Corruption As a Starting Point

This points to a nagging and important question about free-market ideologues: Are they "true believers," driven by ideology and faith that free markets will cure underdevelopment, as is often asserted, or do the ideas and theories frequently serve as an elaborate rationale to allow people to act on unfettered greed while still invoking an altruistic motive?

All ideologies are corruptible...and there are certainly honest neo-liberals. But Chicago School economics does seem particularly conducive to corruption. Once you accept that profit and greed practiced on a mass scale create the greatest possible benefit for society, pretty much any act of personal enrichment can be justified as a contribution to the great creative cauldron of capitalism, generating wealth and spurring economic growth -- even if it's only for yourself and your colleagues.
~ from Chapter 13 of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein ~

I am taking the liberty of quoting liberally from this book because it provides for needed education. I think that far too many people -- and I definitely include myself in this category -- don't realize that the tentacles of disaster capitalism are ensnaring almost every aspect of the world we live in.

From what I knew before starting this book and what I've learned specifically from Klein's text, my answer to the question posed about is that the purveyors of the Friedman school of thought are anything but "true believers." Their calculus is not based on what is most beneficial for nations and peoples; it is far more about taking whatever they can get their hands on and everyone else be damned!

They may utilize the terminology of Christianity, patriotism, freedom and/or shared sacrifice, but these are mere props to get what they so cravenly desire: greater and greater amounts of personal wealth and power.