To All Amateur Launderers

This week for my post I've decided to delve into Netflix's new 2017 original The Ozarks. I choose this since I'd seen multiple people watching this show and thought it might be interesting to check out. Also having been born and raised in Missouri it's nice to see a show that's a little bit closer to home (location-wise... not subject wise).

I know that sometimes it may seem profitable to try and make a little extra cash on the side, and though laundering money may not seem to be a very bad idea I would strongly advise against such actions. This show clearly demonstrates some of the basic reasons that you don't want to launder money (watch the show to find out more). On top of that there's serious ramifications down the line by assisting a drug cartel. Now I know it is profitable (just by the figures in the show Marty had around 8 million USD in checking/savings accounts) but the costs/risks should be a big enough deterrent to make anyone rethink any forms of money laundering. 10% of a drug lord's profits is a nice sum, but by laundering this money you're simply helping a cartel stay in business and that hurts a large number of people. The most important ramifications are those to your family. If you do help launder money then you're putting your family at risk of retaliation from the cartel should something go wrong. I urge anyone who's thinking about going into the money laundering business to reconsider. The skills that it would require to be extremely proficient at laundering money could be put towards a more legal job that would not impose these dangers on yourselves or the people around you.

Overall after watching the show I think Marty is a main character that I could get behind, but at a certain point the main character doesn't necessarily have to be a good guy. Take Walter White from Breaking Bad, as an example. Though he started making meth to help save his family from running out of funds this resulted in more pain and loss for everyone around him and ultimately did not turn out well for him. So far I believe Marty is on the same path, but Marty has no righteous cause to fight for. He is, as he said in the beginning of the show, simply trying to increase his worth as a man by acquiring more wealth which he spends only on his family (not himself) because he's too materialistic to enjoy his earnings. This results in some sort of an anti-hero where he seems like a great guy for trying to provide from his family, but his ultimately selfish motives place his family in more danger than they would be if he simply made financial investments and watched over other peoples money like the financial accountant he pretended to be.