Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, 3rd Edition, 3rd Edition

37The New Millennium’s New Economic Hit Men

Back in the 1970s, lower-income countries were looked upon as nests of corruption. People like me plied our trade quietly, but just about everyone assumed that Latin American, African, and Asian government officials thrived on bribes. The image of the “banana republic” politician accepting an envelope stuffed with dollars in exchange for favors granted was ingrained in the press and Hollywood. The US, on the other hand, was considered to be—and for the most part was—above such massive corruption.

In writing The New Confessions, I was struck by how much had changed during the decade since the original book was published in 2004. The changes had been drastic, and they symbolized the transformation in ...