Perhaps the Italian authorities were really old school - 450 Billion Italian Lira would have been equal to $230M to $250M US back around the turn of the century when the changeover to the Euro took place.
Even if it doesn’t show up directly one would think the Colombians who make all that money selling cocaine would be spending an awful lot of it inside the country.
Yes, in their annual RGDP. Really Gross Domestic Product
It’s just a line item on a spreadsheet.
I so hope everyone got that. It would be a waste.
Tagline: “He’s coked to the gills!”
Just looking at it…
Anyone got a mirror?
We’re gonna need a bigger mirror!
I presume that, like oligarchs, Cocaine Barons do not take much part in the local economy; preferring to ship their wealth offshore.
Good Flipper. Bad Flipper
Not me. I’m a vampire.
I mean, it would be hard not to have much impact on the local economy even if they weren’t interested in helping the country as a whole. Someone’s got to help build those giant mansions and feed the hippos and maintain the fleet of fancy sports cars. Not to mention all the people who work for the cocaine barons harvesting and refining the coca plants or working security, those folks sure aren’t putting their money in offshore accounts.
If you were able to yank hundreds of billions of dollars worth of product out of Colombia’s economy all at once then it would have some serious economic repercussions.
The headline on the linked article says million not billion.
Let’s punch up that line item for the news media and describe it as “Shadow Gross Domestic Product.”
From Superman III
Not all heroes wear capes…