Center for International Policy

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

"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

"This book will become a landmark on the road to better relations between rich and poor countries. For decades, analysts have failed to look at the obvious-the broad range of financial manipulations that contribute to impoverishing billions of people worldwide. Raymond Baker understands how it works, and he tells it like it is."

Jack Blum, Partner, Lobel, Novins & Lamont

"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

"We have sophisticated and convincing models of how capitalist economies work. Raymond Baker shows how thoroughly these models miss the reality of globalized commerce and finance. Capitalism's Achilles Heel analyzes the pervasive corruption of governments, banks, and corporations in vivid detail and shows how it facilitates the international trade in women, drugs, and nuclear technologies and how it supports terrorism, crime, and the persistence of extreme poverty. This book is essential reading for those who want to understand what our world is really like, and why."

Thomas Pogge, Department of Philosophy, Columbia University

"Raymond Baker pictures a world of vast corruption, much of it accepted as standard procedure. Gathering his own evidence, his case is compelling, and he argues persuasively that if we could rein in the corrupting influences, free markets would work much better and we'd all be better off, rich and poor alike. He believes in change within the system. A fascinating book, an enjoyable read, and a lot to think about. I have quite a list of business and banking friends to whom I'm sending copies."

John Whitehead, former Co-Chairman of Goldman Sachs, former Deputy Secretary of State, former Chairman of the Brookings Institution, Chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation

"This book is a challenge to western governments. Financial stability, justice between rich and poor, and the progress of democracy all demand concerted actions to reduce opportunities for generating and hiding dirty money. Capitalism's Achilles Heel reveals the unacceptable public and private face of how governments are failing to deal with this critical issue. Here is the trigger for them to act."

Lord Daniel Brennan, Queens Counsel, former Chairman of the Bar of England and Wales

"This book, with its uncompromising documentation, is especially welcome. Shameless money laundering through the great international banks, tolerated by both international agencies and national banking supervisors, not only supports crime and terrorism but cripples both governmental and private efforts to give hope and opportunity to the wretched billions condemned to desperate poverty. Raymond Baker's remedies, including tight definitions of money laundering and publicity to multinational tax returns, would make a real difference if governments had the guts to impose them."

Martin Mayer, author, The Bankers, The Fed, and more than 30 other books

"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 of global business leaders, former Vice Chairman, Bankers Trust

"An engrossing account of a huge global issue, offering extraordinary insights for the professional and a study of human nature for all. Illustrated with riveting case studies drawn from the real world, Raymond Baker successfully addresses the opposing aspects of legality and illegality, honesty and dishonesty, the line between good and evil in a capitalist world."

Ray Kendall, Q.P.M., former Secretary General of Interpol.

"Capitalism's Achilles Heel is an incredibly thought-provoking book written for the business executive, the economist, the philosopher, the politician and the human rights activist, all in one. Author Raymond Baker clearly articulates the superiority of the capitalist system to raise standards of living and reduce global poverty. However, as he so aptly describes in very thorough research, it is not the criminal element that hurts the world's poor as much as it is the intelligent and the well off in the myriad ways we find to take advantage of weak and often corrupt countries. Our ability to be notionally legal but ethically and morally bankrupt is destroying capitalism and Capitalism's Achilles Heel provides concrete advice on how to turn the tide, starting with those in leadership in both business and government."

Sherron S. Watkins, former Enron Corp. Vice President and one of the trio of whistleblowers named Time's 2002 Persons of the Year