Last December, Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said $352 billion in criminal money was laundered and kept the financial system afloat during the worst of the crisis.
“In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system’s main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor,” he said.
Keep that in mind as we explore the increasingly unstable border between the US and Mexico. In my opinion, the recent immigration law in Arizona is wrong-headed and will solve little. That’s because it targets the wrong people. A migrant standing on a street corner waiting for a $10 an hour job isn’t the problem. But, drug cartel violence and its attendant corruption are.
From my latest on CAIVN. Read the whole article.