assumed by the state.
Over and over again, the handiwork of the very same international banks,
contractors, equipment vendors, and export credit agencies grew fat while the
countries grew poorer.
The book from which this article is excerpted,
documentation on hundreds of specific cases to back up these sweeping allegations
that so dramatically support the accounts in
And many other publications provide a vast amount of documentation of the kinds of
destructive practices that are described in
example,
leaked World Bank documents, which comprised over 6,000 pages of secret reports,
memoranda, and assessments of the World Bank’s programs in the Philippines; these
documents show how the World Bank, in league with the CIA and other U.S.
agencies, set out – in the name of “development” and “modernization” – to destroy
the economy of the Philippines and reconstruct it so that was captive to the interests
of transnational corporations and other elites.
8. Again, what sets
allegations – which, as shown above, have been extensively supported by other
publications – but the fact that it is written by an insider who played an important role
in the excesses and corruption of the international development business, and who has
come forward to tell his first-person account of what he did and observed. The other
dimension of
dots” of many different international events and developments over the past several
decades. Again, all of these “dots” are already supported by many other publications,
but
weaving together of these dots through the vehicle of John’s personal story.
9. Another important confirmation of the veracity of John’s accounts is provided by the
man who recruited John to join MAIN, who hired John, and who worked at MAIN
during the first several years of John’s employment there – and who is therefore one
of the best persons in the world to confirm the accuracy of John’s account. This man,
Einar Greve, was recently interviewed by a newspaper journalist and was quoted on
the record for the newspaper’s story. See the attached article from the
(January 17, 2005). After he left MAIN, Greve was hired in 1976 as Executive Vice
President of Tucson’s utility company, Tucson Electric Power (“TEP”), where he
worked for the next 13 years; in 1985 he was promoted to president of TEP, in 1987
he was promoted to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TEP, and he led TEP
until he left in 1989. Here are excerpts from this article:
John Perkins, whose tell-all book “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” is a
controversial New York Times best seller, and former Tucson Electric Power Co.
president Einar Greve say their past careers in foreign aid operations warn of the
possibility that American loans to rebuild the devastated South Asia nations will
bankrupt the countries while making U.S. corporations richer. . . .
The man who hired Perkins at Charles T. Main – former TEP executive Greve –
said his story is accurate.
“I would say that, allowing for some author discretion, basically his story is true,”
Greve said during a phone interview from his Santa Barbara, Calif., home. “What
John’s books says is, there was a conspiracy to put all these countries on the hook,
and that happened. Whether or not it was some sinister plot or not is up to
interpretation, but many of these countries are still over the barrel and have never
been able to repay the loans.”
Greve, who resigned as president of TEP in 1989 amid an insider stock-trading
scandal, said he knew of many projects foisted upon developing nations in the
name of foreign aid that were pure “boondoggles.”
“I knew of projects that were financed by USAID and World Bank that should
never have been built,” he said. “There was nobody who believed some of these
projects would help their economies, but the receiving countries just wanted
money to build something. If it turned out to be a lemon, it really didn’t deter
them.”
So here we have a business leader who hired John Perkins at MAIN – and who was
an eyewitness to many of the things reported in John’s book – who confirms for an
on-the-record newspaper interview that “basically his story is true” and who adds
important specifics to support John’s principal allegations.
10. Finally, many people have had extensive and detailed discussions with John about the
accounts in his book and have concluded, to their satisfaction, that
factual account of John’s experiences. Paul Fedorko, the former president of William
R. Morrow and currently a literary agent at Trident Media Group (one of the premier
literary agencies in the United States), conducted his own due diligence before
signing John as a client and presenting
nonfiction book. As John’s editor at Berrett-Koehler Publishers for
have spent dozens of hours discussing with John every page of his book and have
had, I believe, a good opportunity to note inconsistencies and errors if John were
merely making up his accounts; instead, I have found repeated confirmations of his
accounts in both his written and verbal telling of them to me. I have also spoken to
four other persons who worked at Chas. T. Main during the 1970s and who knew and
worked with John there; their recollections have supported many aspects of what John
says in the book and told me about his career at MAIN. And many others who have
interviewed John, who have reviewed his book, and who have known John for many
years have also concluded that his book is factual.
Many people who have written to John Perkins about his book have told their own stories
of involvement in or awareness of some of the kinds of harmful activities described in
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
who knew of the skimming off of huge amounts of money from World Bank loans to
third world countries – and who was working with a journalist to bring the facts to light –
but this friend and the journalist were both murdered before they could complete their
work. Many of the correspondents have shared their realization that work that they did –
although entirely legal and legitimate – was in fact contributing to the kinds of
destructive outcomes described in
We would invite any reader of this book who has facts, examples, anecdotes, leads, or
other details that cast further light on the phenomena described in the book to send us that
information. Please email it to me at:
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA
94104-2916.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_%26_Webster
Excerpt:
Stone & Webster is an American engineering services company based in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Stone & Webster was founded as an electrical testing lab and consulting firm by electrical engineers Charles Stone and Edwin Webster in 1889. It was acquired by The Shaw Group in 2000. The company provides engineering, construction, environmental services, and plant operation and maintenance. The company has long been involved power generation projects and has worked on most American nuclear power plants. In the early 20th century, Stone & Webster was also known for operating streetcar systems in many cities across the United States; examples include Dallas, Houston and Seattle.
http://www.carlyle.com/Media%20Room/News%20Archive/2009/item10667.html
Excerpt:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._E._Shaw_&_Co.
Excerpt:
History
In 1997, the firm returned capital to most of its early investors in favor of a structured credit facility of nearly $2 billion from Bank of America, with terms that allowed Shaw to keep a higher fraction of profits than hedge fund investors normally allow. Bank of America merged with NationsBank soon thereafter, and in the banks' due diligence for their merger, David Coulter, the CEO of Bank of America, said that his firm had no hedge fund exposure. After the Russian debt default in 1998, Shaw, like Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) and many other hedge funds, suffered significant losses in its fixed-income trading. Bank of America took a $370 million writedown, Coulter lost his job, and the new management of the bank later declined its option to renew the credit facility.
Shaw suffered a couple of lean years thereafter, but attracted new investors as its investment performance recovered.
Many of D. E. Shaw's recent headline-making transactions deal with investing in bankrupt companies with valuable assets.[citation needed] In December 2003, a subsidiary of one of the D. E. Shaw group funds acquired the famed toy store FAO Schwarz, which reopened for business in New York and Las Vegas in the fall of 2004. In the same year, D. E. Shaw affiliate Laminar Portfolios also acquired the online assets of KB Toys, which continued operating as eToys.com.[5] In August 2004, D. E. Shaw along with MIC Capital, proposed to inject $50M into the bankrupt WCI Steel. In December 2004, Shaw bought 6.6% of USG Corp, a wallboard manufacturer seeking bankruptcy protection as a result of rising asbestos liabilities.
Lawrence Summers, who served as Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration, resigned as president of Harvard University in 2006 and started the same year as a managing director at D.E. Shaw. Summers had helped negotiate a bailout of hedge fund LTCM while with Treasury in 1998.[6] In 2008 Summers left D.E. Shaw after being appointed Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council, by then-President-Elect Barack Obama.[7] Summers received at least $5.2 million in compensation from Shaw, according to the first year's reporting of income when he returned to government service, in a 2009 report.[8]
In addition to its financial businesses, the D. E. Shaw group has also provided private equity capital to technology-related business ventures, most famously to Juno Online Services, which grew to become one of the nation’s largest Internet access providers.
In 2007, David Shaw sold a 20% minority stake in the Shaw group to Lehman Brothers, as part of a broader strategy to diversify his own holdings.
Early in 2010 D.E. Shaw set up its Portfolio Acquisitions Unit, the aim of which is to acquire many illiquid assets from rival hedge funds. These assets which are trading at steep discounts, are so-called "side-pocketed" assets.[9]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_%26_Webster
Excerpt:
Stone & Webster is an American engineering services company based in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Stone & Webster was founded as an electrical testing lab and consulting firm by electrical engineers Charles Stone and Edwin Webster in 1889. It was acquired by The Shaw Group in 2000. The company provides engineering, construction, environmental services, and plant operation and maintenance. The company has long been involved power generation projects and has worked on most American nuclear power plants. In the early 20th century, Stone & Webster was also known for operating streetcar systems in many cities across the United States; examples include Dallas, Houston and Seattle.
http://www.carlyle.com/Media%20Room/News%20Archive/2009/item10667.html
Excerpt:
| April 15, 2009 #2009-020pc (issued by portfolio company) Wall Street Institute Sells Its Chinese Subsidiary, Wall Street English, to Pearson plc for $145 Million |
Baltimore, MD – Wall Street Institute, the world’s premier provider of English language instruction, today announced that it has sold its Chinese subsidiary, Wall Street English, to Pearson plc, the international education and information company, for $145 million in cash. Wall Street Institute (WSI) is majority-owned by global private equity firm The Carlyle Group with additional financing from the D. E. Shaw group |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._E._Shaw_&_Co.
Excerpt:
History
In 1997, the firm returned capital to most of its early investors in favor of a structured credit facility of nearly $2 billion from Bank of America, with terms that allowed Shaw to keep a higher fraction of profits than hedge fund investors normally allow. Bank of America merged with NationsBank soon thereafter, and in the banks' due diligence for their merger, David Coulter, the CEO of Bank of America, said that his firm had no hedge fund exposure. After the Russian debt default in 1998, Shaw, like Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) and many other hedge funds, suffered significant losses in its fixed-income trading. Bank of America took a $370 million writedown, Coulter lost his job, and the new management of the bank later declined its option to renew the credit facility.
Shaw suffered a couple of lean years thereafter, but attracted new investors as its investment performance recovered.
Many of D. E. Shaw's recent headline-making transactions deal with investing in bankrupt companies with valuable assets.[citation needed] In December 2003, a subsidiary of one of the D. E. Shaw group funds acquired the famed toy store FAO Schwarz, which reopened for business in New York and Las Vegas in the fall of 2004. In the same year, D. E. Shaw affiliate Laminar Portfolios also acquired the online assets of KB Toys, which continued operating as eToys.com.[5] In August 2004, D. E. Shaw along with MIC Capital, proposed to inject $50M into the bankrupt WCI Steel. In December 2004, Shaw bought 6.6% of USG Corp, a wallboard manufacturer seeking bankruptcy protection as a result of rising asbestos liabilities.
Lawrence Summers, who served as Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration, resigned as president of Harvard University in 2006 and started the same year as a managing director at D.E. Shaw. Summers had helped negotiate a bailout of hedge fund LTCM while with Treasury in 1998.[6] In 2008 Summers left D.E. Shaw after being appointed Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council, by then-President-Elect Barack Obama.[7] Summers received at least $5.2 million in compensation from Shaw, according to the first year's reporting of income when he returned to government service, in a 2009 report.[8]
In addition to its financial businesses, the D. E. Shaw group has also provided private equity capital to technology-related business ventures, most famously to Juno Online Services, which grew to become one of the nation’s largest Internet access providers.
In 2007, David Shaw sold a 20% minority stake in the Shaw group to Lehman Brothers, as part of a broader strategy to diversify his own holdings.
Early in 2010 D.E. Shaw set up its Portfolio Acquisitions Unit, the aim of which is to acquire many illiquid assets from rival hedge funds. These assets which are trading at steep discounts, are so-called "side-pocketed" assets.[9]
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