An old friend, whom I see infrequently, and I went bowling the other day. We'd never actually talked y2k, but the subject came up. All he's heard is positive from the mainstream press about the banking system and all the other important infrastructure systems. He doesn't have a computer and like many others without the net he's got some extra food and flashlight batteries and that's about it. I asked him if he was going to leave his money in the bank. He said he planned to have some extra cash. I didn't argue or try to convert him into a GI. I told him I thought, based on my extensive research, that there was at least some possibility that the banks could go down and I was taking nearly all our cash out just in case it did. I think he regarded that as unpatriotic in some way and thought that a panic would be worse than y2k itself. So I said all it would cost me to be wrong was about 5% interest for a few months. I asked him how much it was going to cost him if he was wrong. I could actually hear his brain cells crackling.

-- Chekynit Outman (chekyni@safebet.net), August 29, 1999

Answers

Good job. Those that think it's our patriotic duty to go down with with the Titanic have a strange mind-set.

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), August 29, 1999.

Personally, I think it's a horrible idea to take even "nearly" all of your cash out of the bank, because it WILL cause the banking system to go down, as we fear. (Unless maybe you've got a balance of $300.) I think the lesser of two evils is to convert your money into "stuff." Even if that stuff is gold and T-Bills, or better yet land, (probably too late for that at this point) food, water, hardware, items that can be resold or bartered, etc. My biggest fear is massive disruptions. My second biggest fear is "Kinda GI's" saying those "Magic Words" that get "DGI's" to take all their money out of the banks. Remember that stupid phrase, "Self-fulfilling prophesy?" Let's try to avoid that, huh?

-- (dot@dot.dot), August 29, 1999.

And I don't expect we will be seeing a lot of CEO's and CIO's still ondeck for the last chorus. They are outfitting their golden lifeboats for rough sailing ahead.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), August 29, 1999.

I might be mistaken, but this does post does seem to have some trolling qualities in it.

-- skeptical (trying@to.decide), August 29, 1999.

Yeah, my gut reaction is that this is a trolling post -- like, "Lets see what they say about taking out cash in late August". Still, like even that moron Andy Ray's posts, sometimes the questions are worth thinking about regardless of the agenda of whoever (or, in Andy Ray's case, whatever) posted it.

Converting your electronic money to "stuff" like preps (obviously) and gold makes sense, and you can do it directly without having to go to cash. But you need cash, it is the absolute form of no-questions-asked liquidity. What you don't need, with what is coming, is electronic or paper promises to pay.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), August 29, 1999.

Take the money out of the bank and put it into T bills? What is the difference? I had some 3 month T bills. They are not a certificate like a $100 bill. They are numbers in an account JUST LIKE THE NUMBERS IN YOUR CHECKING ACCOUNT AT THE BANK. I would assume that these accounts are maintained on mainframe IBM type systems. Considering recent posts on 8 28 concerning upgrades required to make OS 390 systems compliant, what are the chances that these accounts will not encounter y2k problems? Do you want to drive to the Federal Reserve Bank in Jacksonville for example to try to straighen out the mess if your money is lost? A post a week or so ago said that paper records of your account would not be accepted as proof of the account balance.

P. S. Curly sold all of his T bills last summer.

-- Moe (Moe@notstupid.gom), August 29, 1999.

Just a question--I have thinking about taking my money out of the bank too, however if you think about if the banking system does collapse you really think the money is going to be worth anything?? My opinion is that if the banking industry does collapse I will be wiping my @$$ with $100 bills. Money would be worthless. Would you agree?

Boz

-- Boz (Boz_Inc@yahoo.com), August 29, 1999.

Boz, I recommend purchasing tangible barter goods like TP.

If cash fails, TP will be gentler and more absorbent than greenbacks, which could be used as fire starters.

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), August 29, 1999.

dot, I don't understand your statement concerning the lesser of two evils being to turn your cash into "stuff". That still takes it out of the bank, which will contribute to a run. Not that it matters to me because I've already removed mine. I just question your logic. Maybe I didn't read it correctly?

-- (rick@home.com), August 29, 1999.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

Dot: I would assume they mean that purchasing stuff doesn't involve the intermediary step of handling green paper, of which there is a limited quantity.

Even if the banks go down, paper money will probably be worth at least something for a short while until things REALLY go to hell, or something else is arranged. I wouldn't want to have too much of it, though. Just enough to get by for a few weeks and to buy some few last things that had been forgotten.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), August 30, 1999.