Real talk on faking fakers

Counterfeiting is popping like that old $2 bill. $500 billion lost yearly in nearly every manufacturing sector.

The world is all screwed somewhere — and with fakes.

Khedouri Ezair, CEO of QED Vault, focused on digital product passports, proof of authenticity and supply-chain merchandise: “Counterfeiting is a half-trillion-dollar global crisis — roughly $467 billion. That’s flooding junk in fashion, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, auto parts, electronics, food, cosmetics and probably a partridge in a pear tree. Forget crappy fake handbags.”

Safety, economy and supply now so porous it practically invites skunks in for lunch.

Here’s what specialists have explained to me: “Counterfeiters are technologic, sophisticated, ruthless. An e-commerce network, high-end replication tools, and decentralized shipping tactics hustle junk globally, past customs, and hide in plain sight. They copy labels, packaging, bar codes and precision branding. Even pros get conned.”

Told is that the global black market smartens while companies and regulators stay one step behind.

We treat counterfeiting like a back-office issue instead of a massive economic and safety threat. Steals revenue from legit businesses. Erodes trust. Every unsafe fake-o reminds us that weak systems create real consequences. Supply-chain authentication, product verification and traceability are overdue — no longer optional.

If a product’s identified, tracked and verified from origin to end, counterfeiters lose the easy money they depend on.

So that’s where we are. Not baseless, it is happening. With our country so divided, little if anything will be done. They’re making it easier to make, bake and fake. If counterfeit economy is worth nearly half a trillion, fighting it should be treated like a major priority — not a p.r. problem.

America talks innovation, resilience, protecting consumers. Then stop pretending junko’s a minor annoyance. Stop leaving honest manufacturers to absorb the losses in a scandal, recall or tragedy that reminds everyone counterfeit products can be dangerous.

Now, it’s divided we stand

Some on Staten Island want to secede and re-attach elsewhere — like maybe Kentucky. So: Where are we? Who are we? All for one and one for who? The poor hate the rich. The South hates the North. The educated dislike the uneducated. The West Coast’s an effing mess. Floridians cater only to alligators. Alaska’s shrinking. Texas is broiling.

Gentiles dislike Jews. Arabs shout “Allahu Akbar,” then hate most others. The tall resent the short. Democrats despise whoever’s left so it doesn’t matter. And now you can’t even eat lettuce.

Being said is our elections are getting jimmied. But our one lucky break? The thing few others can boast? We New Yorkers live next door to New Jersey. A true mazel tov. Can wherever Montana is have it that good? Does the God-bless-us United States of America really fret about downtown Buffalo? Our country ’tis of who?

A DEEPLY educated thought. Had Noah forgotten to put two herrings in the ark, half of Far Rockaway would have starved to death.

For sure, only in New York, kids, only in New York.