Tag: Money

Buddy! Can You Spare Some Change?

Closing Thought–27Jul20

I am sure that you have been accosted by some guy/gal in front of the supermarket looking for some spare change….

The apparently this pandemic has created a problem for change….especially in the banks…..

Amid the pandemic-induced coin shortage, one Wisconsin bank has resorted to paying people who bring in their spare change. The Community State Bank’s Coin Buy Back Program will give a $5 bonus to anyone who brings in $100 worth of coins, up to a maximum bonus of $500. The bank is also waiving fees for coin counting. You don’t need to be a customer of the bank to take part, CNN reports. “Instead of buying coin from the Fed, we’re buying coin from our community,” an exec tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Hundreds of people have already participated, and the bank says the program is helping local businesses that need change for their stores.

Why a coin shortage? This story explains.

I know…I know…..who knew?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

“In God We Trust”

Yes, it is that time again…..a short history lesson for my readers.

For sometime now there has been a debate on the religious aspects of our Constitution and such…..there are those that say that we are a Christian country…..while others say that we are suppose to be a secular government…..

So I thought I would look into the “In God We Trust” slogan that appears all around the government…..

The motto IN GOD WE TRUST was placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country, urging that the United States recognize the Deity on United States coins. From Treasury Department records, it appears that the first such appeal came in a letter dated November 13, 1861. It was written to Secretary Chase by Rev. M. R. Watkinson, Minister of the Gospel from Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, and read:

Source: History of ‘In God We Trust’

So the slogan appeared almost 100 years after the founding of this country….and it was envisioned during those dark days of the Civil War when all future seemed bleak.

How Economics Became A Religion

It seems that somewhere along the line we, as humans, have lost our religion…the one where we embrace some god or another……it has been embraced by the love of greed and money.

This press is of an English article from the Guardian……but it speaks pretty much to most of the world……

The long read: Its moral code promises salvation, its high priests uphold their orthodoxy. But perhaps too many of its doctrines are taken on faith.

Although England has an established church, few of us today pay it much mind. We follow an even more powerful religion, around which we have oriented our lives: economics. Think about it. Economics offers a comprehensive doctrine with a moral code promising adherents salvation in this world; an ideology so compelling that the faithful remake whole societies to conform to its demands. It has its gnostics, mystics and magicians who conjure money out of thin air, using spells such as “derivative” or “structured investment vehicle”. And, like the old religions it has displaced, it has its prophets, reformists, moralists and above all, its high priests who uphold orthodoxy in the face of heresy.

Source: How economics became a religion | John Rapley | News | The Guardian

How Long Will We Use Cash?

I recently wrote a post talking about our use of money….a sort of historic perspective…..

Source: Why Use Money? – In Saner Thought

Then I went on to talk about how it seems that there is a movement to replace cash with a plastic card of sorts…..the first I heard of it awhile back when Great Britain was replacing some of the their paper money…..

The prospect of living in a cashless society has grown steadily for decades but it might have now reached tipping point, after cards became Britain’s number one payment method for the first time.

According to data released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) on Wednesday (12 July), cards now account for over 50% of payments processed in the UK for the first time. The landmark achievement was largely driven by a boom in contactless payments, which now account for approximately a third of all payments, compared with 10% in October 2015.

The so-called “tap and go” cards were introduced a decade ago in the UK and after a somewhat unimpressive start they appear to have finally won over British shoppers. An increase in the number of stores accepting “tap and go” payments has also contributed to the sharp rise in popularity of contactless cards.

Source: Beginning of the end for cash? Cards now UK’s preferred payment method

When I first read about this I thought that it was an interesting experiment…but how far would it really go?

I had to ask, huh?

Looks like the IMF (I never thought the IMF was all that important) has a program in place……

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington has published a Working Paper on “de-cashing”. It gives advice to governments who want to abolish cash against the will of their citizenry. Move slowly, starting with seemingly harmless measures, is part of that advice.

In “The Macroeconomics of De-Cashing”, IMF-Analyst Alexei Kireyev recommends in his conclusions:

Source: IMF Tells Governments How to Subvert Public Resistance Against Elimination of Cash – Rigged Game

If this attempt is successful then you will be at the mercy of the government…..I do not like that feeling…..I like the feel of CASH!

Any thoughts?

Why Use Money?

First let me say that this post is my friend gigoid….we have had a couple conversations about the use of money….

Have you noticed that use of money is on the outs?

People use credit cards, their tablet or their phone for their transactions……there was even a movement that would do away with cash altogether…..I think it originated in the UK (nor positive)…..

The subject got me to thinking about the use of money……why and when did we start this tradition of using money?

And you guys know me…..I feel that I have to give you a historic perspective to help clear it all up…..

Sometimes you run across a grimy, tattered dollar bill that seems like it’s been around since the beginning of time. Assuredly it hasn’t, but the history of human beings using cash currency does go back a long time — 40,000 years.

Scientists have tracked exchange and trade through the archaeological record, starting in Upper Paleolithic when groups of hunters traded for the best flint weapons and other tools. First, people bartered, making direct deals between two parties of desirable objects.

Source: When — and why — did people first start using money? – Salon.com

So is cash a thing of the past?

Whatcha think?

Paper Or Plastic?

Are you a person that cares about the environment?  If so, then this post has nothing to do with the environment.

You have heard this question in grocery stores….but there is another sector where this could be the question asked…..

The money in your wallet……

The Bank of England introduced a five-pound note Thursday that marks the beginning of the end of a three-century run for paper money in the UK, reports the Guardian. This particular note is made of a thin plastic and designed to last more than twice as long as its paper counterpart. It features the queen on the front and Winston Churchill on the back, and it goes into circulation in September. The current five-pound paper note will remain in use for another year. Next up comes up a 10-pound plastic note featuring Jane Austen in 2017 and a 20-pound note featuring painter JMW Turner by 2020.

The unveiling comes ahead of Britain’s crucial vote on whether to exit the European Union, and Bloomberg notes that both sides of the debate have claimed none other than Churchill to be in their camp. Asked on Thursday about how Churchill might view the question, Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney opted to play it safe. “It’s not for me to make any inference about that,” he said.

Libertarians should be watching this….I mean they are against paper money….will they embrace this experiment?

How long before this makes it to the shores of the colonies?

They Are Printing Money!

Today’s subject is economics.  Hear That!  Thant sound is most people falling asleep and falling out of their chairs.

I know economics is not the most interesting thing to read about…..but before one can understand what is going on with our fiscal policy….one needs to understand economics….without understanding there is nothing but ignorance.

How many times have you heard the argument against the Fed….is that they are turning on the printing press?  How many times has the Fed been blamed for all the economic problems?

The accusation may be a metaphor but way too many seem to think that the Fed will just turn on the printing presses whenever we are in dire financial straits…..

What does it mean when they say the Federal Reserve is printing money? It doesn’t mean the Fed has a printing press that spouts out dollars. Only the Treasury Department does that. However, most of the “money,” or capital, in use today is not cash. That’s because the large financial institutions that do most investments prefer using borrowed money, or credit.

The Federal Reserve does manage the liquidity of capital, which is the amount that is available for investment. High liquidity means there is a lot of capital because interest rates are low, and capital is easily available. When credit is cheap, businesses and investors are more likely to borrow. The return on investment only has to be higher than the interest rate, so more investments look good. In this way, high liquidity spurs economic growth.

The Federal Reserve manages liquidity with monetary policy and the Fed funds rate. By lowering the Fed funds rate target, the Fed lowers all bank rates. This adds liquidity, which adds to the money supply. This has the same effect as printing money.

The Fed then “prints money” to spur borrowing, investing and economic growth.

I realize that I am nit-picking on this subject……but I like precise definitions…….. I just want people to grasp what is going on with our fiscal policy and to watch out for dog whistle slogans that explain nothing……..the Fed cannot actually print money!