Pinochet's Millions

While not in the “dictator economic pantheon” like the late Yasir A., Chile’s Gustavo Pinochet seems to have distributed a fair amount of hidden cash around the world, including (embarrassingly, according to a new Senate report) fifteen million in about 125 US accounts, much of it at our own Citigroup. The not-so-secret secret of tyrannies is that they are as much as anything about stolen money, robbed for the most part from the people of the countries involved. Bringing democracy and freedom means bringing economic transparency. I would imagine Wolfowitz, as a known “freedom fighter,” would want to address this if he gets the job at the World Bank. No wonder people are lining up to oppose him.