Hot Money and the Politics of Debt [Hardcover]

R. T. Naylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1987

A ball of hot money rolls around the world. It seeks anonymity and political refuge. It dodges taxes and sidesteps currency controls. It rolls through offshore shell companies and secret bank accounts, phoney charities and fraudulent religious foundations. It is kept rolling by white-collar criminals, gun-runners, drug dealers, insurgent groups, scam artists, tax evaders, gold and gem smugglers, and, not least, secret service agents plotting coups and financing revolutions. R.T. Naylor explains the origins of this pool of hot and homeless money, its origins, its uses and abuses, how the world of high finance, corporate and governmental, became hostage to it, and the price the world is paying and will continue to pay until the hostages are released.This book was one of the first, and remains the most comprehensive, to dissect the world of offshore finance, capital flight, money laundering, and tax evasion. Once a subject of concern principally to tax authorities and finance ministries, since the September 11, 2001 hot and homeless money has now become a central preoccupation for police forces and intelligence services around the world.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

McGill University economist Naylor depicts a postWW II intercontinental inferno of high finance involving deceit, corruption, fraud, greed, conspiracy, tax evasion, drug dealing, arms smuggling and politico-monetary "peekaboo" sleight-of-hand as government VIPs worldwide, international bankers, labor unions, the CIA, the Mafia, the Vatican, the Moonies, Latin American juntas, African potentates and Middle East terrorists, Hong Kong and Panama innovators, covert contra-aiders and assorted illicit combines variously divert billions from the economy of nations. Secret Swiss and "offshore" bank accounts, dummy corporations and the like siphon off "hot money," which in some cases, charges the author, may equal a country's entire national debt. "There would be no debt crisis," he concludes, "without large-scale capital flight." Dozens of such intrigues are chronicled here with massive data, some of it "alleged," "claimed," "rumored" or "likely," yet all of it rings with credibility.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Since the exposure of the Iran arms deal and contra aid scandal, the issue of international finance fills the headlines. In Hot Money economist Naylor deals successfully with a range of topics related to international finance, focusing especially on capital flight and the crushing Third World debt. He discusses the world monetary crisis in relation to the international oil situation, the wealth of the institutional church, the financing of the global drug trade, Swiss banks, and governmental involvement in perpetuating debt financing. The book is written in a popular style, but Naylor includes substantial enough documentation to interest readers at all levels. A thought-provoking work, Hot Money is essential reading on the contemporary scene. Highly recommended. Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 463 pages
• Publisher: Linden Pub; First Edition edition (March 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671623192
• ISBN-13: 978-0671623197
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,256,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bank is a Four Letter Word, January 3, 2011

By 

Elliot Malach "The Unknown Surfer" (Galveston, Tx) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, Third edition (Paperback)

This book is an in depth look at "hot money," money that can move around quickly for many reasons: it is dirty, tax avoidance, flight to safety and many more. What is surprising is that tax avoidance by transnational corporations dwarfs that of the "illegal" sources. It covers money laundering and how it evolved through enterprising individuals and equally enterprising countries. The book also shows how the debt of developing countries is linked to politics, corruption and the flow of hot money.

It is an eye opener. In 1984 Swiss banks controlled $350B in foreign assets, roughly equivalent to the net foreign debt of the world's developing countries. Coincidence? But the U.S. continues to embargo, bomb and invade defenseless countries to cause a capital flight to the safety of the U.S., which uses the hot money to finance more of the same,... and the scam goes on.

The book is serious but approaches the subject with both wit and humor: Referring to the brother of the president of Mexico, the author writes that over the 6 years he was head of the government's food subsidy and distribution, he earned $190K annually, out of which, by frugal living, he managed to save $112M, the amount found in his Swiss bank account.

It also brings up and interesting question: with all this bad debt from developing countries on the books of the major banks, how much longer can this house of cards withstand a total collapse?

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, even if "grand unification" theme is suspect, December 30, 2005

By 

R. C. O'Brien (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, Third edition (Paperback)

This is a book every single US Senator and Representative should read.

The title derives from the reality that illicitly gotten funds create their own momentum as the funds are laundered throughout the world, creating interest, mayhem, and leaving 3rd world countries (preyed upon for weak financial regulations) struggling under massive debt they didn't really incur.