CAPITALISM'S ACHILLES HEEL Dirty Money and How to

YOU’RE IN BUSINESS
Playing the Game 47
Everything in your dirty-money user kit basically falls into four categories: falsifying
prices, passing money through dummy entities, faking transactions,
and using a few specialized devices as needed. Occasionally a gimmick or two
may be declared illegal or require a bit of caution, but the basic facilitating
structure that has been around for years remains intact. Some of it may sound
a bit complicated, but it really is not. Besides, there are office buildings full of
bankers and lawyers and accountants here and abroad ready to help you,
whether you are a crook or a CEO or just a run-of-the-mill tax evader. Most of
these professionals can do the dirty work for you, or structure deals to keep
you out of trouble, or tell you where laws are particularly lenient, or help you
stay ahead of authorities where laws are stronger, or defend you if in that extremely
rare circumstance you should get caught, or impart to you sage counsel
on how to place your criminal or corrupt or commercially tax-evading
money in secure and profitable investments. The whole process of dealing
with dirty money is routine and well honed and functions effectively every day
for people just like you. And let’s face it, it’s so very satisfying being smarter
than the next person and making money no one knows about or can find.
There’s only one catch. Use of instruments in the dirty-money user kit
carries a high price. The price is damage to the capitalist system. The price is
bolstering international crime and terrorism. The price is deprivation for
billions of people. The price is heightened risk to the shared security of a
globalizing world.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. These are topics for the pages to come.