The Global Run On Physical Cash Has Begun: Why It Pays To Panic First

Back in August 2012, when negative interest rates were still merely viewed as sheer monetary lunacy instead of pervasive global monetary reality that has pushed over $6 trillion in global bonds into negative yield territory, the NY Fed mused hypothetically about negative rates and wrote "Be Careful What You Wish For" saying that "if rates go negative, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing will likely be called upon to print a lot more currency as individuals and small businesses substitute cash for at least some of their bank balances."

Well, maybe not... especially if physical currency is gradually phased out in favor of some digital currency "equivalent" as so many "erudite economists" and corporate media have suggested recently, for the simple reason that in a world of negative rates, physical currency - just like physical gold - provides a convenient loophole to the financial repression of keeping one's savings in digital form in a bank where said savings are taxed at -0.1%, or -1% or -10% or more per year by a central bank and government both hoping to force consumers to spend instead of save.

Some important considerations about cash.

1) Convertibility is key. This means that savings are only useful if they are recognized as having as standardized a value as possible in relation to other things. And there is a scale of convertibility that includes both absolute value and value in relation to other things *in the market*. Comparisons:

a) Gold is high value but has low convertibility. The latter is increased if it is coined rather than in other forms, but it still becomes problematic in times of deflation. An ounce of gold might be worth a five thousand apples, but what can you do with all those apples? You have to turn around and become an apple seller. But, for what?

b) Silver is much less likely to be so dramatically different, but you need a lot more of it, and unless it is legal tender coinage, no one is required to accept it, and then, only for its coin value, not its metal value.

c) Paper, while at least currently legal tender, is very convertible unless the government interferes with it. Otherwise it has no inherent value. If the government or economy is unstable, holding some stable foreign paper makes sense.

d) Virtual savings are worthless, as they have no inherent value, are convertible only with the knowledge and permission of the government and the banks, and can be taken away at the touch of a button. They are convenient in good times, a potential disaster in bad times.

e) Familiarity with scrip is very important:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrip

Scrip can be created by any trusted individual or organization. It is entirely legal, and can easily be used as a low level banking and market system. It was a big help during the GD, and is still being used in small ways at some places around the US. It is both convertible and a convertibility *system*.

It can be private, or run by a trusted corporation, or a local municipality, and in times of currency fluctuation, inflation or deflation, it helps to stabilize local markets and businesses. The more people and businesses that join a scrip system, the stronger and more effective it is.

f) Direct and cooperative trading. Mostly used in agriculture, or coordinated by churches, it is used so that those with abundance in one thing can exchange it for other things that others have in abundance. In this case, conversion can mean changing to a less perishable form, such as canning, or processing to a more convenient form, such as alcohol, a good form of “farm currency”. A large part of this is charity to those who cannot fend for themselves.

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