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Utterly Implausible I hated this book, and not for its politics. The big problem I had with this book is that right from the beginning it strained credulity to the breaking point. Let's get this straight - there is no way, no how the NSA had anything to do with training this guy to be a so-called economic hit man. The phenomenom he describes no doubt exists, in the sense that big public utility projects financed by international banks can result in serious negative consequences for underdeveloped nations while lining the pockets of engineering firms. And the US policy in oil countries has been an unmitigated disaster (regardless of what you think of the Iraq war if our diplomacy had been successful we wouldn't be fighting it). But this secret 007 world of self-conscious economic hit men is a deranged fantasy. Sorry folks, those of you who love byzantine conspiracy theories, it just isn't so. The NSA sits in a big nondescript building in Washington and engages in technological spying. Anything that has to do with human intelligence is the province of the CIA. Since the book starts with a story that is utterly preposterous and inaccurate, and since this delusion is the foundation of everything that follows, it's hard not to find the entire thing annoying. Part of what made me queasy is that there are truthful observations amid the nonsense. There is plenty that is reprehensible in the "corporatocracy" and in US involvement in foreign affairs. However, the reality is much more complex and shaded in hues of grey than Perkins' story. The book further inspires queasy feelings because the author freely admits many instances of dishonesty and duplicitous dealing while maintaining a stance of moral superiority. This book made me feel bathed in egotistical slime.