This phenomenon isn’t limited to the U.S., either. In the same report, WSJ’s David Winning and James Glynn tell the story of Philip Lowe, governor of Australia’s central bank, who “estimated that about $2,000 in printed bills exists for every Australian.” Where most of it actually is, is the mystery.
I don’t think I’ve ever even seen that much cash all at once, outside of a mobster movie. And yet there are approximately 51,104,400,000 Australian dollars floating around out there, somewhere.
New Zealand’s central bank can only account for the whereabouts of about a quarter of the country’s cash holdings. The rest is... elsewhere.
The world’s cash is in the pockets of third world people on every continent.
I can go pretty much anywhere in Africa, Eastern Europe or South America, pull out dollar bills, and they will accept them. They will even give change in their local currency using an app on their smart phone to give me the current exchange rate.
They do not, anywhere, take Yuan or Rubles, some will accept Euro, but unhappily.
This is why China will fail, Russia will never build a military like they had, and we will remain the currency standard. The value of a type of currency is a fiction comprised of the faith the people have in the value of something. Everyone (and I do mean everyone) has faith that the dollar will be worth something tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Nobody is that sure about the Euro, and no one anywhere has any faith in the ruble, ruple or rupee.
I saw some businesses accept the Yuan, under threat of the Chinese government, but they divested as soon as they heroically could.