World Market Warrior

With the crumbling of the U.S. credit markets has come an increasing reliance on foreign capital, especially from sovereign wealth funds, leading many an investment banker to lament, "Shanghai, Mumbai, Dubai or goodbye." Hard though it may be to believe amid today's drumbeat of doleful economic news, there was a time in recent memory when our nation exercised muscular financial hegemony — led by a squadron of MBAs with strong-arm tactics and certain persuasive offers.John Perkins was chief among these pecuniary warriors, as detailed in his best-seller, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. At 7 p.m., drop by a discussion at the Kansas City, Missouri, Public Library's Central Branch (14 West 10th Street, 816-701-3400) as Perkins speaks about his new book, The Secret History of the American Empire, and explains his role in the expansion of the American corporatocracy into the developing world, at the lasting expense of Third World taxpayers and governments. Admission is free; for more information, see kclibrary.org.
Thu., May 29, 7 p.m., 2008