Federal customs officials declared that they recently cracked open a few shipping containers at the Port of Oakland and found $22 million in counterfeit designer goods. According to the Bay City News Service, the fake brand names included Gucci, Prada, Jimmy Choo, and Bulgari. We’d like to make one small point about announcements like this. Often, cash estimates like this $22 million figure are derived from the retail price of the designer bags. But these items will often be sold on the street for considerably less. When the feds brag about how much in counterfeit Gucci purses they intercepted, it’s often the equivalent of The Wire’s phrase, “dope on the table.” More P.R. than substance. But thanks for being on the job, we guess.
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