AROUND THE WORLD THE EMPIRE BUILDERS and plutocrats extend their reach, expropriating land, labor, resources, and markets, gathering still more and more riches unto themselves. Marinating in their immense wealth, the laissez-faire disciples tirelessly sing hosannas to the empire’s prime mythic creation, the free market, that magical blend of individual greed and supposedly collective benefit. In this chapter we investigate in some detail the blessings of the free market as bestowed upon the victimized populations of several countries.