| Submit your comments on this article |
| China-Japan-Koreas |
| No Ordinary Counterfeit |
| 2006-07-24 |
| On Oct. 2, 2004, the container ship Ever Unique, sailing under a Panamanian flag from Yantai, China, berthed in the Port of Newark. As cranes unloaded the vessel’s shipping containers, which were filled with a variety of commercial goods, dockworkers singled out a container and placed it aboard a flatbed truck, which was driven to a warehouse a few miles away. There, F.B.I. and Secret Service agents, acting as part of a sting operation, gathered around the container and cracked it open. Beneath cardboard boxes containing plastic toys, they found counterfeit $100 bills worth more than $300,000, secreted in false-bottomed compartments. The counterfeits were nearly flawless. They featured the same high-tech color-shifting ink as genuine American bills and were printed on paper with the same precise composition of fibers. The engraved images were, if anything, finer than those produced by the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Only when subjected to sophisticated forensic analysis could the bills be confirmed as imitations. Counterfeits of this superior sort — known as supernotes — had been detected by law-enforcement officials before, elsewhere in the world, but the Newark shipment marked their first known appearance in the United States, at least in such large quantities. Federal agents soon seized more shipments. Three million dollars’ worth arrived on another ship in Newark two months later; and supernotes began showing up on the West Coast too, starting with a shipment of $700,000 that arrived by boat in Long Beach, Calif., in May 2005, sealed in plastic packages and wrapped mummy-style in bolts of cloth. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 Option 1: come out with all new, re-designed $100's, then declare the old ones worthless. LOTS of folks around the globe get very, very upset. Option 2: Start counterfiting Chinese currency. |
| Posted by: mojo 2006-07-24 10:44 |
| #11 Lets not sink to the terrorist level by targetting civilians (which is what dropping a vial on the Norks is... much worse then firing unaimed missles into Israel...). I think most North Koreans are, for the most part, innocent or at worst mislead by insistant propoganda throughout their lives. They are more a victim of Kimmie and his crimes then we are. Having said that I think we need to do something about China's rabid dog or at least send a very strong message of "Don't f*ck with our currency". |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-07-24 10:39 |
| #10 "When we get our first vile of bird flu..." You do mean vial, right? -M |
| Posted by: Manolo 2006-07-24 10:12 |
| #9 wxjames, while I am sure they would love to do that to us if they had the technology, there's no need to sink to their level yet. |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie 2006-07-24 08:47 |
| #8 Lets not advocate genocide please. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2006-07-24 07:35 |
| #7 When we get our first vile of bird flu, let's drop it on Kimmy and friends. See if we can disappear Norks from the face of the earth. No real loss. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-07-24 07:25 |
| #6 Why would the largest buyer of American treasury bills (China) want to cause even more inflation? This could be part of something much much bigger. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2006-07-24 06:13 |
| #5 So its what I always suspected - our bills are so ugly that counterfeiters can't help but make better ones! |
| Posted by: Oldcat 2006-07-24 02:29 |
| #4 LOL, SOP35 - great minds... |
| Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 2006-07-24 01:07 |
| #3 Amen, PBMcL. China is, of course, far more likely the source - probably producing the plates, paper, and ink. No one here actually believes that the starving NorKies, who subsist on rocks, grass, and bark are capable of producing these supernotes alone, are they? It's well past time to have a no punches-pulled confrontation with China - and begin reciprocating the slow-burn war they declared on us long long ago. Their triangulation efforts with NorK and in the UN are, alone, worthy of this wholesale change in attitude. Begin by throwing their "students" out of the country - they occupy far too many scholarships which should be going to Americans - and many would be amazed by the number and value of these. Clean out Silicon Valley of all firms which can be traced to Chinese fronts, etc. There are many ways to communicate or displeasure with these whores of history. Let's employ some of them. |
| Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 2006-07-24 01:06 |
| #2 The reason for the currency change was to inhibit this worldwide counterfeiting wasn't it ? Now they have the "new" formula already ? This sounds like something Chicoms are involved in also. I somehow don't see how Kimmie pulls all these rabbits out of his ass, when his populace is starving. |
| Posted by: SOP35/Rat 2006-07-24 01:05 |
| #1 “The counterfeiting issue, and the crackdown on Banco Delta Asia, is a major factor which is contributing to Kim Jong Il’s posturing.” Lemme get this straight. Kimmie is faking our money. We caught him at it and shut down his banking 'helper'. He gets mad and lights off a few missiles. And this is our fault. I love the 'balance' in this story, with all the nice quotes suggesting the counterfeiting is "no big deal, really. Hardly worth bothering about." The NYT can go F itself. |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2006-07-24 00:46 |