Get Rid of Large Denomination Bills?

[What Would Jesus Do?]

This was covered briefly on Zakaria's show.

A million dollars in hundreds weighs about 22 pounds and will fit in a suitcase.

Presumably 2 suitcases if you use fifties. Four or 5 for twenties, and so on.

The idea is that if we (and other nations) stop printing and using big bills it could cut way down on terrorism, drug deals and other bad things.

But would it really?

Some might see this as a way to force a higher percentage of everyday transactions into more easily tracked electronic and regular banking venues.

A quick calculation tells me a million in gold coins would weigh around 60 pounds and probably also fits in a single briefcase.

Wouldn't it be interesting if such a move forced the criminal and terrorist types to go on the gold standard?

 

[ANYCHawk]

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

Right now, I don't think we want to do anything that interferes with the demand for the USD.

 

[22*43*51]

Only criminals and Liberals deal in cash.

Oh wait. I just made a funny.

 

[ChrisVarick]

Governments want to track all transactions and banks want to profit off of every transaction. A bank doesn't make any money if you purchase an item for $100 and pay in cash. They would if you have to process the payment through their network.

 

[Hawk-A-Doodle-Doo]

Wait...why would we need to get rid of $50s and $100s?

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Wait...why would we need to get rid of $50s and $100s?

We won't need them once the top 0.1% own everything.

 

[22*43*51]

We won't need them once the top 0.1% own everything.

 

[timinatoria]

Don't emininate large bills until I spend all mine.

 

[N_fuego]

 

[HawkAttackDial911]

I'm going to go OiT with this and guess it's to prevent hoarding cash when banks go to negative interest rates.

 

[StormHawk42]

Eliminate pennies first. We lose money making them and they have basically no practical value.

 

[Titus Andronicus]

$100 bills have become a store of value in third world countries. Imagine that you live in Venezuela, Russia, Crimea, or Argentina ... what can you possibly do to accumulate wealth?

The safest bet might still be to have a suitcase full of U.S. currency stashed away.

To the extent that this stuff gets printed and shipped around the world, and never redeemed, it also props up our own currency.

 

[Herkmeister]

Well I have some personal experience with this. When I have to use the ATM for high quality hookers, the 20's fill my money clip and I lose track of my cash. It's messy and the counting is drudgery. 100's make the transaction much quicker with less hassle.

I know it makes all three of the girls much happier as well.

 

[Hawk-A-Doodle-Doo]

We won't need them once the top 0.1% own everything.

Sorry, this being HROT, Ol' Doodle just assumed that's the low end of large.

 

[Hawk-A-Doodle-Doo]

Well I have some personal experience with this. When I have to use the ATM for high quality hookers, the 20's fill my money clip and I lose track of my cash. It's messy and the counting is drudgery. 100's make the transaction much quicker with less hassle.

I know it makes all three of the girls much happier as well.

Wait...so the second and third girl are paid to watch you for 3 minutes with the first girl?

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Most of my life I have seen very little correlation between effort and wage.

Does the trust fund baby work harder than the farmer or factory worker or stock room clerk or the off-the-books illegal alien laborer? Does he work 8000 times harder?

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Eliminate pennies first. We lose money making them and they have basically no practical value.

Good way to give inflation a little boost, as the price of things gets rounded up.

Why stop at cents? Why not dump nickels, too. I haven't seen the numbers but we probably lose money making them. The melt-down value of a nickel is currently just under 3 cents and is the closest to face value among current coinage.

A few years ago the melt-down value of the nickel was almost exactly it's face value. I'm surprised some of our cons weren't crying for us to go on the Nickel Standard.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

America stopped making the half cent in 1857. You could buy an average slave then for $800.

How do you correct that for inflation?

In 1927 you could buy the base Model A for $385.

It's easy to imagine the need for pennies back then. And definitely nickels. But do we need either now?

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

Well I have some personal experience with this. When I have to use the ATM for high quality hookers, the 20's fill my money clip and I lose track of my cash. It's messy and the counting is drudgery. 100's make the transaction much quicker with less hassle.

I know it makes all three of the girls much happier as well.

So all you need is 3 20s!

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

Eliminate pennies first. We lose money making them and they have basically no practical value.

I read a while back that we lose money making, not only pennies, but nickels and dimes.

 

[thewop]

making everyone's wallet bulge in order to stop a few illegal transactions...me no likey.

 

[bhawk24bob]

Most of my life I have seen very little correlation between effort and wage.

Does the trust fund baby work harder than the farmer or factory worker or stock room clerk or the off-the-books illegal alien laborer? Does he work 8000 times harder?

It's really too bad that life isn't a weight lifting competition

On topic, there's no point in eliminating large denomination bills if you are the only country to do so

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

It's really too bad that life isn't a weight lifting competition

On topic, there's no point in eliminating large denomination bills if you are the only country to do so

The proposal is for all nations to do so.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Instant boost in gold prices.

How about bitcoins? Seems like that would be a logical choice for criminals and terrorists. Heck, I wonder if it isn't already the logical choice for a lot of shady dealings.

I continue to be surprised that multiple governments haven't worked to completely eliminate all forms of alternative currencies. Some efforts have been made. But they don't seem serious about it.

[3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . bitcoins are a scam perpetrated by the NSA to help them track illegal transactions /OiT imitation]

Other high denomination "currencies" that could be used are stocks and bonds. Instead of suitcases of cash, here are a couple of shares of Berkshire Hathaway.

Overall the idea makes some sense. But it seems like there are too many workarounds. So how effective would it really be?

 

[HawktimusPrime]

This was covered briefly on Zakaria's show.

A million dollars in hundreds weighs about 22 pounds and will fit in a suitcase.

Presumably 2 suitcases if you use fifties. Four or 5 for twenties, and so on.

The idea is that if we (and other nations) stop printing and using big bills it could cut way down on terrorism, drug deals and other bad things.

But would it really?

Some might see this as a way to force a higher percentage of everyday transactions into more easily tracked electronic and regular banking venues.

A quick calculation tells me a million in gold coins would weigh around 60 pounds and probably also fits in a single briefcase.

Wouldn't it be interesting if such a move forced the criminal and terrorist types to go on the gold standard?

No not at all. It's the first step to getting rid of a persons control of their own money, period. We definitely do not want to go down that road. They're using the terrorism excuse in order to scare us into believing it would be a good thing.

 

[HawktimusPrime]

The proposal is for all nations to do so.

Which is walking straight into 'conspiracy theory' territory. The old mark of the beast if you will. The promise that one day, you will absolutely have to have a 'tag' or 'mark' in order to get anything done. In this case it would be your electronic form of payment. Which you would think would likely be some sort of chip.

That may sound crazy to some, but in the case of a truly cashless society, which this is the first step, the next thing they would tell you that you need is some permanent form of payment mechanism. Something that you couldn't 'lose'.

 

[Raglefant]

Which is walking straight into 'conspiracy theory' territory. The old mark of the beast if you will. The promise that one day, you will absolutely have to have a 'tag' or 'mark' in order to get anything done. In this case it would be your electronic form of payment. Which you would think would likely be some sort of chip.

That may sound crazy to some, but in the case of a truly cashless society, which this is the first step, the next thing they would tell you that you need is some permanent form of payment mechanism. Something that you couldn't 'lose'.

One central gov bank that must hold all your money. Awesome! Just think how easy it would be to pay parking tickets and taxes!

If I could go to the grocery store, grab what I need, and just walk out, I'll let them implant whatever they want.

 

[HawktimusPrime]

One central gov bank that must hold all your money. Awesome! Just think how easy it would be to pay parking tickets and taxes!

If I could go to the grocery store, grab what I need, and just walk out, I'll let them implant whatever they want.

Convenience is a sin. And I don't even believe in sin.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

making everyone's wallet bulge in order to stop a few illegal transactions...me no likey.

A decade or 2 ago I routinely had $1-2 thousand in my wallet.

Caused a huge scare when I was driving home from the gym and realized I left my wallet on the recumbent cycle. Still there went I went back. Whew!

These days I carry under $100.

Who needs much cash these days?

 

[Herkmeister]

So all you need is 3 20s!

Honestly, only 5's.

 

[Herkmeister]

Wait...so the second and third girl are paid to watch you for 3 minutes with the first girl?

I wish Doodle!!! I've never lasted that long and that includes foreplay.