The concept of what is white and black money deserves a closer look.

Clean and dirty money – the issue of money laundering.


The term ‘money laundering’ implies that there is both clean and dirty money. It also infers that illegally or unlawfully obtained money, once recycled to lawful business, has become clean. I have seen many examples of money laundering. Drug money in the USA is recycled through bookstores, real estate or hotel resorts. It is just everywhere. I have seen dirty dollars being laundered in Africa through private airlines, exchanging drug dollars for the service of Russian pilots and aircraft. Palermo, in Sicily, Italy, used to have an unusual concentration of banks.

Be it as it may, the list is long, and I always felt intrigued about the concept of money laundering:

• In theory, money is nothing but a certificate of debt issued by a country’s central bank to the bearer. In this sense there is neither clean nor dirty money.
• Through the eyes of the lawmaker, dirty money means that money has been acquired in illicit, unlawful ways, or that money has been stolen from a lawful owner. Clean money is obviously a term used for money created within the context of Law. The problem here is that Law tolerates activities which are fairly immoral, such as producing weapons of mass destruction for ‘defense’ purposes, exterminating the world’s natural habitats (massive logging and fishing activities), or attacking other countries. If Law doesn’t provide a guideline what is right or wrong, who does?
• Wars are fought for land, money and power. How often some forgotten emperor’s gold has been stolen, molten and minted again? Most certainly money can be seen as the primary reason for every dispute and every war in human history since our species emerged from the lifestyle of our cannibalistic and brutal ancestor primates. In this context, all money must be considered filthy, and evil.

Clearly the color of money has to do with human attitudes. These can overlap with the border of Law, but may possibly never fully coincide. Perhaps one should look at the attitudes and processes that lead to money generation. Possibly we are dealing with three segments of attitudes:

• ‘White money,’ generated for the purpose of the greater good; it can be compared to a growing plant. It can stem from services, industry or trade.
• ‘Tainted money,’ which is obtained from lawful but morally shaky business. The attitude here is to push the boundaries of law without breaking it, to maximize profit.
• ‘Dirty money,’ generated as a consequence of decay within families or larger segments of society. It can be compared to rotting wood, which provides fertile grounds for fungi etc. Drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and junk food belong in here. One may add other morally doubtful activities such as gambling, and prostitution (another unavoidable evil so it seems).
• The greed for profit seems to be identical on both sides of the boundary of Law.

Last week I had a chat with a team member in the office. She’s from Spain. She lost her father at young age, and her mother had to fight for every penny to assure the survival of her family. She told me that being poor and being rejected by society is one and the same thing.

Today I discussed this topic with my wife. She said to me: “Raising a kid, a family, requires always a lot of money.” Indeed. Feeding one’s children and providing them with love, education and medical care is perhaps one of the few genuine avenues for turning money into something that is clean. Donating charities or caring about the environment might be considered morally clean, too.

My point is that true ‘money laundering’ means creating and using money in an educated, compassionate and morally acceptable context. I’m convinced that money can only lead to something good, if treated with the best of our intentions and a good portion of honesty and consciousness.

© 2005 by Franz L Kessler