“In 2009, Italian financial police seized $742 billion of fake U.S. bearer bonds in the northern Italian town of Chiasso, near the Swiss border.”
Looting the whole frikking world.
It's all funny money. No one can track it. No one can trust it. Citizens, businesses, and governments at every level are just going to shrug and say, "I'm not paying."
There are so many examples, but the John Corzine fiasco is another good one. MF Global lost a few billion dollars. Where did it go? The official answer: "I dunno."
Why pretend anymore? It's all a sham.
I recall the story about Yogi Berra doing a post-game interview show, for which he was rewarded with a $50 check that said "Pay to Bearer." He said, "Hey, you spelled my name wrong."
If memory serves correctly, in the 2009 seizure there were North Koreans involved.
North Korea has the expensive European-made printing presses needed to produce high quality forgeries and, along with narcotics smuggling, has been accused of counterfeiting various currencies to support their oppressive government.
Maybe they have moved into counterfeiting U.S. Treasury Bonds.