i went to the bank today in nashville and was told that there was a shortage of cash last week and people were turned away that were trying to withdraw money. and they take forever, when you do withdraw money, trying to discourage it. my hunch is by christmas you won't be able to withdraw large amounts of money. they are not dumb and banks are going to try to prevent you from withdrawing your money. so i put it to the test and guess what. i tried to get a cash advance. i put in 300.00 and it said no. then i tried 20.00 and it said no. i have over 5,000 available for cash advance and i can't get to it. hmmmm! we are going to have a giant mess on our hands come next week and the grocery stores are restocking and raising prices by .20 on everything. they are putting out an entire section (bottom) of stew and stuff. look out guys, by next week, i will have a giant banner on my car saying, "i told you so, hahahahhah"

-- laura patterson (profzod@aol.com), December 07, 1999

Answers

I have over $32,000 in my account. Today I went to withdraw $5000.00 in $10's and $20's and they would not allow it. I took it in $100's and will try to break them all on small purchases in the next 3 weeks.

I also asked for $100.00 in quarters and $100.00 in dimes. Again, not today. I'm willing to bet that there is not even another 7 working days until they start rashioning money. You watch and see!!

-- Not Much Time Left (not@today.com), December 07, 1999.

Not much time, that is 320 individual purchases in 3 weeks! Pray tell what you intend to buy 320 times? I am dyin' to know!

I know my reminding you that that teller and her coworkers know exactly where you live is like nails across a chalkboard, but damn! If it was me then I would achieve a cosmic level of paranoia. Don't think I could take the pressure.

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 07, 1999.

Oh duh, you "only" took out 5k. Still, what is the plan for breaking them? Grocery stores can usually handle that on high volume days I suppose. Bet ya ten bucks the cashier says "You're the fourth person in my line today to buy tic-tacs with a hundred!"

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 07, 1999.

I took $20,000 out a few weeks ago, all in 20's - no problem and no paperwork for me to fill out. (I'm told the teller must have some to do, but that doesn't concern me. If government agents inquire I'll answer all their questions - I don't care.)

My brother took out just over $14,000 yesterday, and got $400 of it in $1 bills, some in $5's etc. - no problem.

Sounds to me like some of you need to switch banks to one more service-oriented.

Yes, the tellers know where we live. Yipty-do. I'm not burying my money in some old PVC pipe no matter how strongly that is recommended by some. It's in my safety deposit box. Yes, yes - I know that is strongly discouraged by many here, but if it gets to the point where that isn't safe then I'll have bigger things to worry about than my cash. I've made sure I have all that I need to get by comfortably without cash just in case.

If your bank tells you that you can't have your money the way that you want it, inform them that you plan walk up and down the sidewalk with a poster-board quoting them on that.

-- Gus (y2kk@usa.net), December 08, 1999.

8 or so months ago, I withdrew $500.00 in quarters. They put the order in one week and I got them the next week. I don't know that any bank has the availability of that those kinds of requests on hand at all times.

I had also put orders in for small bill withdrawals which I waited a week for.

Not to bad months ago. It's going to be tough for those who haven't at this point.

-- the Virginian (1@1.com), December 08, 1999.

I realise this is just anecdotal, and in a small European country instead of the mighty USA, but it seems to me another 'straw in the wind' (before the hurricane):

Last week I went to the ATM outside my local bank. I requested my daily limit of cash, 5000 Danish kroner (about 700 dollars). The ATM said "NO. THE MAXIMUM DAILY LIMIT IS 4000". I have MUCH more than this in my account. This has NEVER happened before. I complained to the teller inside the bank and she said she didn't understand it - quote: "must be the computer".

-- Risteard Mac Thomais (uachtaran@ireland.com), December 08, 1999.

Want change. Want smaller bills. Take your 100s to a casino (if one within reasonable driving distance)and they will gladly give you smaller bills and rolls of ???. Happy change making.

-- enough is (enough@enough.com), December 08, 1999.

I JUST WANT TO ASK YOU FOLKS THAT ARE ONLY now!!!!!! TAKING OUT LARGE AMOUNTS OF CASH? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??????????

it is precisely this kind of timing that will cause problems whether it is cash, pharmaceuticals, or other things that are not kept in huge quantities. i just don't understand?

-- tt (cuddluppy@nowhere.com), December 08, 1999.

Banking in the Next Millennium

This article will take a look at some of the more obvious dangers in the U.S. and global economy and financial system. Like the crash of 1929, we believe that our current banking and financial systems are on the brink of a meltdown. This article demonstrates what could happen when Y2K wreaks havoc on the already faltering world economy and financial system. Y2K will be like driving a stake through the heart of it. It is time to batten down the hatches and prepare for a financial firestorm which is likely to commence in the second half of 1999 and which will be compounded many-fold by the Y2K crisis in 1999, 2000 and beyond.

Headlines from History:

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of history."  Santayana

"History demonstrates that participants in financial markets are susceptible to waves of optimism. Excessive optimism sows the seeds of its own reversal in the form of imbalances that tend to grow over time. When the unwarranted expectations ultimately are not realized, the unwinding of these financial excesses can act to amplify a downturn."  Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (2/26/97)

"Inexperienced investors who have known only the bull market of the last decade could react `precipitously' to a downturn, and at great cost to themselves and our markets."  Arthur Levitt, Chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission (2/26/97) in the London Financial Times

This is a collection of headlines from the fall of 1929. As you read through them, (figuratively) close your eyes and imagine you are an amateur investor in that time, trying to decide what to do with your money... then suddenly...

Friday, October 24, 1929, Page 1, Columns 5-8

WORST STOCK CRASH STEMMED BY BANKS; 12,894,650-SHARE DAY SWAMPS MARKET; LEADERS CONFER, FIND CONDITIONS SOUND

Tuesday, October 29, 1929, Page 1, Col. 6

STOCK PRICES SLUMP $14,000,000,000 IN NATION-WIDE STAMPEDE TO UNLOAD; BANKERS TO SUPPORT MARKET TODAY

Wednesday, October 30, 1929, Page 1, Columns 6-8

STOCKS COLLAPSE IN 16,410,030-SHARE DAY, BUT RALLY AT CLOSE CHEERS BROKERS; BANKERS OPTIMISTIC, TO CONTINUE AID

In the 1920's, things were really rocking in the US and around the world. The rapid increase in industrialization was fueling growth in the economy, and technology improvements had the leading economists believing that the uprise would continue. During this boom period, wages increased along with consumer spending, and stock prices began to rise as well. Billions of dollars were invested in the stock market as people began speculating on the rising stock prices and buying on margin.

The enormous amount of unsecured consumer debt created by this speculation left the stock market essentially off-balance. Many investors, caught up in the race to make a killing, invested their life savings, mortgaged their homes, and cashed in safer investments such as treasury bonds and bank accounts. As the prices continued to rise, some economic analysts began to warn of an impending correction, but they were largely ignored by the leading pundits. Many banks, eager to increase their profits, began speculating dangerously with their investments as well. Finally, in October 1929, the buying craze began to dwindle, and was followed by an even wilder selling craze.

On Thursday, October 24, 1929, the bottom began to fall out. Prices dropped precipitously as more and more investors tried to sell their holdings. By the end of the day, the New York Stock Exchange had lost four billion dollars, and it took exchange clerks until five o'clock AM the next day to clear all the transactions. By the following Monday, the realization of what had happened began to sink in, and a full-blown panic ensued. Thousands of investors -- many of them ordinary working people, not serious "players" -- were financially ruined. By the end of the year, stock values had dropped by fifteen billion dollars.

Many of the banks which had speculated heavily with their deposits were wiped out by the falling prices, and these bank failures sparked a "run" on the banking system. Each failed bank, factory, business, and investor contributed to the downward spiral that would drag the world into the Great Depression.

Will it happen again?

"We're in one of the great speculative bubbles of all time. It's the ascendancy of greed over fear." - Barton Biggs, Chief Global Stock Strategist, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter

The Fed is panicked. It obviously knows that the stock market is in a bubble/mania mode, but Greenspan knows that when the bubble bursts, and the bear market decline begins, as it did in 1929 and in 1989 in Japan, a huge depression will follow. And the U.S. stock market is the only thing holding up the U.S. economy, which is the only thing holding back the global deflation.

"..the fate of the global economy depends entirely on the U.S. stock market. The U.S. stock market depends on only 50 stocks. Half of which have no earnings..." -Paul Volker Former Fed. Chairman

So, in temporarily postponing the U.S. stock market debacle which started in the summer of 1998, Greenspan is buying time for the big guys on Wall Street to get out or at least shore up their defenses. He is helping his good friend Bill Clinton to stay up in the polls, and he is temporarily holding back the tidal wave of global deflation from swamping America.

A CASH CRUNCH: A major element of a deflation is a cash crunch. Cash was king and meant survival in the 1920s and cash or cash equivalents (including gold and silver coins) will be the key to financial survival in the coming depression. When the cash crunch came, to raise cash, people and companies had to sell off productive assets at fire sale prices. The cash crunch in the coming depression will be far more severe than in the 1930s (as Martin Weiss pointed out in his 12/7/98 Safe Money Report because:

TODAY'S BUSINESSES ARE FAR LESS LIQUID In 1929, the average corporation had 70 cents in cash or equivalent for every dollar in short-term debt. Today, corporations have only 10-15 cents an 82% decline in short-term liquidity today versus 1929. In 1929, General Motors had 92 cents in cash for every dollar in short-term debt; today it has 14 cents an 84.7% decline in short-term liquidity since 1929.

TODAY'S BANKS ARE FAR LESS LIQUID In 1929 banks had 42.5 cents in cash or liquid assets on hand for every dollar of deposits. Today, banks have only 14 cents in cash and liquid investments to back up each dollar of deposits and less than two cents on hand in the form of cash a 67% drop in bank liquidity since 1929.

PRESENT BANK EXPOSURE TO DERIVATIVES ARE HUGE In 1929, derivatives were not even a twinkle in anyone's eye. Today, there are at least $25 trillion in domestic derivatives outstanding much of them owned by U.S. banks.

TODAY'S CONSUMER HAS FAR MORE DEBT In 1929, debt payments consumed less than 10% of a consumer's earnings today it consumes almost half a five-fold increase.

THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS FAR LESS LIQUID TODAY THAN IN 1929 In 1929, the U.S. government had $1.50 in gold and foreign currency reserves to cover every dollar of foreign debt. The U.S. was the world's largest creditor nation and had the world's largest trade surplus. Today we only have pennies on the dollar to cover every penny of foreign debt, we are the world's largest debtor nation, and have the world's largest trade deficit.

THE DERIVATIVES TIME BOMB Long Term Capital Management had to be bailed out in September of '98 because it had exposure in the derivatives market of $1.25 trillion. A dozen or so big money center banks and securities firms had overlapping derivatives exposure (i.e., in the same derivatives) of over $3 trillion. No one knows how large this highly leveraged, totally computerized global debt pyramid really is estimates run from $42 trillion up to $78 trillion.

It is estimated that large U.S. banks and securities firms hold between $25 and $35 trillion in these derivatives. Japanese, European and Brazilian banks and securities firms own trillions more. As the global financial system melts down, and Y2K hits the financial markets like a giant torpedo in coming months, this gargantuan derivatives bubble is going to implode taking down with it some of the biggest banks and securities firms in the world.

How Bad Will Y2K Really Be?

"This is not a prediction, it is a certainty there will be serious disruptions in the world's financial services industry. . . It's going to be ugly." The London Sunday Times (7/19/98)

There are many areas of Y2K which are debatable: Will or won't the power grid go down or to what degree? Will or won't air transport, the global positioning system, and telecommunications go down? Will or won't various government agencies (including the U.S. military) go down or to what degree will their mission be impaired, etc.?

All of these can be hotly debated with low or no damage proponents on one side and high or total damage proponents on the other. In the final analysis, we will not know how serious the damage will be until 1999 draws to a close and we enter 2000. Personally, this writer has seen enough evidence of the strong possibility of severe dislocations from Y2K for at least 3 to 6 to 12 months, that it seems very prudent to take precautions and make a wide range of preparations even if Bill Clinton, his comrades, the media and the banks discourage it.

However, there are several aspects of Y2K which, in this writer's opinion, are not debatable they are virtually guaranteed:

1) THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM AND ECONOMY ARE GOING DOWN IN THE WORST CRASH SINCE 1929. The U.S. economy and financial system are hovering like a giant hot air balloon losing altitude just above the horizon, and Y2K is headed for it like a giant heat seeking missile or smart bomb. They should collide in the 2nd or 3rd quarter of 1999 and great economic pain will follow.

2) ONE-THIRD TO ONE-HALF OF U.S. BUSINESSES WILL NOT BE Y2K COMPLIANT which will result in the greatest rash of bankruptcies (personal and business), mass job layoffs, and bank closures in the year 2000 since the 1930s.

3) BILL CLINTON AND HIS SOCIALIST COMRADES WILL USE Y2K TO SEIZE A GREAT DEAL OF POWER AND CONTROL OVER THE PEOPLE very possibly via use of executive orders, a state of national emergency and martial law. Several of this writer's most highly placed friends in Washington believe that this is a very strong possibility.

4) THE POLITICAL LEFT WILL USE Y2K AS AN EXCUSE TO ATTACK THE POLITICAL (AND CHRISTIAN) RIGHT accusing them of precipitating the panic," of planning violent attacks in the midst of the crisis; of being dangerous millennial cultists" who wish to usher in the millennium and Second Coming of Christ with a series of terrorist attacks; who wish to use the Y2K crisis for a Christian takeover of America"; and who wish to profit from the crisis. Already such attacks have begun orchestrated in the media and pushed by the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center and Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment.

The most predictable aspect of Y2K is that the U.S. (and global) economy and financial systems are going down hard. A deflationary depression has already enveloped Asia, Russia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and is beginning to creep like a ground fog into America and Western Europe. The $125 trillion global debt pyramid is already developing major cracks, as is the $40-80 trillion derivatives bubble. Y2K will shatter this gargantuan global debt bubble and plunge the entire globe into the worst depression since the 1930s.

Global trade will grind to a halt; factories by the thousands will close; corporate earnings will plunge; tens of millions of workers will be thrown out of work; personal, business, and banking failures will proliferate around the globe; and economic activity will slow to a snail's pace in America and around the world.

Y2K & the Banks

Regarding the status of the banking system, Jim Lord wrote in a recent (9/98) issue of the Year 2000 Survival Newsletter (P.O. Box 84910, Phoenix, AZ 85071 C $129/year):

The banking system (includes banks, credit unions and thrifts) is threatened in four ways by the Year 2000 problem. The first (and least) of these threats is their own computing systems. Because of intense pressure and oversight from the federal regulatory agencies, the banks are making reasonable progress in fixing these systems.

Most will be finished in time but quite a few will not. Of those that don't make it, most will be smaller institutions but I've learned that regulators do expect some large institutions to fail as well. Plans are being made to accommodate a failure rate of ten percent.

The second level of exposure comes from computing systems belonging to others such as the banks' customers, suppliers, electrical utility, telephone company, etc. These relationships can be several levels deep and quite complex, i.e., customers' customers, customers' electrical utility, suppliers' telephone company and so on. Each bank is dependent on a cloud of computing systems beyond their control or even influence.

The third layer of threat is the federal regulatory structure itself, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). Will these agencies be able to manage a ten percent failure rate considering they have Year 2000 flaws with their own computing systems? Several months ago, for example, the FDIC reported to Congress that they were seven months behind in just assessing the Y2K status of their own computers certainly not a comforting sign.

These agencies have no experience managing failures at the rate expected during the worst of the Year 2000 event. During the 1980s, the regulatory system handled about 1,000 failures over a five-year period a rate of 200 institutions per year or 16 per month. This process was so smooth, the public hardly knew it happened.

Y2K is expected to involve the shutdown of some 1,400 institutions (10% of the 14,000 regulated banks, credit unions and thrifts) and the time frame is dramatically compressed. The FDIC, for example, plans to continue assessing and tracking regulated banks until June 1999 and then start shutting down AY2K troubled" banks and transferring their assets to compliant institutions.

Consider the consequences of 1,400 institutions requiring shutdown in just seven months. That's 200 institutions per month. Twelve times greater volume than the regulatory agencies have ever handled previously. Can they pull this off, especially during the turmoil that will dominate during the last half of 1999? It's anybody's guess and that's the problem.

Even in light of the above, the fourth, and greatest threat to the banking system is a collapse of public confidence. This will be the federal government's greatest Y2K challenge effectively managing public perception during the crisis. The slightest bobble, the smallest misjudgment could blow down the banking house of cards. The possibility of a collapse remains at 50%. You should have no more money in the banking system as of the end of this year than you can afford to lose or be without for three to six months.

Two things are required to prevent this collapse. The first is tons and tons of cash. The other is a high level of character, judgment and leadership in our national political figures.

Have you read the papers much lately? [End of Lord article.]

The banking system (orchestrated by the Fed and the FDIC) is beginning a widespread, low key public relations (spin control) campaign to persuade depositors to leave their funds in the bank. The banking industry says the risk of theft, fire, and lost interest income should dissuade people from making massive withdrawals." They say that people taking cash out will be big targets for criminals." They say the banking system will be completely ready for Y2K." (We hope so!)

In their SEC 10-Q reports, almost all the large banks say they are almost there 90% or more." Then they add for liability purposes that if others (i.e., suppliers, utilities, telecommunications providers, large customers, etc.) don't deliver, then efforts might still not be enough." Senator Bennett (head of the Senate Y2K Committee) said on 12/18/98: Don't worry the ATM's will be working in December, 1999."

Others in Washington and throughout the banking industry are beginning to repeat the same mantra: Don't worry, the ATM's will be working." Which is leading some skeptics to worry that the banks greatly fear a run on the ATMs possibly in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 1999. Should they be worried?

The Fed plans to flood the banking system with liquid reserves in 1999 in an effort to offset the deflationary effects of large cash withdrawals. But this will not stop the deflation. The currency will be pulled out of the banking system by individuals who do not intend to redeposit it until Y2K is resolved. Our highly leveraged fractional reserve banking system is somewhat analogous to being caught long in a highly leveraged falling commodities contract. The losses are greatly magnified.

To pull currency out of the banking system and keep it out is intensely deflationary in a fractional reserve banking system. Considering the inherent vulnerability of our fractional reserve banking systems to widespread withdrawals of deposits (bank runs), it is no wonder that the viability of the banking system and the electronic payment systems upon which we all depend is of great concern to those in authority in the Beltway and on Wall Street.

The Fed knows that there are over $1 trillion in global foreign exchange transactions each day 80% denominated in U.S. dollars. This entire system is in great peril from Y2K. This is one more reason why Greenspan was expanding the U.S. money supply at a 25% rate in the fourth quarter of 1998 and pumped (along with the Treasury) over $200 billion into the financial system.

The financial powers that be are terrified of the dual crises of global financial meltdown and Y2K and what they can do to torpedo the U.S. banking system and securities markets. Do they have reasons for concern? What do you think?

This is why big money center banks are spending enormous sums to solve their Y2K problems (i.e., Citigroup C $850-925 million; BankAmerica Corp. C $550 million; Chase Manhattan C $363 million; J.P. Morgan C $300 million; Bank One Corp. C $350 million; First Union Corp. C $60-65 million; Wells Fargo C $200 million; Bankers Trust Corp C $220-260 million). [These numbers are from the American Banker (12/18/98).]

The next time some expert" or skeptic" tells you there's no serious Y2K problem, ask them why these eight mega banks are spending over $3 billion; why the entire banking industry will spend over $10 billion; or why the auto industry is spending $1.5 billion all to fix a non-problem?

Early Warning Signs of Accentuated Seasonal Demand for Currency.

A slow but growing demand for cash has already begun. Will it grow from a trickle to a flood, and when? One way to tell is to monitor the total deposits in the banking system each week. If total deposits start to drop, it means that working people are not depositing their paychecks in the system but are converting them to cash.

Another sign is if credit card debt begins to suddenly rise sharply. People will be hanging on to cash and running up their credit card debts to the max. Next they will stop paying on their credit cards so credit card delinquencies will suddenly skyrocket. By the time lines begin to form in front of banks, S&Ls, credit unions, or at ATMs, it will be too late for most Americans to retrieve cash.

The farcical trial and probable acquittal of President Clinton will solidify Americans' distrust of government which is being increasingly viewed as dishonest, corrupt and self-serving and so government pronouncements that all is okay on the Y2K front, in the banking system, etc." will be treated with increased skepticism. By sometime in the second quarter, more and more Y2K glitches will become apparent and the mainstream media will be talking as much about Y2K problems as the alternate media has over the past 12-18 months.

So, cash retrieval problems could begin in the third quarter and worsen in the fourth quarter as Jan. 1,2000 approaches. For people concerned about Y2K, full implementation of one's financial strategy should be in place well before that timeframe.

Toward a Cashless Society

The banking system of the western world is entirely interconnected. This interconnectivity is necessary because banks need up-to-date information on everything from currency exchange rates (which can change from minute to minute), interest rates from various central banks, and wiring trillions of dollars around the world daily. This system is an extremely high-tech venture, utilizing the latest in synchronized digital networks. If anything happens to the synchronization feeds, the network will crash, with millions, perhaps billions of dollars being lost both to data corruption, and to lost business every single day it stays down. It is estimated by banking experts that if the system were to go down for a full week, there would be a worldwide global depression that would last at least a decade.

If government leaders in the Clinton Administration, in the U.S. Treasury, in the Fed, and in the banking industry know how bad the Y2K crisis is likely to be (and they do), if they know that at some point there will be a financial panic and perhaps a run on the banks (and they probably do), is it possible that via either a series of executive orders or via certain banking legislation that they would simply block the withdrawal of cash from the banking system?

Would this be done before or after a run on the banks had begun? Would it be done before or after a state of national emergency had been declared? Would it be done Monday, January 3, 2000; or in late '99? How would such a bottling up of cash in the U.S. banking system take place?

Remember that during the financial crisis of the 1930s, when Franklin Roosevelt presented the American people with the alternative of a bank holiday/gold confiscation/Draconian financial controls or financial destruction, they willingly chose the former and gave up a major portion of their financial freedom. After all, they were told, that was better than losing everything " and so they went along with dictatorial financial controls which lasted for decades.

Now, the question arises, could a government or group of governments get its people, who are habituated to cash and cash transactions, to accept a cashless, electronic currency/electronic funds transfer system? Most Americans have been conditioned to use checks, credit cards, and even some debit cards " for the sake of convenience, record keeping, and the security of not carrying around large amounts of cash. But it is still a large and difficult leap to entice or coerce all citizens to forego the use of all cash and accept only electronic currency.

How could this 'bridging of the gap' between a cash-oriented society and an electronic currency-only system be achieved? Only in the midst of a severe, perhaps worldwide financial crisis, or approaching crisis, such as the Y2K/millennium bug crisis, wherein tens of millions of Americans, Europeans, can be convinced that their only chance of financial survival is to accept such a system.

Could this happen again in the midst of the coming computer crisis, which could be used as an excuse to abolish cash and force everyone into the electronic funds transfer system? Could a government and banking system which has certainly known about the coming Y2K crisis for a decade or longer have already set up a system for catapulting America, in one quantum leap, into a cashless society in the midst of this crisis " using the crisis as the excuse, the catalyst, and the leverage to gain widespread public acceptance and compliance " as FDR did in the 1930s? Is the sudden move to merge most of America's banks into a half a dozen or so huge banking chains related to these changes?

How could the transition to a cashless, electronic funds transfers, electronic-cash-only system be accomplished in the midst of the Y2K computer crisis. The fact is, the legislative machinery for bottling up cash in the banking system has been in place since August 10, 1987. In the section below, is a reprint (and review) of the enabling legislation for such a transition.

One possible scenario is that a complex, but obscure banking bill called the Expedited Funds Availability Act of 1987 (also known as the Competitive Equality Banking Act of 1987) signed into law by President Reagan on August 10, 1987 could be utilized. This bill (the largest, most amended bill ever passed by Congress) was apparently authored in the U.S. Department of Commerce " not in the House or Senate Banking Committees.

This highly complex banking bill was ostensibly set up to establish clearing schedules for checks and to make sure that banks don't hold checks too long for float. The Act also set up detailed definitions of what checks are. In reality, the bill was probably written to establish an electronic banking system. It has two important sections which could be triggered in the midst of a banking or financial crisis, or state of national emergency.

The first provision is an anti-discrimination provision wherein all checks, from all regions, groups, persons, or businesses must be treated equally. However, according to the Act, that provision can be suspended or overridden if or when either house of Congress is suspended " which has never happened, but which could happen in a state of national emergency such as could be triggered by Y2K, a nuclear attack, etc.

It is interesting that Bill Clinton has quietly moved the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) out from under Congressional authority and under the National Security Council (under Bill Clinton). FEMA would administer a state of national emergency. Why would anyone want to suspend the anti-discrimination provision of this Act under such conditions unless they want to deny certain classes, groups, or persons access to the banking system in time of crisis?

The second provision, which could be used to deny depositors from retrieving their cash from their bank, is the '5 PM Availability Requirement.' Though not in use at this time, this provision says that when you make a deposit in your bank, you can get $100 of the deposit in cash on the day the deposit is made and $400 maximum on the day it clears (and only on that day) " but no more.

In other words, if you deposited $2,500 or $50,000 in a check or group of checks or cash or other monetary instruments, you could only withdraw $500 in cash; no more. The rest of the money stays in the banking system. You can write checks on it, but you cannot withdraw cash beyond $500.

It is important to remember that this provision of the Expedited Funds Availability Act has not yet been implemented " but it could be triggered in some future banking or financial crisis " with the result that the lion's share of cash in America would be locked up in the banking system. This Act has been regularly amended since 1987. It is the most amended Act in U.S. history.

This law is written in a highly complicated manner that most legislators, lawyers, and even most bankers cannot interpret. The entire law is written with negative language (the use of double negatives). The use of two negatives creates a positive statement of fact while at the same time sounding like a prohibitive statement.

Would Bill Clinton and his Establishment global socialist comrades ever trigger the provisions in this Act in order to bottle up American's cash in the banking system, prevent a run on the banks, keep Americans from transferring funds overseas and 'enforce' their electronic banking system on everyone? Would they do it in mid-to-late 1999 at the onset of a bank run? For better or worse, people would be locked into the banking system, their cash withdrawals would be blocked, and America would have entered in one fell swoop a cashless era of electronic banking and funds transfer.

This is only a 'possible scenario,' one of many ways the government and banking authorities could choose to deal with a Y2K-triggered banking crisis. But it would accomplish literally overnight one of the globalists long-term goals " which is to convert America to a cashless society and force all Americans into an electronic banking system replete with credit, debit and smart cards. Virtually all financial privacy would be ended in short order, and the potential for people control and/or freezing 'undesirables' out of the system would be huge.

Conclusion

When the government, the media, or the financial leaders of America talk about a public panic" they are talking about the banks and specifically a bank run." They are terrified that large numbers of depositors will begin to build large stashes of cash in anticipation of Y2K. They would rather risk an uninformed, unprepared public and social breakdown than risk a bank run. This is why bankers, stock brokers, credit unions and trust companies are quietly asking state legislatures to protect them against lawsuits filed by customers in case the Y2K bug infects the nation's financial system.

They fear that when the Y2K panic hits (pro

-- Kings Kid (beprepared@y2k.net), December 08, 1999.

ATM's have had maximum daily withdrawal limits for years. Used to be $500. Currently at $300 (at least at my bank), but I suspect it has to do with historic activity levels at a given ATM. Machines in busy locations probably have lower withdrawal limits so they don't need to refill them as often.

"..So i put it to the test and guess what. i tried to get a cash advance. i put in 300.00 and it said no. then i tried 20.00 and it said no. i have over 5,000 available for cash advance and i can't get to it. hmmmm! ..."

No ATM in the world will ever give you $5000. And cash advances on credit cards are not supported at all ATM's.

I think you need to calm down. Don't wish for a bank run. THAT is the irrational, panic driven event that could destroy our economy for a generation.

Chill. Withdraw $100-200 each day from your ATM and accumulate to your comfort level. But this should have been done long ago.

-- Lewis (aslanshow@yahoo.com), December 08, 1999.

Not Much Time Left:

There sure ain't!!!! Gawd! Look, DON'T -- in the middle of Christmas shopping season -- try to convert those $100s to small bills with trivial, needless purchases. Go to MANY different banks, $300 per bank maybe, and ask the teller to please give you change. It's cash-for-cash, no muss, no fuss. Tell her it's for a garage sale that you are having. Tell her how beautiful she is. Ask her if she mudwrestles... Well, no, forget that last one (though you never know), but you get the idea.

Get cracking, dude!!! And anyone else that doesn't have CASH IN HAND!!!! (And to hell with the ATMs, if you have decided that you want to use your credit card to obtain cash, go to ANY bank that is authorized and just do it. Cash advances are NOT the same as cash withdrawals, they are immune from any cash withdrawal regs.)

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), December 08, 1999.