the book heavily criticizes u.s. foreign policy and the widely accepted idea that "all economic growth benefits humankind, and that the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefits.", suggesting that in many cases only a small portion of the population benefits at the expense of the rest, with the example including increasing income inequality where large u.s. companies exploit cheap labor and oil companies destroy local environment. perkins describes what he calls a system of corporatocracy and greed as the driving force behind establishing the united states as a global empire, in which he took a role as an "economic hit man" to expand its influence.