Chart of the Day: The Wild East is counterfeit central

Economist story:  global seizures of fake drugs way up, and Asia leads the way--by a ways.

No great surprise with LATAM not far behind.

The recently settled frontier economies are naturally environments where counterfeiters shine--the proverbial snake-oil salesman of the American Wild West.

The Economist's warning:  fake drugs have always bedeviled developing countries, but now, because of the new and expanding connectivity between Old and New Core (my terminology), such vulnerabilities are being exported to our neck of the woods.

I will readily admit to this vulnerability:  when we buy Xyzal through a Canadian online pharmacy, sometimes it comes from Britain, sometimes from Mumbai, sometimes from South Africa or Brazil.

As for those drugs made here in America?  A safe bet is that half the ingredients likewise come from New Core economies.