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(More customer reviews)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!
Click Here to see more reviews about: Capitalism's Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free-Market System
For over forty years in more than sixty countries, Raymond Baker has witnessed the free-market system operating illicitly and corruptly, with devastating consequences. In Capitalism's Achilles Heel, Baker takes readers on a fascinating journey through the global free-market system and reveals how dirty money, poverty, and inequality are inextricably intertwined. Readers will discover how small illicit transactions lead to massive illegalities and how staggering global income disparities are worsened by the illegalities that permeate international capitalism. Drawing on his experiences, Baker shows how Western banks and businesses use secret transactions and ignore laws while handling some $1 trillion in illicit proceeds each year. He also illustrates how businesspeople, criminals, and kleptocrats perfect the same techniques to shift funds and how these tactics negatively affect individuals, institutions, and countries.
