| Pecunia non olet. It means "money does not stink". A coin earned from scrubbing toilets spends the same as one earned from curing cancer, or one earned by selling contraband, or one given to charity, or one slipped into a g-string. If you start spending your dollar bills, and someone demands to know where they came from, the only proper response is that it does not matter, because they are bearer instruments. All that matters is that the person who holds them is presumed to be the owner. If the possibility that someone might steal your dollar bill and spend it for his own benefit galls you too much, don't use cash, or any other bearer instruments. Or keep receipts every time the notes change hands. But be assured that your mugger is taking your cash because he intends to spend it later, in lieu of performing multiple less-convenient crimes. This business of pursuing someone for spending supposedly tainted money cannot end well. How is an ordinary person supposed to know when they should not accept it, when the money itself does not stink? The crime rightfully attaches to the criminal, not to his cash. |