German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults • Hacker News Board

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#221

Post by dmurray » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 12:43 AM UTC

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #207

wolfgke wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> According to that same article, the reason for retiring the note was because the people who benefited the most from its existence are criminals, who need to do their business in cash -- the fewer notes, the easier for them. This is what they want the citizens to believe.

I wonder if we are meant to think of drug dealers but the governments are just as worried about the local handyman or small construction company getting untraceable cash payments without paying taxes.

They aren't getting enough €50 or $100 notes to be a real logistical problem. You can put 10k in your pocket, and count it in a minute or two.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#222

Post by yardie » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 12:49 AM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #196

njarboe wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US also had lower denomination bills like the $500 and $1000 until 1969. They were not in much use then but I think that they could have useful legal uses today considering all of the inflation that happened since 1969. The $500 now would be about like $75 in the 1960's.

The US also had lower denomination bills like the $500 and $1000 until 1969. They were not in much use then I seem to remember in that era they were useful for some people. My mother worked for a bank in Manhattan and on paydays she would take her check downstairs and cash it, come home with the money in her bra, and then deposit it in our local bank. Why she didn't just deposit her check, I can't say. Maybe she didn…

If she cashed it at the issuing bank the money is ready. Is she deposits it at her bank it will be ready in 3-5 business days. ACH transfers take time. Cash deposits do not. If she got paid on a Friday it might be 5 days before she would be able to withdraw.

I used to cash my paychecks at a check cashing store for the same reason. Even though they took a small fee the convenience of having money for the weekend was worth it.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#223

Post by QuesnayJr » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 12:55 AM UTC

AWildC182 wrote: post #154

Analemma_ wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

National economies are not households. My spending is your income, and your spending is my income. You can talk about "investment" all you want but without consumer spending there's never any return on that investment and so no one will bother. Having household savings is good but at a certain point it bottlenecks the economy.

True, but it doesn't seem to really be the problem right now. The overwhelming majority of people don't need to be told to spend money. If they have it, they'll spend it on stuff, for better or worse. Looking back at the past half century the big variables that have changed to get us here seem to be A) lack of world wars to devastate Europe B) rising automation leading to skyrocketing worker productivity C) society's…

Apparently Germans do need to be told to spend money.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#224

Post by QuesnayJr » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 12:56 AM UTC

ahakki wrote: post #141

nonconvergent wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't banks require "savers" as their source of capital for lending?

not really tbh https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2014/q1/m...

That document is widely misread. It's true that the bank doesn't have to wait around for a saver to make a loan (they can borrow from other banks), but at the same time banks do fund most of their loans through deposits. Look at the balance sheet for any commercial bank, and you will see most of their liabilities are in the form of deposits.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#225

Post by iambateman » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 1:04 AM UTC

This may be a stupid question...but is there a paper dollar corresponding to every dollar I have in my bank account?

I always assumed that some of the currency issued by governments was exclusively digital.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#226

Post by pixl97 » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 1:06 AM UTC

iambateman wrote: post #225

This may be a stupid question...but is there a paper dollar corresponding to every dollar I have in my bank account? I always assumed that some of the currency issued by governments was exclusively digital.

No, most is digital, but there have been some interesting attempts

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillion-dollar_coin

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#227

Post by chii » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 1:12 AM UTC

wolfgke wrote: post #203

chii wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is why people should be very much against cashless rules.

In Germany, they are. As far as I am aware, among all the Euro countries, Germans are particularly fond of cash. Since I work in an area that is related to finance (think in the direction of planning/writing business applications for the banking sector), I seriously very often get asked (in Germany) whether one should cash out all the money from the bank account and store it in a strong private safe to avoid the nega…

There's a possibility that Deutchbank is bleeding money and the only way for the govt to bail it out without directly inject money is to go cashless, and let Deutchbank charge negative interest.

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#228

Post by werber » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 1:15 AM UTC

Frost1x wrote: post #191

jimmaswell wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cash will continue to be #1 for Craigslist/yard sale-type transactions for a long time I'd say.

Would you accept a $1000 or even $500 note from a craigslist transaction? I'm usually pretty hesitant to accept anything over a $20 or even deal in cash for small exchanges. I wouldn't even consider $500 unless I had a way to strongly guarentee the bill I'm looking at isn't fake. It would take a bit of time and research before I felt confident enough at identifying these bills to accept them in a trade. I'd have to d…

Meet at a bank, works for me

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#229

Post by dickjocke » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 1:15 AM UTC

Angostura wrote: post #46

I don't see why Germany doesn't handle it the same way as the Bank of England where the chief cashier signs special notes called 'Giants' worth £1,000,000 and 'Titans' worth £100,000,000. These are obviously only used for inter-bank transactions.

Why do they need paper money anyway? Is there something more legitimate about a piece of paper with many 0s on it vs redundant electronic storage of record?

Re: German banks are hoarding so many euros they need more vaults

#230

Post by jdc » Tue, Feb 04, 2020, 1:17 AM UTC

iambateman wrote: post #225

This may be a stupid question...but is there a paper dollar corresponding to every dollar I have in my bank account? I always assumed that some of the currency issued by governments was exclusively digital.

Most banks are required to keep 10% of the deposits

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fractionalreservebankin...