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.

PRAISE FOR CAPITALISM'S ACHILLES HEEL

"The corrosive effects of bribery, money laundering, tax evasion, and fraudulent transfer pricing need to be analyzed and explained. Raymond Baker, a pioneer in this research, shows how illicit funds move through world financial systems and lead to increased corruption, poor distribution of resources, and damage to the rule of law. I hope his passion for the subject will inspire others to delve into the legal, economic, and social consequences of dirty money and what must be done to stop it."
—Senator Carl Levin, (D-Michigan), Ranking Member, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

"In today's world, expanded trade relationships and rapid advances in communication technology foster opportunities for greater political freedom, economic growth, and higher living standards around the world. These developments also create new vulnerabilities for the international financial system. This book takes a look at these challenges head on and makes an important contribution to the public debate."
—Senator Charles Grassley, (R-Iowa), Chairman, Senate Finance Committee

"This groundbreaking book will open your eyes to two things: how illegal money is shifted out of poor countries into rich countries and how these illegal flows add to poverty, misery, and inequality in poor countries themselves. Can this be stopped when those in power think they are benefiting? Public pressure, as was focused on slavery two centuries ago, is the first step toward change."
—Branko Milanovic, Economist, World Bank and author of Worlds Apart

"Raymond Baker's comprehensive book on illicit money is required reading for anyone involved in the global economy. His painstaking, fact-based analysis depicts an insidious phenomenon that threatens general welfare and requires urgent corrective action."
—George Vojta, Chairman, Caux Round Table, former vice chairman, Bankers Trust

"A superlative and enlightening overview of the world of corrupt money in its many forms, what it is doing to human civilization, why it must be stopped, and how this can be accomplished. Raymond Baker critiques global capitalism as it is functioning today from neither a liberal nor conservative perspective but from the standpoint of a believer in and supporter of free markets and free trade. A brilliant tour de force!"
—Brent Blackwelder, President, Friends of the Earth