Banks, gangsters and the strange resurgence of cash

Post by nly » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 10:19 AM UTC

rahoulb wrote: post #159

thorin wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really see people doing this in the UK anymore. Cars can be bought with a debit card if you have the funds, sometimes a call to the bank is required for verification. When I've bought 2nd hand kayaks from someone's home, I've been able to transfer the money on my phone through the banking app and they've seen the funds arrive in seconds. Is this not the case in the US?

I did this a couple of months ago (in the UK) - bought a car and did the bank transfer on my phone, sat in the guy's front room. However, I did need to borrow his card reader/code generator thing - put my card in, enter the PIN and the amount and then type in the code it generated into my phone to authorise the transfer. Presumably because of the large amount going to a new payee.

Post by pjc50 » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 10:20 AM UTC

imtringued wrote: post #154

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deposit insurance? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance It seems like most countries have an equivalent of FDIC.

In my opinion the deposit insurance programs are ok but the way they are financed basically begs banks to be insolvent because eventually the government chips in and that's where they end up making their guaranteed profits.

Post by nly » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 10:22 AM UTC

vl wrote: post #59

Spooky23 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are the folks schnookered by companies that sell gold. Aka suckers. The “real” gold and silver people use it to avoid taxation. The high spreads and illiquidity are less than what you owe the tax guy or your ex-wife.

How exactly is it going to work out if all purchaser of gold are tracked? You can’t buy any amount of gold without id.

Post by saba2008 » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 10:33 AM UTC

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #141

inopinatus wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is a lot of rumor and speculation about very benign things. There is certainly misrepresentation and rumour-mongering in these comments, but not in the article, and there's nothing benign about international money laundering, or more precisely, nothing benign about the people it enables. > $50 Billion in cash is basically nothing. It's like 2% of currency in circulation. This is very far from the numbers quot…

"one-half of all Euros apparently circulating outside the eurozone." Its common for wealthy (upper middle class, not oligarch) folks in Russia to have proper safe at home, and to keep thousands of Euros in cash there. They often use Euro's because Ruble devalues a lot. Additionally, they have justified distrust in the ability of the government to run the economy and banking system, and it is their stash in case eithe…

Post by nivenkos » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 10:45 AM UTC

eitland wrote: post #162

nivenkos wrote: post #146

I hope to see the day we ban cash. Here in Sweden, it's almost there. It's pretty much only used by tax dodgers and criminals here now.

Next door, in Norway, the Norwegian bank is quite clear that accepting cash is required for every shop and failure to do so will be punished (unmanned kiosks and vending machines seems to be allowed though). I'm actually in favour of that, not because I fear my current government but because it - is convenient (much better than gift cards) - feels good to be able to buy stuff without telling my bank and Google and wh…