"The mistakes the U.S. has made in Latin America-and the high price it will pay for them Washington has long told Latin American countries how to run their economies: bring in multinationals, eliminate the social safety net, keep government debt low, court U.S. politicians, and sign free trade agreements. In the past decade, many leaders-Hugo Chavez among the most visible-have rejected that, and those countries are now growing while the U.S. is falling apart. Combining sharp wit and great storytelling with trenchant analysis, Hal Weitzman explains why Latin America has turned against its powerful northern neighbor and why the region's newfound economic success will hurt the U.S. Reveals how the politics of oil and the rise of "resource nationalism" are reshaping America's role in the global economy and negatively affecting its prosperity at home Illustrates analytical points with vivid stories and examples: the disappearance of the Panama hat, the sweater Evo Morales wore on a trip to Europe, and more Written by a Financial Times journalist who formerly served as their Andean correspondent based in Lima, Peru "-- "Combinging a sharp wit, great storytelling, and trenchant analysis, Weitzman explains why Latin America turned against the US, and why their newfound economic success is likely to hurt us. For most of the '80s and '90s, Latin America was subjected to "The Washington Consensus" as banks and governments demanded countries ignore the needs of their citizens in the short term and turn over their best assets to foreigners, in order to attract international financial investments"--