this make any sense. Now you go into a store and forget changing a $100 bill any place except a bank or a big grocery store. No way at a convenience store or gas station. Think about it. Before you could buy a house with one bill. Now, it takes a stack of bills to buy a used car. Why did this happen? Did the banks want this money to stay in the bank so they made it difficult to handle large amounts of cash? Did they want the drug dealers to be forced to use a suitcase of cash to pay for their deals? The government printing presses can only print x bills per month even running around the clock. The reinstitution of the $1,000 bill would ease the crunch for people who wanted to hold cash due to Y2k fears although the only place they could cash them would be at a bank. This would still be better than running out of cash and causing a panic because of this problem. They could even print on the money that these bills were valid until 1 1 2001 so that they would have to be turned in after the crisis passed. The banks would probably resist this approach. Curly, Shep and I have been thinking about this and it makes more sense to us than the Ostrich approach currently being used that everything is fixed. When large numbers of people are planning to withdraw some or all of their money from the bank, the gobment should do something other than to say that everything is fixed. The gobment could even make money on these as they could become collectors items like postage stamps. People would put them into books to look at take them out of circulation and this would be pure profit to the US treasury. I suspect that gobment agents are monitoring this forum and this is a suggestion to them to at least consider this proposal. The downside is that the cash withdrawn and stashed away is no longer available to be reserves for loans. Still, it is better to let people withdraw the cash and thereby reduce the money supply than to allow the system to crash due to a lack of cash available for withdrawal. Mr. G has said that the window will be open. Bankers use the opportunity and don't blow it like in 1929. Then there will not be so many people jumping out of the windows.

-- Moe (Moe@3stooges.gom), July 28, 1999

Answers

Complete agreement. Profoundly simple solution. Amazing thought you just had there, Moe. You should spread that thought around a little more!

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), July 28, 1999.

Hey, Moe. Good ideas.

Let the banks take the $100 bills and stamp some extra zeros on them.

Problem solved. It's only worthless colored paper anyway.

Nyuk nyuk nyuk.

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), July 28, 1999.

Moe,

I don't think TPTB give a shit, if they would even stop to think about it in the first place. I went through the same line of reasoning myself a while back.

It would be nice to be able to get T-Bills in large denominations (like $10-100k) issued in bearer form so one could still earn a little interest on their investments for the next year or so, but they aren't issued that way any more. The only way you can get them is book-entry (computer). That's to prevent those evil drug dealers and money launderers from doing their wicked work. Unfortunately, it makes the rest of us sitting ducks for whatever the government decides to do (freeze assets, convert short-term debt to long-term debt, confiscate/steal your money outright, etc.)

What a surprise. The good and honest folk get screwed again.

Here's a rule: Shit rolls downhill. Guess who is downhill? YOU!

You can appeal to the government all you want, but I think you're wasting your time. The only option left at this late date for physical possesion of "cash" is hundred dollar bills or smaller denominations.

For large withdrawals: Speak to the manager of your bank office. Tell them your concerns and why you want to withdraw a large amount of cash. Develop a personal relationship. Ask if they, or a designated employee will count your cash with you in private ("out back" or in the vault) when you come to pick up your money. Order your money ahead of time - set up an appointment to get it. Fill out a CTR (currency transaction report), if necessary. Then do it.

-- Clyde (clydeblalock@hotmail.com), July 29, 1999.

But think of the children (sob, boo-hoo).
$1000 bills would make it too easy for drug pushers to conduct business and corrupt our children.
$1000 bills would make it too easy for tax evaders and money launderers to get money out of the country and thus depriving our precious spawn of hot lunches and midnight basketball.

But seriously, folks, $1000 bills would be an even greater temptation to "counterfeit" by non-governmental bankers. (The government can print worthless paper, but it's illegal for YOU to do it.) Some might argue that because the government does print it, it IS worth something. But that's only as long as the government can maintain its extortion power to make people use this otherwise worthless paper (fiat) money.

-- A (A@AisA.com), July 29, 1999.