Drug money saved banks from collapse

While banks were enduring a severe financial downturn, they absorbed billions of dollars in drugs money, says Antonio Maria Costa, head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Costa told the Observer that drugs money “saved banks from collapse” at the height of the global financial crisis, the Daily Mail reported on Sunday.

The head of the UNODC said there were signs that some banks were rescued by billions of dollars that “originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities”.

Speaking from his office in Vienna, Costa referred to the problem faced by many banks in the second half of 2008, as they were no longer able to lend each other.

“The system was basically paralyzed because of the unwillingness of banks to lend money to one another,” he told the newspaper.

Analysts maintain that following the collapse of US lender Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the inter-bank market system was also paralyzed and no longer could keep the constant flow of liquidity to the banks.

This, they claim, paved the way for banks to absorb drugs money that came to the salvage of some of the banks.

Costa noted there were evidence supporting the idea that the proceeds of organized crime were the “only liquid investment capital” available to some banks on the verge of collapse last year.

Westen: Nobel committee creates Peace Derivatives market

Psychologist Drew Westen has inside sources on the Nobel Peace Prize committee:

Nobel Committee Admits Getting into Derivatives Trading in Giving Peace Prize to Obama

What led to the unusual decision to bet on futures rather than follow the century-old precedent of selecting someone who has actually accomplished something?

By Drew Westen

A spokesman from the Nobel Committee yesterday spoke on condition of anonymity about the controversial decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, who as yet has solved no international crisis or created peaceful resolution to any conflict but has delivered some awesome speeches that have breathed new life into the Norwegian stock exchange, the Red Herring 500, according to the committee member. “There’s derivatives trading now in virtually every commodity known to humankind,” noted the source. “So why not peace?” He added that rare commodities with unpredictable futures are particularly attractive to derivatives traders, and that peace certainly falls into that category. With many on the right objecting that Obama hasn’t done anything to earn the prize and many on the left complaining that his record domestically has been to deliver magnificent speeches without following up with any decisive actions and to paper over conflicts with inspiring words and half-measures, the Nobel Committee member admitted on background that he wasn’t sure whether the action of the committee technically could be considered hedging or derivatives trading, but he was counting on it to create a competitive market for both peace and Obama memorabilia.