Capitalism's Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free-Market System

Working in the financial sector in emerging markets, this was a fascinating shot across the bows. It should be required reading for anyone potentially involved in the effects of flight capital. This relates not to illegal movements but also to the legal (but immoral?) movement of money from poor countries to rich country priavte bank accounts. The machanisms by which poor countries remain poor, while benefitting banks in rich countries makes for worriesome reading. Highly recommended.

I found this to be one of the few books able to produce a cogent and specific critique of the problems of globalization, one that wasn't just leftist jargon at high decibels. The author acutely demonstrates the catch in current economic logic put on autopilot, and warns us that the principles we espouse have consequences, then astonishingly changes gear to the issues of economic philosophy, starting with Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham. That we tend to espouse Bentham's utilitarianism and ascribe that to Smith, who wasn't the man we think he was, is an ingeniously apt characterization of the current global snafu over development.

Raymond W. Baker has written a provocative and thoroughly readable book on one of the darker, less-examined, sides of globalization's financial and commerical dimensions. The author brings formidable intellectual assets to this undertaking. A well travelled and savvy international businessman, Baker demonstrates an enviable grasp of business and, more technically, accounting principles, and how they are frequently corrupted for short term financial gain. Indeed, with the obvious exception of George Soros, today's dominant writers on globalization are almost uniformly drawn from the academic and journalistic worlds. Nothing wrong with that, to be sure. But as Baker's pain stakingly researched case studies of financial and business criminality illustrate, direct, hands on expertise in this realm cannot help but make a stronger case for combatting those practices. The other compelling virtue of "Capitalism's Achilles Heel," in my view, derives from the sweep of the authors key indictment of the present international legal regime: the weakness, if not conscious laxity, of industrial country effort in combatting these practices. This book is not a comfortable read. For those who are tired of the current lamentable state of affairs, it is an absolutely necessary one. John Starrels

Anyone interested in helping poor people in poor countries, or the state of global finance, or issues of justice will find this book required reading. Well researched, with a light, reader-friendly touch. You will soon learn how foreign aid is insignificant compared to the "hot" money that flees developing countries depriving them of their own resources for development. An activist myself, I am enthusiastic about the recommendations he poses.

Terrorism, drug and human trafficking, environmental degredation, income inequality, poverty, political repression...no matter what your angle or area of concern in international affairs, there is money behind every challenge facing civilization. Dictators need resources to pay off their political power bases pases and support their lavish lifestyles; terrorists need resources to acquire weapons and stealthily transfer wealth to aid allies across borders; criminals, such as poachers, drug smugglers and human traffickers need some way to stash their ill-gotten proceeds; wealthy corporations and individuals have to hide their money somewhere to avoid paying taxes and skewing the economic system further in their favor. No matter what problem you're looking at, money needs to go in, and money needs to come out, and somebody has to hide it. Raymond Baker is under no illusions. He's no pie-in-the-sky socialist still refusing to accept that capitalism has enriched and people everywhere it has been introduced. At the same time, he's not slavishly devoted to the ideology that says open markets are the cure for all ills, that the best the solution for every problem is simply to let the market "do its thing." He recognizes that the key to having a safe, fair and free capitalist system is to re-establish fair play and the rule of law necessary to maintain a truly free market. This ground-breaking foray into capitalism's dark underbelly is grounded in Baker's rich use of economics, philosophy, practicality, personal experience and careful research. Incorporating case studies, economic research, the proceeds of international criminal investigations and his own experience and an international businessman, Raymond Baker shows how dirty money is at the center of so many of the world's problems--not just a peripheral side-effect of the spread of wealth--and why it is so important to ge this worsening problem under control. Quite simply a must-read for anyone trying to better understand international affairs!