In what is either the best example why one should never believe anything they read on the internet, or just blatant frontrunning of the last QE by a few years, earlier this week a woman from Kingsport, Tennessee was arrested for counterfeiting money. That in itself is not surprising - it was her justification why she did it: she told police that she thought she was doing nothing wrong because she had read online that President Barack Obama made a new law allowing her to print her own money.
Pamela Downs, 45
TimesNews [5]reports that police were called to a local grocery store on Sunday night in regards to a complaint about counterfeit money. When the reporting officer arrived, he spoke with a gas station clerk who said that just prior to the officer's arrival, a white female had handed him a $5 bill, which he suspected to be counterfeit.
Since the bill had been printed on regular computer paper and each side had been glued together (but was falling apart), the officer immediately recognized the bill as a fake.
The officer spoke with the female, identified as Pamela Downs, 45. After initially responding that she had gotten the fake bill from a gas station, Downs was asked by the officer if her purse could be searched, to which she agreed. Inside her purse, the officer found a $100 which was also counterfeit, according to the report. The bill was printed in black and white and the backside of the bill was upside down.
A couple of receipts from Walmart were also found inside the purse, showing Downs had purchased copy paper and a printer.
At that point she was arrested, and she gave the best money-counterfeiting "defense" we have heard in a long time:
"I don't give a ****, all these other bitches get to print money so I can too."
It was not immediately clear which "bitches" she was referring to.
The police then searched the apartment and found several items consistent with being used to print counterfeit currency including paper, scissors, glue and a printer. Several more counterfeit bills, both cut and uncut, were located at the apartment. Officers estimated the total to be around $30,000 to $50,000.
While at the jail, Downs reportedly told the officer the receipts that were found were items she used to print money in her apartment.
And back to the rationalization: "She then told officers she read online that President Obama had made a new law that permitted her to print her own money because she is on a fixed income, the report stated."
She was charged with criminal simulation and counterfeiting.
While there are literally countless angles one can go with this story, maybe the best conclusion is that if only she had waited a few more years before printing her own money with the "president's blessing", all of this unpleasantness could have been avoided.
