CASH - The Writing is On The Wall

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If Central Banks are 'stocking' up for Y2K, shouldn't YOU? [Andy]

"World's banks prepare for millennium money madness"

CURRENCY

London: Central banks from the world's most advanced countries are preparing to print billions of bank notes to cover heavy demand during the start of the millennium.

According to a report on Year 2000 preparations from the Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve is printing an extra $US50 billion ($75.7 billion), the Bank of Japan 1 trillion yen ($1.2 trillion), the Hong Kong Monetary Authority $HK60 billion ($12 billion) and the Swedish Riksbank SEK10 billion ($1.85 billion).

The Bank of England has said it will be printing 3 billion pounds ($7.3 billion) in extra money and it has not destroyed any 20 pound notes since January. It has also said it plans to pump 30 billion pounds in extra liquidity into the system.

Australia's Reserve Bank has said it will not announce liquidity arrangements until later in the year, but is believed to have stockpiled $10 billion.

Central banks in Italy, Switzerland, Singapore and Canada are also printing more money. Only in France, Germany and the Netherlands are central bankers claiming that existing stocks will be adequate.

The huge amounts of new cash are creating a worldwide security headache, as they will have to be stored in secret locations and distributed mostly to cash machines.

However, the extra banknotes underline the seriousness with which central bankers are taking the arrival of the new millennium.

Mr John Trundle, head of the Bank of England's infrastructure division, said: "All central banks are ensuring there will be adequate supplies of cash. But the real issue is to make sure it is distributed to cash machines where there will be a demand for it."

Central banks are determined that no cash shortages will be caused by any Y2K computer glitches or by bank customers emptying their accounts either as a precaution or in order to pay for the extended public holiday over the new year.

In Belgium, the central bank has warned that the millennium could trigger "possible extreme reactions from the public".

Mr Trundle said in Britain the picture was one of "informed confidence" about Y2K and its associated problems.

The Bank of England believed financial institutions and credit card payment systems, such as Visa, had virtually completed their preparations, he said.

All that was required was contingency planning for any emergencies.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), July 31, 1999

Answers

The amazing thing is that we're talking about them not having PAPER!

In the old days, bank runs were when they didn't have enough GOLD to back up the paper they had issued. No one could artificially manufacture enough gold to cover up their blundering past a comfortable reserve level.

Now, the very idiots who have hooked us on their artificial symbolic system of paper money units representing our lifetime of hard labor, and then strayed out to a 97%-99% "loaned up" level (1-3% reserves) could not even bother to keep an adequate PAPER supply to back it up!

At what? 2 cents a note to print them up? Fools! You had it all! And you blew it!

Mom's car is in the driveway. I know I can get just ONE MORE cookie out of the jar...

The Gang That Couldn't Inflate Straight? Maybe it's the criminal urge to be caught, leaving their tracks and fingerprints everywhere. Anyway, we'll see if "we" the public is going to "catch" them, confiscate their ill-gotten gains, and let them do some useful community service running a 100% reserve system for us with their considerable accounting skills.

-- Mr Gresham (wh@t.century.indeed?), August 01, 1999.


When you have a system that allows bankers to create computer "money" out of THIN AIR, things like paper printing just tend to slow things down.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), August 01, 1999.

As I recall my history, when the governments turned on the printing presses to solve a monitary issue, the value of the paper money tended towards ZERO. In Germany (193?) it was called Hyperinflation. They would use wheelborrows to bring enough paper currency to the bakery to buy a loaf of bread.

God save us, we can not save ourselves.....

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), August 01, 1999.


When America needs more money, they just print more.

When Russia needs more money, they borrow it from us and never pay it back!

-- freddie (freddie@thefreeloader.com), August 01, 1999.


Withdraw early and withdraw often. Got PVC pipe and end-caps? And a shovel? (If you're talking serious cash and/or metals, you don't want it in your bedroom>)

Let's see, if you have a cash withdrawal privilege on a credit card (i.e. cash withdrawals at the ATM, not charges), what would you have to do for each $1000 you (try) to get in cash?

Figure maybe you got to end of October, max. (That would be best case, worst case might be you got just two months, Aug & Sep.)

October would be 3 months. (Getting close isn't it?)

So, $333 per month withdrawal per thousand. $100 about every 10 days per thousand.

What will this cost you to carry, say you pay it back in 2000-07-01, assuming a functioning banking/credit system?

Average balance of $500 per thousand for 2 months, and $1000 per thousand for 8 months. 15%-20% a month? (Some much lower) (Approx) 15$/12 * 2 * 500 + 15%/12 * 8 * 1000 = 12.5 + 100 = ~ $112 per thousand to carry, assuming you pay it all back at 2000-07-01. (yes, I did it the aimple, approximate, way, not with the exponents. Precision means little with WAG. [wild ass guesses].)

Of course, if the system goes down, who knows?

-- A (A@AisA.com), August 01, 1999.



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