PLASMA BUSINESS BOOMING IN DOWNTOWN BROWNTOWN...

(Ed.'s Note: There are no large manufacturing plants, no large retail business enterprises, no grocery store, or even a McDonalds in the city's core. But there are three large plasma donor center which is doing land-office business sucking up the blood from plasma donors like these two cashing in the debit cards the firms use as payment to sellers of their blood.

Aside from the second-hand stores, dollar stores, and finance companies, there is scant business brewing in the heart of the city.

Al day long the brotherhood (and sisterhood) of the brown arm band roam the city looking for items to the back to their homes in Matamoros. Once in the pipeline, they can earn almost as much as a worker does in the maquilas across the river in a week (about $70) without having to pay the sindicato union bosses their cut or pay impuestos on their profit.

The plasma companies sell the precious liquid dearly to hospitals and the medical industry across the United States. Each liter of plasma can be worth as much as $200 before the manufacturing process and as much as $500 after, analysts say. Ever price of a plasma transfusion on an itemized hospital statement?

With the closing of the HEB (which required a $5 purchase to cash their debit cards), donors can cash in their debits at the ATM at the corner of 14th and Washington streets, conveniently located one block from the Gateway Bridge for only a $2 charge instead of HEB's $5 purchase.)