is that book something you picked up on your own or was it for a class? which class? did you see it cheaper anywhere else?
http://www.spaz.org/~dan/individualist-anarchist/software/konkin-interview.html
now you might say “but Malachi, this guy was hobnobbing around with Rothbard in the 70’s, and we have all heard of Rothbard because, duh, its Rothbard. and barely anybody knows who Samuel Edward Konkin is, but here we are after Ron Paul’s presidential campaigns and Gary Johnson got over a million votes! who cares about agorism?”
well my question for you is who has more power and freedom, the Sinaloa Cartel or the Libertarian Party? are you gonna start an Austrian Party? (j/k I know austrians are too individualist and eclectic to do that).
agorism is, instead of Rothbard’s big red button, quadrillions and quadrillions of tiny red buttons.
I’ve been calling myself a libertarian for a long time, and prior to '07 you would have gotten more blank stares at the mention of “Ron Paul” than by mentioning “libertarian” even though people tended to conflate the political philosophy with the political party of the same name. conservatives co-opting libertarian ideas and rhetoric is also nothing new. I’m a ron paul supporter, and I believe in the “many roads to liberty” strategy. that said, its easy to overstate his influence. a lot of ron paul supporters arent even real libertarians.
Yet libertarians were still a far rarer breed in 07 than today, and that’s largely because of Ron Paul’s run.
estimated 1.8 billion jobs worldwide. how many libertarians are there in the us? lets say about 4 non-voters for every gary johnson voter…about 5 million libertarians. the black market in the us is estimated to turn over between $1 trillion and $2 trillion annually. I’d say that agorism is already ahead of political libertarianism. all of that aside, your comment falls flat anyway because we have to start somewhere. additionally, political libertarianism is a performative contradiction. you say your argument against the state is economic in nature? then why not employ economic means to solve the problem? you say your argument against the state is moral in nature? how can it then be moral to run for office, or encourage people to vote? you say your argument against the state is based on legitimacy and consent, or the lack thereof? then why confer legitimacy upon the state by associating yourself with it, and why consent to the political process by filing paperwork with the state to participate in politics?
The state doesn’t need your consent, it just requires that you don’t resist it as it pillages you. Sure, if you get half of the population not paying taxes it would collapse, but to turn your “4 non-voters for every Gary Johnson voter” idea around, there are maybe 10 Gary Johnson voters for every libertarian actually fighting the state through agorism or not paying taxes. See, participating in the counter economy requires, again, multiple libertarians with goods to actually create an economy with. The overwhelming majority of the US “black market” is from things that are already illegal like drugs, so they don’t much undermine the state at all.
Also, you still missed the point that it brings over… well… basically no one. Okay, if the US government strangles the economy enough that people jump ship without changes in ideology maybe, but the US government presently isn’t and thus the businesses avoid the ire of the government by paying their taxes and following regulations. So long as the US government continues this, the only people in the counter economy will be activists (a very small and irrelevant minority) and people involved in already illegal markets.
the state absolutely cares about unregulated markets, thats why they have things like atf, dea, fda, and the ftc in order to enforce the prohibitions on economic freedom. but I dont participate in free markets “because the state doesnt like it” I participate in free markets because they have goods and services that I prefer, and I am not a slave so I have no incentive to purchase those goods and services in a slave market (where those goods and services carry a premium anyway). what I am achieving is catallactic trade, meanwhile you can wait for the next ron paul to convince 535 criminals to agree that its ok for you to do what I already do.
But Jim and Jane average libertarian aren’t going to risk being thrown into a cage and having their family destroyed for the sake of making a few bucks, getting a few things the state doesn’t want them to have, and basically making an economic point. Furthermore, Bob and Barb average lukewarm statist aren’t going to consider the views of what they basically consider to be drug dealers and “dirty tax dodgers” trying to justify themselves ideologically, regardless of how well argued the points are. Sure, the state comes after you, but you’re a sufficiently minor threat that they don’t need to worry too much and occasionally arrest people. A few billion dollars (Which is realistically what they lose from people actively participating in the counter economy) is drops in the bucket compared to the multi trillion empire that they control.
finally, its laughable for you to imply that unregulated markets dont have potential for growth in the presence of criminal aggressors who continually extend their regulation of markets that they do control. theres natural incentive for participation, its called “profit.”
Sure, but there’s also an extreme amount of risk that doesn’t come with participating in “legitimate” markets, there’s a disproportionate amount of work to be done in avoiding being thrown in a cage (dealing with income tax returns, etc), there’s a societal stigma that really isn’t loosened by it becoming more common, there’s a far smaller market to reach in the first place, and there are limits on scale that come with avoiding the authorities. Realistically speaking, you aren’t going to make a profit by switching unless you’re in an already heavily controlled industry AND you have no way of wiggling into a favoured position and getting the government to scratch your back.
EDIT: I suppose the Sinaloa Cartel is more powerful than the Libertarian Party. But then, the Sinaloa Cartel murders people and engages in massive acts of aggression. If every libertarian in the US went for a gun and started running about killing government officials, cops, soldiers, etc then no doubt we would make a huge impact. Hell, with 5 million angry armed libertarians shooting people indiscriminantly, we might even trash the apparatus of the state in the US in a permanent way! However, it would carry with it unacceptable means, many, many dead innocents, and a very angry public afterwards. I don’t really think drug cartels are the ideal alternative to the government, especially since they basically starve to death when the government even moderately liberalizes laws (because even a very heavily restricted market is generally considered preferable to going underground).
It is not for a class. It is not found any cheaper, unfortunately…I looked for a long time before deciding to buy it…and I got these too
Secret State, Silent Press
The Gulf War 1991 had thousands of casualties that the US covered up with the help of the Western media. Written by a journalist, prose is very drawn out as if the author is expecting you to shit a brick so he tells you tiny pieces of the story with the worst filler…
Leviathans: Multinational Corporations and the New Global History
Theory of transnational bureaucracy is developed through several essays on the growing influence of MNCs in transnational policy making. (Has an essay on Bilderberg - from Cambridge UP)
Trilateralism: The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management
80’s examination of the TC from various angles (has an essay written on the history of BB as well); foreign policy,
American Hegemony and the Trilateral Commission
Have not read yet. - Gramscian theory of western multilateral hegemony
Propaganda and Persuasion
Introductory work on the types, methods, history; the difference in persuasion and propaganda.
Propaganda and Democracy: The American Experience of Media and Mass Persuasion
Title says it all starts at WWI, examines several social movements then the corporate and intellectual takeover of the discipline.
Cultural Critique and the Global Corporation
(Anthropoloigy) Examines corporate management, PR, and the reality of what MNCs do. Chapters on DeBeers, GE, United Fruit, etc.
Bureaucratic Politics and Foreign Policy - this still has not come (Published from Brookings though!)# The Politics Of Policy Making In Defense and Foreign Affairs: Conceptual Models and Bureaucratic Politics
Chapter 8 must have been Ron Paul’s actual campaign plan because my jaw was dropped as I read it. Every suggestion that is made in chapter 8 Ron Paul took advantage of in 2012.
NATO’s Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe
Country by Country Ganser goes over the NATO intelligence operations involving the stay-behind network (each country had a different iteration) all through the Cold War. This isn’t as conspiratorial as it sounds. NATO built up hidden weapons caches in various places in Europe so they could over night activate guerilla networks to act against the USSR. Some of them went rogue with the guns and NATO kept it secret instead of taking responsibility.
U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis
Haven’t read
Weaponizing Anthropology: Social Science in Service of the Militarized State
Haven’t read
States and Illegal Practices
(anthropology) Examines historical cases of states cooperating with mafias, gun smugglers, diamond smugglers, etc. Examines the NATO stay behind in Italy (because the NATO sponsored rogue network assassinated the PM and the conspiracy was propogated within The Grande Oriente of italy (Masonic Lodge - eventually leading to their prohibition from relation to people in any positions of official power.).
The Iran-Contra Scandal (The National Security Archive Document) - this has in it arms orders and bills of sale signed by Felix Rodriguez himself (the CIA assassin responsible for killing Guevara) and Ollie North). It is a collection of the main documents involved in the Iran Contra investigation.# A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs - this goes over the bureaucratic movements that allowed the DoD to use Congressional authority and resources without the Congress OR the NSC knowing…Ollie North!# Illicit Flows and Criminal Things: States, Borders, and the Other Side of Globalization
(Anthropology) Looks at international drug trades, illegal markets in Africa, etc.; particularly cases where States turn a blind eye.
I think you need to step back a minute and think about this, youre not making much sense. first of all, the state literally doesnt even exist, its just a fiction. so when you talk about the state pillaging me, you actually mean an agent of the state depriving me of property (like sales tax). so thats where the white marketeer actually supports the state, no matter what his ideology is. because, you see, participating in the counter economy only requires effective demand and another counter economicist. it doesnt need a boatload of libertarians with goods etc. the goods are already there. and to suggest that the drug market doesnt undermine the state, are you serious? you think they made them illegal just because? the truth is that freedom to own and consume chemicals is a medical issue, and goes hand in glove with the socialization of the field of medicine, which is another way of controlling who lives and who dies.
a) already happening
b) brings over counter economicists, who are strongly composed of entrepreneurs and accustomed to providing their own security
c) ok I can see this doesnt appeal to you, go borrow some hayek from the public library and pay your taxes and follow regulations like a good little slave if that makes you happy, if youre afraid that buying groceries at the farmers market makes you irrelevant.
maybe you dont get out much, or watch the news, or whatever, but Jim and Jane average (fill-in-the-blank-political-jurisdiction) are already at risk of that for not doing anything but minding their own business. youre telling me its ok for them to pay tribute to criminal aggressors, because, who gives a shit? I think you need to check your principles.
Bob and Barb average lukewarm statist are probably customers of one or more drug dealers. you really need to get out more.
how are the majority of revenues collected? coercion or rapine? and youre telling me that people who already resist the coercion are not good candidates for libertarianism? why dont you just think about this some more and come back when your thoughts are more coherent?
A black market for many types of consumer goods, such as drugs, is easy enough to imagine. However, how would large-scale production find its way into the black market? How does a car factory hide its activities to avoid paying taxes and observing regulations? Or a steel plant? Or a mine? Or a farm? Or a chemical plant? Or an electricity generating plant? How about financial markets? How about banks? Seems to me that the most important parts of a modern economy cannot operate in such a way as to avoid the attention of the State, which means they cannot operate in a black market.
Have you heard of guns and drugs?
Forgive me if I’m wrong Minarchist, but Aristo:
I believe that large-scale in that case was referring to the goods in question and not their processes of production.
Even if it wasn’t, neither guns or drugs are particularly hard to make. Car engines on the other hand…
haha okay. i totally didn’t read anything except the bold line…but now that I think about it China has a lot of production facilities that they cannot control and regulate (and over there as long as you pay taxes you can do whatever you want) that steal IP from the West (blueprintes for nuclear reactors, speakers, cars, factories, and software, for instance, then reproduce them at the lowest possible cost; a car for instance can be counterfeited and when it is sold, that is the black market. So China. Is how large scale production can make it to the black market. (I also made a post that went to moderation about a list of books, two of which are about how black markets function in various contries (Illicit Flows and States and Illegal Practices).
As for car engines, have you heard of chop shops? What do you think they do?
As for financial services in the black market that is the mafia’s specialty. need money scrubbed? They will launder it and they have hoards of black market cash from drugs and guns and people and organs, etc. they can use to make loans on the black market. Protection rackets keep regulators away asd do second book accounting practices. Now that I think ab out it, money laundering is a financial service specific to the black market. it only has the potential to grow…unless the black and white markets are merged into a grey one.
Diamond mines (and oil, coal, gold, lithium, etc) are fairly complex engineering processes that can be entirely black market. The World simply cannot regulate black market trades.
Minarchist hasn’t really thought too much about it.
Satellites might be tough for the black market to get operational…but then again you can just hijack ones that are already up there (unless yours has special technology that those don’t).
All I know is, the serious use of terms like ‘Islamofascist’ and ‘liberal democracy’ are surefire triggers for my bullshit meter.
And closet neocon arguments masquerading as ‘libertarian’ rhetoric is primo FOX news bullshit
I think you need to step back a minute and think about this, youre not making much sense. first of all, the state literally doesnt even exist, its just a fiction. so when you talk about the state pillaging me, you actually mean an agent of the state depriving me of property (like sales tax). so thats where the white marketeer actually supports the state, no matter what his ideology is. because, you see, participating in the counter economy only requires effective demand and another counter economicist. it doesnt need a boatload of libertarians with goods etc. the goods are already there. and to suggest that the drug market doesnt undermine the state, are you serious? you think they made them illegal just because? the truth is that freedom to own and consume chemicals is a medical issue, and goes hand in glove with the socialization of the field of medicine, which is another way of controlling who lives and who dies.
The counter economy also requires effective SUPPLY, which is severely limited by the State (which exists as much as any corporation or association). Supply is only going to exist if the “white” market is sufficiently messed up that the black market is the only alternative, and that’s only the case, again, when the thing is question is banned outright or else production is simple (so drugs for the first and food for the second). Drugs are banned because a bunch of moral-majority types became influential and happened to think they were evil, which in turn created a thriving black market as with alcohol. Remind me, what happened when Prohibition ended? Did the mafia and rum runners get richer by avoiding regulations? No, because you only make lots of profit from markets like that if they stay ILLEGAL, merely REGULATED doesn’t do the trick.
a) already happening
b) brings over counter economicists, who are strongly composed of entrepreneurs and accustomed to providing their own security
Yeah! Let’s get the drug cartels on OUR side! Great idea!
c) ok I can see this doesnt appeal to you, go borrow some hayek from the public library and pay your taxes and follow regulations like a good little slave if that makes you happy, if youre afraid that buying groceries at the farmers market makes you irrelevant.
Oh yeah, the statists are really quaking in their boots at the thought of you avoiding maybe $100 in taxes and a handful of regulations by buying super-revolutionary black market cabbage. God forbid you REALLY strike at the root of statism and buy a gram of weed or something because then the system would be seriously endangered.
maybe you dont get out much, or watch the news, or whatever, but Jim and Jane average (fill-in-the-blank-political-jurisdiction) are already at risk of that for not doing anything but minding their own business. youre telling me its ok for them to pay tribute to criminal aggressors, because, who gives a shit? I think you need to check your principles.
Yet the overwhelming amount of this aggression is merely annoying and can be avoided, and it’s still possible to live a somewhat decent life under the present system for most. Unsustainable and immoral yes, but most people aren’t really willing to risk their livelihoods for trivial gains and the moral high ground.
Bob and Barb average lukewarm statist are probably customers of one or more drug dealers. you really need to get out more.
Because the average soccer mom does meth on her spare time, y’know.
how are the majority of revenues collected? coercion or rapine? and youre telling me that people who already resist the coercion are not good candidates for libertarianism? why dont you just think about this some more and come back when your thoughts are more coherent?
…So you want to create a revolution of drug dealers (who, by virtue of not obeying the law, are apparently all moral people that don’t do bad things)?
lol no its not, we are talking about black markets. supply in white markets is severly limited by the state in some cases, yes. not so in black markets, the price settles and the market clears. when effective demand increases supply quickly (and I mean QUICKLY) follows suit.
every white market in existence is “messed up” to that extent, thats what makes it a white market. otherwise men with guns wouldnt need to enforce the regs.
dyou really believe that? “drugs” arent even “banned”, your generalization is so vague as to be utterly meaningless. as I suggested above, you arent very well informed on this subject and seem to be spouting reflexive assertations without thinking them through (because the cartels are sooooo evil I would rather pay taxes to legitimate criminals like agents of the state). I’m going to stop here in the hopes that youll take some time to read and think some more before you become emotionally invested in this absurd anti-thesis of yours. please enjoy your evening, thanks for replying.
lol no its not, we are talking about black markets. supply in white markets is severly limited by the state in some cases, yes. not so in black markets, the price settles and the market clears. when effective demand increases supply quickly (and I mean QUICKLY) follows suit.
The free market is efficient, it isn’t magic. The costs of complying to regulations, generally speaking, are lower than the costs of trying to operate through the black market and having to hide your activities from the Feds, especially as you expand to things that require workers and large scale production to work.
every white market in existence is “messed up” to that extent, thats what makes it a white market. otherwise men with guns wouldnt need to enforce the regs.
Yet it’s sufficiently free that people can still do fairly well with just it, regulated or not. Otherwise, men with guns wouldn’t be able to stop all the people flocking to the black market (as was the case in, say, the Soviet Union).
dyou really believe that? “drugs” arent even “banned”, your generalization is so vague as to be utterly meaningless. as I suggested above, you arent very well informed on this subject and seem to be spouting reflexive assertations without thinking them through (because the cartels are sooooo evil I would rather pay taxes to legitimate criminals like agents of the state). I’m going to stop here in the hopes that youll take some time to read and think some more before you become emotionally invested in this absurd anti-thesis of yours. please enjoy your evening, thanks for replying.
The drugs that are commonly trafficked, and make the most money, are banned. See: Cocaine, meth, heroin, marijuana, etc.
Yeah, let’s get rid of that damned modern state and replace it with drug cartels. That’s a brilliant idea. While we’re at it, let’s remind people that we think Al Capone is a real hero for sticking it to the Feds. Because literally every problem in the world can be traced directly to the state, and therefore every person who opposes it, be it a drug cartel, axe murderer, mad bomber, or mass murderer, is a good guy.
I consider that an article of faith. generally speaking, the cost of avoiding criminal aggressors is less than the cost of appeasing them.
1.8 billion jobs, remember? nobody on the planet is does anything without black markets facilitating it in some respect. also please explain to me why white markets are “sufficiently free” but drug dealers are too evil to proselytize?
ftw? men with guns cannot and do not stop people from “flocking” (as you put it) to the black market. some people choose to submit to regulation because of ideas and ideology. the black markets obviously thrived in the soviet union. right now I am really disappointed that you didnt take my advice.
none of those drugs are banned in the united states. they are controlled substances and your ignorance is wasting my time. please educate yourself because, guess what, no one else can educate you.
drug cartels are self-evidently evil, perhaps thats why you would rather play sarcastiball than explain why coercive governments are supposed to be “better” than cartels, who at the very least provide goods that people are willing to pay for. who commits more murders in a given time period, cartels or states? do you have a sarcastic answer for that one? or can you actually put a coherent argument together, for once?
Actually, I did mean the processes of production.
Aristophanes,
If a product cannot be produced as cheaply in a black market as in a white market, then it will not be produced in a black market. Though it may be technically possible to produce just about anything in the black market, how competitive would those goods be, considering the constraints which operating in a black market places on the scale of production? Could you produce petroleum distillates without attracting the attention of the state? Sure, I could set up a petroleum still in my basement, or maybe get a warehouse or some other building without attracting too much notice…but is there any way I could compete with Exxon? Of course not. The same with many other sorts of heavy industry and manufacturing. The inability of black market firms to achieve the scale of white market firms puts them at a hopeless competitive disadvantage in many cases. This is why you don’t see black market production of cars, ships, railcars, petrochemicals, steel, glass, etc, etc.
Are guns produced in the black market? To my knowledge the guns sold in the black market are produced in the white market. As for drugs, there is no white market at all, so black market production is profitable. If drugs were legalized, one would expect drug producers in the white market to outcompete black market producers.
If the Chinese state permits those producers to produce, it is not black market production, by definition.
They strip parts from stolen cars for resale. They do not produce cars, nor compete with white market auto manufacturers.
Black market financiers cater to those already in the black market for other reasons. They deal in money which cannot be accounted for legally. That is, people don’t use them because they offer competitive prices, but because they have no other option. The mafia is not competing with BNY Mellon in the loan market.
How does one hide an open strip mine from the state?
No. See my point further down.
Actually I know why you think thoise things. You are not thinking about the international system. You are only considering various national states. The fact is that in the international economy there is much that is unregulated - the system is anarchic; what happens between states doesn’t need to conform to one law or the other because all nations fight for jurisdiction.. You can buy slaves in some markets, but you can also employ legal sweat shops (for virtually the same money), if your logic were taken as universal then this would not be the case.
Chop shops output is just like OEM software. Much of the OEM world is technically illegal as you are not suppoed to sell them apart from the hardware that they are legally bound to…but people do it anyways…even computer stores. Microsoft will pay top dollar for copies of OEM windows that have been legally purchased…used…then put up on ebay (which is illegal as OEM is not for resale). This not to mention the piracy world of software…which is precisely why M$ won’t stop people from selling OEM copies…they buy them back because at least then they can make money on them since people who pirate the software don’t pay anything.
Chop shops can be said to take cars apart and sell them where the parts are then reconstituted as new cars (not in their entirety I concede, but synthetic).
Again, you are not considering that most of the governments of the world do not allow Chinese companies to acquire the IP necessary to build the counterfeit vehicles in the first place. This is a demonstration that “law” is not monopolistic internationally. The market is bigger than the jurisdication of China or the U.S. What is legal there may be illegal in the US, but always there is an in the middle which is international markets. look at Bulgaria. They will sell counterfeit things…i.e., they import them from China. Top Gear did a whole episode on Chinese counterfeiting of US and EU made cars, check it out it is pretty funny.
I can’t believe you would bold a comment like that and then not read the following paragraph…
Yeah, right. Why don’t you look that “market” up? I mentioned two books written on black markets did you consult those? You make so many generalizations and assertions that fit your prescription that it isn’t worth it. As if those large multinational banks can provide services for things that are illict, but not illegal…you need to look some of this up and open yourself up to the third level of systems imaging (international) which you completely and obviously, imo, are missing.
For instance, mafias and drug cartels invest in their cover companies and their laundering companies…construction, shipping, oil, insurace, etc. Black markets, in this way, are in a dynamic dimensional way participating in the white markets for the interests of the black. […] We might even be able to make a case for capital accumulation and investment theory within the black market in this sense.
You do not have to hide it if the State is too weak to stop you. Look at Africa. Every country there is an example of this. And wouldn’t you know it there are countries that are willing to buy resources from those companies.
Aristophanes,
Regarding your point about the international market:
Black market production means production which is illegal per the laws of the state that has jurisdiction over the area where this production is occurring. If something is produced legally, the mere fact that the product in question may be illegal somewhere else, outside the state where it is being produced, does not make it black market production. If something is illegally produced in Ruritania, this is black market production. If something is legally produced in Ruritania and then exported to some place where it is illegal, this is not black market production. There is black market activity involving the product (buying, selling, distributing), but it was not produced illegally.
There are no black market producers of cars any place where car production is legal (i.e. everywhere, so there are no black market producers of cars anywhere). The same for the other heavy industries I mentioned. If black market producers in these industries could compete, they would compete. Since they don’t, we can infer that they can’t. And I hypothesize that the reason they can’t compete (at least one reason) is that they can’t achieve sufficient economies of scale without attracting the attention of the state.
Insofar as black market money enters the white market, that money becomes subject to taxation and control by the state. Isn’t avoiding that the entire point of agorism?
Of course. But if agorism cannot work unless the state is already weak, then of what value is it as a means to weaken the state?
agorism already works. the state is unnecessary.
illegal arms and weaponry manufacture already takes place on a large scale, its like you have never even heard of a cartel. they make guns, tanks, submarines, uav’s, whatever they want.
your argument about the cars reminds me of the old joke about economists: two. economists are walking down the street, and one steps over a $50 bill and goes on, ignoring it. the other gentleman asks him “why didnt you pick up that note with the picture of U.S. Grant on it?” the first economist says to him “that cant be there, someone would have picked it up by now.” I’m sorry that you think that, since there havent been enough counter-economicists that produce automobiles for their underground activity to come to your attention, there necessarily will never be a sufficient number of automobile producing counter-economicists. I suppose the same argument could illustrate the inevitable failure of anarchism, and also minarchism. I am getting bored with this discussion maybe counter-economics isnt right for you guys, if it causes the arrow of time to disappear inside your head.
So that’s why we’re living in a free society right now?
@Min
So, there is no international black market then? Beacause you keep making excuses for the illegal doings that states partake in, simply because they label it illegal for private citizens?
I’m not making the agorist claim so you aren’t undermining my arguments by appealing to whether or not it furthers agorism or not. I am a realist in this sense. I am only pointing out that, in my Bulgaira example: the whole market for illegal goods is the producing market (China) and the consumption market (Bulgaria). Black market production happens there, and duh, economies of scale for markets where you don’t go to jail for producing the good are going to outperform others, but that doesn’t mean that illegal cars, software, speakers, nuclear plants, etc. aren’t being counterfeited. Nuclear plants in China are black market as China knows the production models are illegal; they just don’t do anything about it. Neither does bulgaria where there are no restrictions (at least enforced).
Or in Africa where large scale mining production does go on without paying taxes, using slaves, etc., even though it is illegal, the state cannot do anything about it because the mining companies have more power of which their power is extended when other countries are willing to trade with them.
The Mexican Cartels and the Italian Mafia both legitimize their money, laundering it only means you are able to move it to bank accounts, not that you are bending over backwards to pay taxes on it, after all you can launder money in the Caymen Islands and they are not paying taxes. it is a mway of adding the illegal money to your usual production deposits. Like i said, this can be seen as a method of capital accumulation on the black market; making sure the money is able to be spent just as freely in the legal markets.