and strong foreign, strom thurmond and jerry anderson and the book about george bush and how he decided to go to war. my wife just finished catherine the great. i have to go back and get involved in that. i read a lot of magazines stuff and a lot of essays. a poet by the name of donald hall. there was a change that was grant ratifying. i don't pretend to be a great writer i am energetic, and moved me more than nothing like life does. >> visit booktv.org. >> john perkins talk about

global economic reforms basis of most of his recent books. he spoke at florida university at jupiter, florida. [applause] >> thank you very much, thank you on lifetime learning, wonderful pleasure to be here. this area for 30 years my daughter grew up here and she and her husband and my grandson who is 4-1/2-year-old run a local organic local organic food restaurants. and my wife and i moved there too. i talked-about hoodwinked leaders will ruining the economy and how to fix it. before we get into that i just

want to say we are at a time in history that is truly revolutionary. it is important for us to understand we were born into this time for a reason, you and i, we were born into this amazing time for a reason and i want to talk more about that later on. what your role is in this. this time in history is more important than any revolution we have never gone through before. more important than the agricultural revolution or the industrial revolution or the american revolution or the french revolution. this is a time in history like none other. incidentally every indigenous culture i have worked with and i have worked with indigenous cultures on every continent where they exist. that doesn't include antarctic. every one of them says this will be a time and is a time for the potential for vast human change

on this planet and we are in it. you are in it. we are all feeling it. these are revolutionary times and there is one example. for the first time in human history, every human being on this planet, faced with the same crisis. this has never happened before. florida had hurricanes, san francisco had earthquakes, asia had tsunami. they didn't impact everybody else in the world that much but today every single one of us, every life form on this planet is threatened by crises that include global climate chaos, glaciers are melting, the oceans are rising. we see it in florida. we see it in the andes and the himalayas. for the first time in history

our resources are declining at increasing rates. the price of food and fuel are increasing. species are going extinct at phenomenal rates. we are being overpopulated. we are all experiencing this. and for the first time in history we are all talking to each other through the internet, streaming. i was just on a radio from my hotel in jupiter. a fairly small localized radio stations that reach a number of states, they were streaming at to the philippines. people were streaming questions from indonesia and south africa. it is amazing. a couple years ago in the himalayas and tibet and 17,000 -- having a tough time because

they usually wander around the states and c-span doesn't go for that. i am holding my own here. i am up 17,000 feet in the himalayas and talking to the nomadic tribal chieftain who is lamenting the fact that his people will never have telephones because the lines can't reach their. the same thing deep in the amazon. i spend a lot of time in the amazon. last week i talked to this tribal chieftain by telephone. he has a cellular satellite phone deep in the andes too. we are all talking to each other for the first time in human history. for the first time in human history we are facing the same crisis and sharing the information. for the first time in human

history, we really get it. 94-1/2-year-old grandson lives near me off the coast of washington and i walk with him in the forest and every time i walk with this little boy i think what is this going to look like in six decades when he is my age? we all know that if we stay this course will be ugly. but we, you and i have the opportunity to change it. we also have to realize for the first time in human history the only way grant can grow up in a sustainable peaceful world, every child born in botswana and palestine and israel grows up in the same world. a sustainable world. this has never happened before. used to just worry about florida or the united states and didn't

worry about the rest of the world. today for the first time in human history we know we are living on a fragile space station but unlike the space station our astronauts built this one doesn't have any shuttles. you can't get off. your grandson won't be able to get off. we have got to fix it. we have to take care of it and what a wonderful opportunity. we are living in these amazing revolutionary times. this is the most revolutionary time in human history. i absolutely believe that and as a young boy growing up in new hampshire are come from 300 years of yankee calvinist and puritans. my ancestors in every major war since, a great student of history. i got to wish i had been born in 1700s. i could have fought in that revolutionary war too. what i did now is participate.

this is a more important revolution. this is a better time to the revolutionary and we don't -- i will talk about that in a moment. this is the revolution. it is a lot more comfortable too. we don't have to go to the out house. here we are in these times and what we have also come to realize is the economy we have created, world we have created is a failure. we have been hoodwinked and our economy is a failure. we don't want it to go back to normal because normal is a world where less than 5% of those who live in the united states consumes 30% of the world's resources. half the world is starving war on the verge of starvation. that is not a world grant wants

to grow up in. it is not a world many of us want to pass on to our children or grandchildren. it is not a model. is a failed system. less than 5% of the world's population consuming 30% of resources you cannot keep that in china. africa and latin america these places want to replicate but the numbers don't add up. we need another five planets like this one without human beings. it won't happen. is a failed economic model. we must realize that and we must change it. this economic model is one based on something else that is new in history. if you look back a few hundred years at global geopolitics you look at a place where an earth driven by religious organizations and later country's bleaker still

governments took control. some were totalitarian and some were democracies. now a time when the big corporations have taken control. this is a new year and the big corporations are calling the shots. no politician gets elected to a major post in the united states or other democracies without huge amounts of corporate financing and support. obama made that clear to us. even if a politician were to get elected. say ron paul doesn't take any money from big corporations, it is a long shot but let's assume that happened. he still has to face a congress filled with people at the mercy of big corporations. he still has to face 35,000 corporate lobbyists in washington d.c. and he would have to face the fact that the president of the united states is extremely vulnerable,

extremely vulnerable. in kennedy's days you could have affairs with marilyn monroe, kennedy could and other starlets and a big deal and in this time we could learn a sex act if that is what it was was not a very exciting one. kennedy would have done better. a sex act brought the president down. they impeach him. an accusation by a chambermaid can take someone out of the running for president of france. i am not defending the man. i don't know what the truth is but an accusation by chambermaid can destroy a man's career that sends a strong message to obama, strong message to mitt romney and all the politicians out there.

they are very vulnerable. we the people must take control. so corporations control of this, will the disorganization the personal governments and corporations and the next step is for us. i see we are headed in that direction. i feel us waking up. we the people are waking up. we are seeing at all over the world. i was just in the middle east three months ago and in china recently and latin america three times a year. and spending a month traveling around europe lecturing and all these places i feel the awakening of people, consciousness rising, in the arabs spring, protests against vladimir putin. who would have conceived of that? the occupy movement. the number of people in this room and i get this wherever i go. we are waking up. that is the good news but i want

to get into the solutions. how we move on? what is going on with this economy? before i do that i would like to get back to the causes. how did we get to where we are today? what does it really mean to have an empire controlled by corporations. i and in a unique position to talk about that because i played a role in it. i was not at the top of the pyramid by any means but i was an economic hit man. the official title was chief economist. 50 people working for me. my real job was con artist. i was pretty good at it. i have changed.

what i did we do lots of things. in a nutshell that is the most generic thing we do. we identify the country with resources that are corporations, that and we arrange a country from the world bank or organizations but the money doesn't go to the country.from organizations but the money doesn't go to the country. it goes to our own corporations like general electric to build big infrastructure projects that don't help the majority of the people who are too poor to buy electricity because they don't hire many people and the people are in a huge debt so large they can't repay it. in trying to repay it they can't have good education systems and

all the money that went to pay off the debts and they end up paying them. the imf said sins and does a restructuring program and says something like this. you can't pay your debt so sell your oil real cheaply whatever the resources is to our corporation. without any social or environmental restriction or vote with us on the united nations vote and allow us to build a military base and in a few cases where economic hit men fail, these are people that overthrow governments or assassinate their leaders. i talked in my book about my experience with democratically elected president of ecuador are for the head of state of canada -- panama. my job was to corrupt them and send a message that if they bought into this game, they and

their cronies become wealthy in the process and have electricity to pay their establishments which they own. they are a huge step. these two guys are those that ecuador refuse. they have tremendous integrity. they didn't accept this. they could be assassinated by cia and assassinations. the democratically elected president of honduras. because of the same thing. he stood up to keep athletic and the number -- very familiar with that case. and a personal friend, president of ecuador who worked with personally. these things happen. as americans we should be extremely concerned by this because it is not what we want.

these are not democratically elected presidents. a few cases where the jackals also fail as they did with saddam hussein, couldn't take him out. they had all these doubles. to kill a president or take him out you usually have to have some of his bodyguards on your side which these guys are making $10,000. they take the guy out or whatever. if the body guards don't know whether they guarded saddam hussein they are going to be concerned because if you take out the wrong guys they will not be worth much and neither is the family. so in the case of saddam hussein we couldn't take him out and the military steps in so it was a three step process. economic hit men are always

successful. we have been successful round world but when we fail the jackals go in. if you can see this happening more and more in afghanistan, in the military that steps in. we created the first truly global empire. it is not a u.s. empire or your empire or our empire but a corporate empire. they are the main beneficiaries and the u.s. government and the cia and the pentagon and big corporations. the world bank, the imf, tools of big corporations may call the shots and they owned the me and that is the good news because this puts us in an amazing position. i have worked for corporations. they are you and me and us.

there's nothing evil about corporations. i am a very staunch capitalist. i believe in capitalism totally and i believe corporations can be brought around on like monarchs, dictators and other empires in history. we really pull the reins on this one. we are the driving force behind it. we need to recognize the marketplace is a democracy if we choose to make it that. big corporations only survive and thrive because we support them. they change pretty easily when we demand change. when i was a student with a business degree in boston i couldn't walk beside the jewish river because of mistakes that were polluted from ohio or the river was on fire but not anymore. we forced corporations to clean

them up. apartheid in south africa, supported apartheid and it ended. they opened their doors wider to women with minorities. we need to do a lot more. this whole revolution has the depends on power. i am so struck, if we can keep this hierarchy, we will end up back where we started. [applause] >> a little while ago, there were a lot of good examples but in addition to bringing women of to a more powerful position in

politics and business, deeper -- receptivity, nurturing side, my friends on the amazon kelly women build nests and still other people's nests. we need to learn more about building and less about stealing. and so here we are at this amazing time in history unlike any other and we need to recognize as we move forward and we move into this new era we have a power and necessity to turn things around. during most of my life, looked at this planet as a large globe of 200 countries and a few of those had power. the soviet union and the united kingdom and the united states but today we can look at this

planet that glows with 200 countries but geopolitics is a huge clouds swirling around the planet. these are the big corporations. they know no national boundaries. they don't follow specific laws. they cut deals with the chinese and tibetans and taiwanese and indians and pakistani and palestinians and israelis. they don't care who is at war with 2. they like it when people are at war because they make a lot of money. they are driving of the force. but again good news is they are totally dependent on you and me and a lot of you work for them. i work for them. we all work for them. there's nothing bad about them. i know a lot of executives. i don't know one executive who is a sociopath.

i don't know one executive wants to sink beneath the oceans. why not move to the mountains? we don't have them in florida. these corporations have just been listening to us. we send a strong message. we said i want cheap jackets and t-shirts and tennis shoes and if that means quality, if that means they are some made by slaves in sweatshops in indonesia i will look the other way. i want to fill my gas tank and not pay much money to do that. don't want gas prices to go. if that means destroying the brain for as i will adjust look the other way. we sent that message. all of us to varying degrees. they have listened. time to send a new message. time to send a message that i

want to create a world and you to create a world for grand and every child on this planet and send a message that we must create a sustainable peaceful world. the conventions of business men and talking to 2,000 ceos and trading companies that invest money into everything. the crummy as people in the world. i will give them the same message and tell them it is up to them to invest in the good companies. to understand -- what happens to species that is not sustainable. it goes extinct. do you want to go extinct? do you want to create a better world for your grandchildren and children? you can do better than that.

yes! we are going to do it. we have to do it because it is absolutely true. it just appalls me to sit in conferences and here executives asked the question should we be sustainable. should we be sustainable? is that the most absurd question anybody could ask? we must move in this new direction. this is not a conspiracy theory. most of these people never met each other. they don't know each other but they are driven by one single goal and that is the goal that says the only responsibility of business is to maximize profits regardless of the social and

environmental costs. milton friedman in the 70s, it really took hold in 1980 when reagan became president and has been embraced by every u.s. president, democrat and republican alike and created this incredibly sick world where the 1% have all the wealth and the other 5%, us, have a great deal of wealth but don't really feel it all that much and the rest of the world is pretty badly suffering. this is not the goal that was taught to me in business school in the late 60s. i was taught that a good ceo makes a decent rate of return of his or her investors. in addition, takes really good care of its employees, health care, retirement, takes good

care of its customers and is a good community citizen, pays taxes, goes a step further and helps to build libraries, schools, whenever. that is what i was taught. this new premise came along in the 1970s. the only responsibility for business is to mark, as profits -- maximize profits regardless of social and environmental costs. that has created hoodwinked believable predatory capitalism. a form of capitalism unlike any we had before. capitalism is around 400 years. this is the first time we had a selfish, egotistical as materialistic form of capitalism to say that profits are the only

responsibility of business. here we are at this time in history recognizing we have tremendous power over corporations. they only thrive because of us, gone extinct in your lifetime legal very large ones. they got the c e a -- major world power in 71-72, that year of. janine, the president was on time magazine. what did they do today? not much. eastern airlines gone. so many big companies gone. very vulnerable. they are vulnerable to us. i want to suggest part of the solution leaders the large part

of the solution, had to move into a new mindset, a new goal, a decent rate of return, a decent rate of return. but do so only within the context of creating a grant. that my grandson will want to inherit. said some boundaries around it. only in the context of being socially and environmentally responsible. only within the framework of creating a sustainable, just and peaceful world. let that be the guidelines and we have precedents in this country and president for that to serve as a model for the entire world. for the first hundred years the united states with the country. no corporations could get a charter in any state until it proved it was going to serve a public interest.

the charter lasted on average ten years and the corporation had to go back and prove it served public-interest and would continue to do so in order to renew its charter. that is in the late 1800s when the supreme court decided corporations have their rights but not the responsibilities of individuals. ..

>> it won't be. to a certain degree, the elections are a little bit kind of like beings. it you have to do it. i have to do it. we have to come together to do it. we all have to come together to do it. slavery did not end in this country because we found ourselves with abraham lincoln in the white house. slavery ended because we voted them in and who is opposed to slavery and then we fought the

bloodiest war in our history. the civil war. we, the people, fought that war to end slavery. i lost relatives. we ended slavery. it was not ended untrimmed abraham lincoln. it was us. women, you did not get the right to vote because woodrow wilson believed in women's suffrage. he did not. woodrow wilson was traveling around the country trying to convince this country to go to war. everywhere he went, they sang and screamed and picketed and they wrote editorials. they said, mr. wilson, we will not send our men to europe to fight for the democracy there into we have it here. we must have the fights wrote uncertain and the right to vote here.

in vietnam, we, the people, spoke. the same thing happened for racism. it is up to us. it always has been. you can think whatever you want about the occupy wall street movement, but it touches my heart that these people have been out there trying to raise consciousness and they have done it. the arab spring, it is amazing what is going on. it is amazing what is gone on in turkey and in latin america and things are roiling up in africa and russia and china. all over asia. we are getting it. people are getting it. things are changing, and it is time that we all got into this. are you willing and ready to get into this now? yes. >> okay, all right, good. what can you do? what can each of us do?

get involved. it can involve however you want. to my website, tran-eights. please subscribe to my newsletter. you have to put your e-mail in it and it comes out about twice a month. come to visit the mayans with me in december. december 21. get involved with this organization that sponsored this tonight. getting involved is very important. knowing how you shot. knowing that every time you buy something, you are casting about. i believe that boat is as important as and probably more important than when you test every two years or four years. you are casting this transcendent every week. you have to say man, i like

those hats and 10 issues, but i am not buying them because you have slaves working in sweatshops in indonesia. give them health care and retirement, pay them a decent wage, and i will buy your product. send them an e-mail today. send a message out to who you do buy from. we need to move into a new economy. and we need to do whatever we can to push that. today, we are seeing an economy that is based primarily in the united states, 62% of our official budget that goes to killing people. it is a war economy. another% goes to mergers and acquisitions. a whole bunch more goes to rich people.

we need to deport that. what is the percentage that is currently building missiles and what we pay general electric and thermodynamic and all the other companies out there. what we pay those with military equipment to cleanup the polluted soils of latin america and all the world, and all the polluted oceans. one or more took tax dollars to clean up this world and so we come up with better systems for energy and banking systems. these are all possible. what we pay dole and chiquita --

what if instead we convinced them that we pay them to come up with ways for starving people in africa to feed themselves more efficiently, to grow food more efficiently, to diss distribute and transport it more efficiently. wouldn't that create a better world? yes, i like it when we get a little encouragement up here. yes, it would. this is how we are going to create a better world for my grandson and your children and/or grandchildren. there are a few out here of my generation. the 30 years old and older generation. [laughter] i want to say to you guys, if you are retired, you can't be fired. it is time to rattle the cage and get out there and shake

people up. how much i'll can you play? how much tennis can you play? how many boats can use seo? the young people who go to this school and their are a lot of others, they need you. they need your spirit. they are seeing the opportunity for change. concessions came out in november, 2004. i have been traveling this country, it seems like i hardly see my own family. anyway, in 2005 and 2006. before i speak at places, like mba programs, stanford, cornell, columbia -- all of the conservative schools, is that you're going to hear me talk for a couple of hours. and i say that i want to hear

from each one of you. why are you at the school? what are your goals in life? back in 2005 and 2006, i kept hearing power and money. power and money. i don't hear that anymore. same schools. now i hear students say i am worried. i want to have kids. this world is falling apart. i am at the this school because i want to do better. i want to change the corporations. i want to change the economy. i know i'm going to be stuck with a bunch of loans and i might have to work for you while, but i want to change these corporations. i want my kids to have a decent world. they won't unless i change it. the young people are determined. in china, just a couple of years ago, i was speaking at a big conference of mba students. in china, you have to work at least five years after you graduate from college, these are young people who have been

singled out as the future leaders of china. once i got to know the students come i kept hearing over and over and over, we, in china, have proven that we can create a miracle. we are the only country in the history of the world that has economic growth for three decades. and they are paying a horrible price environmentally and socially. a week, we are going to create a numerical. the green miracle. i heard this over and over and i believe that these kids mean it. i came back recently from a conference at cornell. i am sure that the gentleman said who invited him anyway?

[laughter] i said to the students, i told them the story about china. i said don't you let it happen. don't you let them become the greenest. let us become the greenest. the young people are getting it. they want this. we, the older generation, those of you who are my generation out there, it is our time to teach them. it is our time to mentor them, to nurture them, to inspire them. they need us. i encourage you, you know, every day, take some action. what can we each do individually? well, we talked about consumer preference and some of the young people need to become developed with these economics i talked about earlier. beyond that, what i would say is that i know that each and every one of you, every single one of

you, has compassion. and i know you have challenge. i don't know what your individual passions and talents are, but i know that you have them. i have a passion for writing. hopefully, i have some talent in it. sometimes i am wondering these days as i work on my next book. i don't know what your passions are, but i know you have them. and you have to follow your passions. that is how we get things done. if we all follow our individual passions, they can be distant. we can sustain a peaceful world and we will get there. i was giving a talk and i thought how fortunate we are that chongqing did not try to lead armies. and that george washington did not how to write pamphlets.

[laughter] washington had a passion and talent for organizing women to make clothes and stand up for the forefront. they each followed individual paths with passion and talent. but they are all headed towards the same destination of getting out from under the british. they did it. we can all follow our individual passions and talents. i also want to say to you, if you have incredible power, everyone of every one of us does -- we have so much power. as a kid growing up in new hampshire, i had no idea that african americans in my country had to ride in the back of the bus, until rosa parks showed me. how many of you know who rosa parks was?

[laughter] well, who the heck was rosa parks? she was a seamstress. a member of the naacp. the most significant thing she did was walk to the front of the bus. you can do that. i had no idea that the dbt who killed mosquitoes were also killing birds and fish and created a whole environmental movement. how many of you have heard of rachel carson? well, let's rachel carson. she was a woman who sat down at a tiny desk at a small house in pennsylvania. and she started scribbling at a book, having no idea that it would ever be published. much less that it would get rid of dbt in the united states and start a worldwide environmental movement. you can do that. you can do that.

you can do something like that. how many of you have ever heard of jack would or dick smith, richard smith, mr. sayer? [laughter] all my gosh, there is one educator who has read the book. [laughter] this is scary. i thought you guys were educated. >> jack woodberry and richard smith. they were my history teachers. and also my third-grade teacher, and all three of them change the world. i would not be standing up here if it weren't for them. i wouldn't have written a single book. they taught me the power of the written word in history and in literature. they taught me that we can move mountains and change governments and change the world from

writing. mrs. schaner, she taught me great things. i went through the eighth grade in school, and the kids had to stay there through 16 years old. that was the rules in new hampshire. when i was in third grade, there was a 15-year-old boy in my class. he didn't like me. and he used to push me around on the playground. and i would go running to mrs. schaner. and she didn't know what to do. if you kick him out for a week, they had to let him back in. he came back meaner. one day i went running to mrs. schaner.

and she said johnny, you're just going to have to stand up for yourself. and i said, he is big. she said listen. here's my idea. as much as i appreciate you, you just kick him in the shins and run like hell. [laughter] i don't think she used that word, but i did. a funny thing happened. he whimpered and he became my friend. he became my ally, my protector. and i learned a very powerful message. i learned the importance of standing up for myself. taking responsibility. and i also learned the importance of standing up to a bully. and what happens when you do stand up to a bully. our world has been stolen by the bullies. we have to take it back. are you ready to take it back? we have to stand up to that bully. everyone of you.

everyone of you is a check woodberry, a richard smith, and a mrs. schaner. how many of you are or were teachers in your life? great. i want to re-ask that question. how many of you are teachers right now? i want to see every hand in this room go up, because you are all teachers. when you walk out of this room, you are going to be talking to people and teaching. we teach every single day. through e-mail and talking to people, it is all teachers. we have a huge impact. you have incredible power. this is the time to exercise it. this is the most amazing time in human history. and you are part of it. you were born at this time for reason. and i have to say, there is absolutely nothing more fun than making a better world for our children and grandchildren. there is no better thing to you could possibly do. there's nothing there is nothing that can make you more prosperous in every way. maybe not financially, but every

way. this is the time and this is the place to do it. a recent talk i gave to people at a big university, in questions and answers, which i will move into. there's a man who is a professor. one of my students came up to me and said john perkins is going to be speaking here next week. and he said we atomic, this guy is an economic hit man. he went around screwing the world and he wrote this book. he said why shouldn't i be back? and the professor said i didn't know the answer. and i said well, i stay in the best hotels in the world and i whine and dine with presidents and beautiful women and i have

all the trappings of a good life. and i said all right, i went through a terrible divorce, a lot of therapy. i had all the trappings. i was miserable. now, i stay up at motel six and i get to have dinner with beautiful women like tammy and renée, but i'm really happy now. i am really happy. this is the way to live. to do what comes from our hearts. to follow her passion. so i really encourage you. and i'm going to close without feeling, leaving you with the feeling that it is important that you follow your passion use your talent. every single day, do something to create a better world. through your passions and talents. if we all do that, if every one of us every day, it can be

writing a postcard from an e-mail, making a telephone call. to do something everyday we feel really good about. we will get there. i would like to close with a quote, which i think is a very old quote. it is a couple hundred years old, but it is very relevant to these times. it was written at the time of the american revolution when we were losing everything. one thing we sometimes forget is that george washington and martha washington were traitors. they were treasonous and terrorists. if it were not for the revolution, they would have been hanged. they put everything at stake. so did henry hancock and his wife and so many others, jefferson. george washington has lost just about every battle he has fought, his armies have no

blankets or shoes. but he is still hanging in there, and so are his men and women. they are still hanging in there. then comes tom paine, in december 76. it is very relevant to these times. tom paine wrote, these are the times that try men's souls. in the shadow and sunshine, it will shrink them in the service of their country. but he who stands by them, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. a generous parents should say, if there must be trouble, let it be in my day that my child may have peace. if there must be trouble, let it be in our day that our children may have peace. i love the man and the woman who

can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress and go blazing by reflection. by perseverance and fortitude, we have a prospect of a glorious future. by perseverance and fortitude, we have a prospect of a glorious future. i think that is why we are here tonight. we are here to persevere and to have fortitude and to move into that glorious future. i think we are here so that 60 years from now, grant can look back and he can say, thank god those people came together at that order auditorium in florida on that night in march and everyone of them agreed to follow their passions and their talents and take some action everyday to create a sustainable

, just and peaceful world, a world for all human beings. thank god, grant will say. thank god we came together. i really look forward to taking this march with you. it's going to be fun. thank you. [applause] [applause] okay, it is question and answer time. >> mr. perkins inouye in my own this microphone? >> yes. >> first of all, i love your

book. i read it shortly if you published it. i agree with the problem that you have cited, and i agree with the many orchestrated events that have happened. one of the things i would ask is that i am in the dietary supplement industry. i also believe in local farming. the reality is that when i would like to buy some local food from producers, they don't face swat teams from big corporations. they faced swat teams from the fda and government. i think that the area that i would have a more than direct question on is, we can change the big corporations because democracy happens at the checkout counter and with our dollars, at the same time, if we leave the politicians in place, all we have is different corporations a change their minds. and politicians that are using

their power for some else's benefit. i think it has to be a dual focus. >> i totally agree with you. i think that politics is archaic, and i very much encourage you to get involved. i think it is a reality here that corporations allow politicians. i will give you an example that is homegrown. a few years ago, the public utility commission was putting a lot of pressure on florida. they went around the state trying to locate [inaudible] they got a message from the people. it was the people, not the government. the government was actually

pushing for social security. the people said no. florida moved into solar and wind power. today, they are the largest developer of solar power in the united states. they are the largest developer. another significant thing, i mean, this is highly significant. while they were trying to assess the coal plant, the chairman of the board was lobbying against the laws that would exhibit changes in emissions. the same guy, that talked about omissions, georgia power gets a lot of customers from more than florida because they have a lot of cool plants and they can produce electricity cheaper. florida says that it's not fair. they are polluting the planet and not having to pay it. we are producing clean energy

down here, and they should be penalized. because the people of this state, god bless florida, set a huge precedence -- but the people of florida spoke out. then the company turned around to try to help change the politicians. the politicians are really going to listen now. they are going to listen to both people and the big corporations. it is a multitasked approach. we really have to understand the tremendous pressure that politicians are under to keep getting corporate dollars coming into them. two years ago, i really encourage you to get out there and try to get these laws changed. my son and daughter-in-law have a restaurant that uses local organic food. one of the things they have

found is that most organic farms are not certified organic. they are chickens that have beautiful berries to lay in on certain farms, but they can't get certified because they don't have the money. but then the people that have money, chickens are living miserable lives even though they are certified free range. we have to change that. the we could change that is you have to go after the big corporations. we have to convince them that it is to their benefit to change this. it is to their benefits to create a better world. there were 250 ceos, i spoke of his at this dinner in new

jersey, and i have to tell you, i walked into a hornets nest. most of the guys didn't want me here. [laughter] but they came anyway. we had a good time. i don't attack these people. i am a human being. but i've been i stand up there and said, you know what, guys, you are running these corporations. and i know you have to look at them and the daily stock exchange prices -- but you also, i know they you want to see your company succeed. i know that. you have pride. you are at a time in history when the way to succeed is to realize that we have to be sustainable. we are at a time in history that is like when the city states became nations. a few people realize it was happening. most people didn't.

we have to be sustainable today, because green is not just a dream anymore. it is not just a wash or a promotional thing. god bless you, and go after those laws and rules and encourage those small farmers. help them. we can do it. we can make it happen. thank you. anyone else? >> as i looked at all the lights here, and they are all shining here, and i wondered, i wondered what we could say what each of us by turning off some of the lights. even in our homes. even in our homes, there are lights that we can turn off. we are not even in the room, and we are leaving eight lights on in the room.

i am not talking about you guys, i'm talking about myself. i think we need to do something. it is the smaller things. if it is a small thing that we can do, turn off lights. a small thing, maybe lowering the air conditioning a little less. lowering the air conditioning less on a warm day. little things. so my question, what are the specific things that you see that we could do? >> you are right. i think the symbolic act -- it is so important symbolically. pension funds and investments, a lot of you like those, i know you do. those are very important. make sure that the companies

that your funds are going to returning off their lights. and doing a lot more than that, cutting back on energy use. also pay-per-use, really conserving. making sure that those companies you invest in and your pensions are investing in, that they have made a commitment to truly being environmentally and socially responsible. nobody is perfect out there today. wal-mart is, i believe, trying. we have to push them to try even harder. pension funds are a very vaguely to do it. there are many ways to do it. the leverage today on all this is very different from how it was, for example, during the vietnam war. some of you may have attended some of those rallies as i did. we can march on washington dc and the elected officials hurt us. but today, the elected officials don't like the laws. lobbyists do. when the biggest demonstration

ever in washington dc a kurd, just before we ran into iraq, no politicians listen. they listen to the corporations. those who are really going to get them voted in. we need to use the power of the corporations. today, we need to recognize that that is where the leverage point is. the corporations are vulnerable. we had pension funds and investment funds, send them e-mails, let them know that we want them to turn off lights and be more efficient in all of their energy use and all of their production facilities. that is extremely important. >> what companies, say that there are no global warming going on. what companies are sending those messages out, because you do hear it. >> corporations are getting

better and they are changing. i personally don't like to single out corporations. but i think the important thing to recognize is that they can all get better and we need to really best we need to really look at the corporations you buy from in the supermarkets or wherever you buy your clothes or whatever. look at each individual company. you can go online. you can go to dream change.org and links on there, you can find out a great deal about corporations. the important thing is to realize that it is constantly changing, nothing most of these corporations are understanding that they have to do better. we need to push them harder and harder, and we need to thank them when they do that. thank you. >> thank you. >> i have two thoughts. one, the person who is speaking about the food industry. first of all, we live in a time of such apathy.

there are those who are totally apathetic and those who are totally involved. forty-five years ago, i got involved in healthy food because i had a very sick child. this is not about my story. but when i did that, in order to get a whole grains come i had to go to a farmers market, buy wheat berries, grind them in my flower grounder. none of that existed until we begin to create a demand. the world changed around that. i believe that can still happen. last week, the funding for planned parenthood was stopped by the colon foundation. there was a cry that went out, just via the internet. they reversed their policy with a lot of apologies, in very

short order. that is the power of her voice. >> absolutely. [applause] [applause] >> is this on? >> the other one, i think. >> okay. >> great. >> i am an elementary school teacher, and i have been now teaching the science lab for k-6 grade. every time we go to the green convention to try this school, and i was very impressed with the thought that i had never thought of before, that we hear about self sustainability. but how we do we put them into action? very simple action. since most of us live in communities that have a small

area of land and have a patio, what i found out is that organic farmers are right now employed in many places, and they are trying to get into a show a's. so that the grounds that are kept and paid for it will be dedicated to self sustainability to have an about 80% and 20%, and they said that a farmer could have a good industry for himself, and part of what he is paying for is getting the vegetables delivered to you, and at the same time, we are doing the industry here on our own soil. i was talking about approaching

the zoning boards and trying to get this running into her own communities. where we really are. we can't keep thinking out there. it is where we live. i said, what about the golf courses? would not be great. [laughter] wouldn't that be great? the only thing we have to do is we have to do pesticides that are safe. right now, we are poisoning the water we are drinking. we are keeping the dress beautiful and green. golf courses can be creatively done. >> i love it. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> let's do one more. let's do one more or to mourn -- lady in the white blouse. first, the lady in the blue. then i will sign books, and i will be happy to talk to you.

if you don't want to buy, that's okay. >> speak about sustainability, you work a great deal with the indigenous cultures. i guess he really had a good handle on their cosmology. is there anything we can learn from their cosmology that we can use in our industrialized or technological society that would make us more sustainable? >> that's a great question. that is another 45 minute talk. i would be happy to give you that talk if you would like to have me back. it is a different topic we can learn a great deal from indigenous cultures. you can read my other book, "shape shifting." >> i was hoping sometime you can talk about "shape shifting" and returned. >> i don't know if you know ruth

hines, she is a professor at a university or. people came from all over the world, and i learned a lot. i hope you can return. >> i would love to. go to my website, johnperkins.com. you can check the schedule on there. and i would love to come back and give another 45 minute talk as well. >> one more question. >> [inaudible question] the company that outsourced everything and took so many jobs away from her people right here, not just the manufacturing, i know somebody that works for it jpmorgan chase for 11 years,

purchasing their hardware computer hardware -- the whole department, a 40 people, was outsourced to india. i never thought much about labor from the things we wear. but i have been so disturbed by this, i took a legal pad and i wrote down all of the labels were everything in my own closet was from an made. and i was appalled to see how few items were made in the usa. >> thank you. and, you know, it is a tragedy. the flipside of that tragedy, that we may not realize so much, it is not good for people that it is outsourced to either, for the most part. typically what happens is that a company will go to india or indonesia or wherever.

they will attract people that are living on farms, not making any money, but they live with their children and their families. and they are trying to come into the city and are told that you make $2 a day or whatever. and this is a portion for them. two dollars a day sounds like a fortune. they come in and they go to work for $2 a day. and they find out that day, that day is a 16 to 17 hour day. they can't make their own clothes or their own food, they are sick, and if they get sick very much, they turn around. even if they are healthy, they decide the next year that they are going to find cheaper labor in pakistan and they leave. these people that this happens at nike and reebok and all the outsourcing companies. and they leave.

these people are left with no jobs and they can go back to farming, and there is no room for them. it is a tragedy. all the way around. and we must not let these corporations take over and we must let them know don't buy from them. not because they are they're getting stuff done in china, but make sure if they're getting stuff done in china and indonesia, they are committed and also let's encourage employment here in the united states and our young people. let's give them incentives and come together. helping young entrepreneurs in this country. helping him maneuver through the maze that takes to form a corporation. thank you. thank you very much. [applause] [applause] get out there and change the world. you guys are going to do it.

>> throughout the last few years, this gentleman has been researching and discovering his african ancestry on the shores of lake victoria. he also toured the family homes and sites in kansas to find the origins of his mother's family. barack obama the story comes out on june 19. book tv you will give a look of videos as we traveled with the author in january 2010. sunday, june 17, 6:00 p.m. eastern time. later, at 7:30 p.m. that same night, your phone calls e-mails and tweets from david on c-span 2's booktv.

david sanger analyzes how the obama administration has handled new foreign threats. in the great destroyer, barack obama's were on the republic, david limbaugh presents his thoughts on president obama's first term in office. a columnist for "the new york times" examines the political influence texas has on the united states in as texas goes. how the lone star state hijacked the american agenda. political columnist and lawyer linda hirschman recounts the history of the gay rights movement in victory, the triumphant day revolution. how he despised minority push back beat and download and change america for everyone. former member of the maryland house of delegates presents a

memoir of his father, sergeant stryker. anthony bieber provides a comprehensive account of world war ii. in chris christie come the inside story of his rise to power, bob engle and michael simon explores the life and career of the new jersey governor. look for these titles and book stores this coming week and watch for the authors in the near future on book tv and booktv.org. >> here is a quick look at some of the upcoming book fairs and festivals around the country. on june 4 -- 05, we will be in new york city. this will feature both tvs coverage of the week june 16 and 17. on june 9 and 10th, book tv will be light from chicago. we will be covering 12 author panels over the weekends

weekend. for continually updated information on the festival, visit our website at booktv.org. the mill bookwork festival will be the end of june, in belfast, mainemac, will host the belfast perfectible. this will feature question and answer sessions and maine's local history. for a complete list of book fairs and festivals, visit booktv.org and click on the book fairs tab at the top of the page. also, please let us know about bookers in your area. e-mail us at booktv@c-span.org. >> i wanted to read one of the more moving passages. what is happening before the

camera is rolling. this is what you described. you said, that that was not their intent, and that was made brutally clear to me in one of the officers -- one of the officers suddenly kicked me in the side of the face, smashing my job. it felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my head. before i could even register that unbearable pain, one of the other officers slammed me in the lower leg with a baton. i heard a cry, i was so surprised when that happened, i immediately pleaded with one of the arresting officers, who at that point had become a guarding guardian angel. someone who is different than the rest. i knew this -- i know this was going to sound strange, but up until that point, i have felt safe with her at the scene. a maternal presence that would not allow them to do anything

bad. i said they don't have to do this, i don't have to do this. >> i was going through that briefly, and i had a job to go to that monday. at noon they called me. they were paying way more money than i would make from running the hot dog and pizza stands at dodgers stadium. they called me up on thursday and told me to be ready to go to work on monday. when i heard that, i had a few beers, i went to my buddies house. i didn't know how it's going to feel about that. sometimes you get a little angry, but it was all good. i went out with them. and we were on our way. we were on her way to the gym dam where my dad used to take us fishing. i didn't want to be stuck where we were at when we grew up.

we started over there, and the highway patrol got on me. the only thing i could think about was that job. i have to get to this job on monday. i work on monday, i have the cops behind me, i have been drinking, and im on parole. >> that is a lot to worry about? yes, when you come out of prison and you he really tried to do the right thing. then, all of a sudden, you know your whole world is about to stop again. you are on perl, you are going back to jail. that is the only thing i could think of. anyway, i lost the highway patrol car. what happened was the helicopter was up there. there was no sense getting away from the helicopter. my goodness. >> weren't you in a hyundai?

>> yes, a hyundai excel. >> mr. king doesn't notice, but i was pushing a hyundai at the time. it was an xl gl. it had a little coupe hatchback. in fact, used to drive from philadelphia to chicago and college to home in the allegheny mountains. i could floor it, and it wouldn't get past the 5 miles per hour. it wouldn't get past 65. you were thinking you were in a hot rod, but you were in a hyundai? exactly. to my surprise, they caught up with me. [laughter] when they caught up with me, i could see them pull on the side of me. they look like [inaudible] pull over. my heart started beating.

i had to think fast. i said, well, i urge you know what beating is coming up after this chase. that is just how it goes. i was looking for a lit area to stop in. were i chose to stop, there was buildings. there was nobody out. i thought, maybe someone will come outside or something. sure enough, it went bad. she ordered me out of the car. melody and her husband, they were a husband and wife team. they were the initial ones on the chase. she came over to me, they had already ordered me out of the car. take your right hand, put it outside the car, put your right hand over the car and up. and lay down. so i laid down, face down. she came over and got my wallet. she got my id. while she's doing that, they pop

the trunk really fast. i said hey, i am laying on the floor. the next thing that happened, she walked away from me, her husband locked up and just like -- boom. kicked me in the temple area and broke my job. and yes we have yu-gi-oh? and my feelings and my whole heart was broken at that point. the only thing i could do was not let this guy know that he got the best of me, which he did. he comes up and takes -- tased

me. and yes we have yu-gi-oh now? i could feel the blood. i said i'm going to run. i am still on the ground. i am looking for clearance. when i see the claims, it is between the hyundai and the police officer. what i do, i get up to go and run. when i fall down, i look like i was able to go after them because my hands were like this. but i was trying to get my hands in front of myself.

>> and the video? >> that is when the video had been running 15 or 20 minutes. what it didn't catch is that 15,000 volts going through my body from being tased. he did that from discharging three shots. while he was tasing me, there is no way you can stay still. he kept telling me to stay still, but there is no way you can. i am soaked in blood and electricity is sitting at the same time. i am feeling like i was when i was a kid, was playing with matches in the kitchen caught on

fire. i went and took a bath, my dad had an extension cord waiting on me. that will bring made me feel like a prepaid me for that night with the taser. it is a horrible feeling. when i fell back, it was like 20 times of a whooping then the extension cord whooping. when he stops the taser, i am regrouping, trying to feel if i'm still there. i am trying to stay still, but i cannot. the guide -- he starts beating these more. i can hear him calling me names. he kept calling me [bleep] you

[bleep]. so you had a moment that you described in the book, and i want the audience to hear how you described it, where you insert yourself in the long history of experiences in the united states, and you make specific references to sleep beatings we met yes, i'm going to tell you what gave me a lot of strength that night, it was knowing that lex before me went through this in slavery. up to this day, you know, i said to myself, it was just moments to think. and i thought this is what people went through back in the days. they are still going through it when they don't get caught. i said i have to survive this. my brothers and my sisters have

survived through the same things. you have to stay alive, buddy. a lot. you don't even have time to think of that, but your ego because you're being beat by a person not of your color. my own instinct is that i cannot die out here and let these guys kill me. >> you can watch this and other programs at booktv.org. up next on booktv, "after words" with author victor cha and his new book, "the impossible state: north korea, past and future. in it, the former bush administration policy official explores the rise of north korea's kim dynasty. he talks with scott snyder, director of the program on u.s. korea policy at the council on foreign relations.