Reply #9: To understand how the immense profits from illegal drugs

[JohnyCanuck]

are used to prop up the above-ground, "legitimate" economy and stock market, read Catherine Austin Fitts article .

Narco-Dollars for Beginners
"How the Money Works" in the Illicit Drug Trade

by Catherine Austin Fitts
Special to the Narco News Bulletin
2001

SNIP

A Real World Example: NYSE's Richard Grasso and the Ultimate New Business "Cold Call"

Lest you think my comment about the New York Stock Exchange is too strong, let's look at one event that occurred before our "war on drugs" went into high gear through Plan Colombia, banging heads over narco dollar market share in Latin America.

In late June 1999, numerous news services, including Associated Press, reported that Richard Grasso, Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange flew to Colombia to meet with a spokesperson for Raul Reyes of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), the supposed "narco terrorists" with whom we are now at war.

The purpose of the trip was "to bring a message of cooperation from U.S. financial services" and to discuss foreign investment and the future role of U.S. businesses in Colombia.

Some reading in between the lines said to me that Grasso's mission related to the continued circulation of cocaine capital through the US financial system. FARC, the Colombian rebels, were circulating their profits back into local development without the assistance of the American banking and investment system. Worse yet for the outlook for the US stock market's strength from $500 billion -- $1 trillion in annual money laundering -- FARC was calling for the decriminalization of cocaine.

http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/narcoDollars.html