I’ve divided our funds between two banks, and I’m thinking about adding a third. We pay almost everything via cash-back credit cards, which I pay in full every month. Lately I’ve been paying them off every week or two, just to keep the balances low. We have no other debt, which I think is really important right now. Being “Boomers” we have the advantage of having been raised by parents who grew up during the Great Depression. The frugality they instilled has kept us living a bit below our means, which hopefully will help hen the inevitable crash happens.
You've always been a sane voice, Rosemarie. Glad you made it over here from Medium. I agree with you 100% on both fronts. Unfortunately, what we're seeing and will continue to see is the result of a monetary system that operates much like a Ponzi scheme and stock markets that are essentially digital versions of Las Vegas casinos.
Thank you, JM! Substack makes Medium look like a kindergartner. Agree with you completely about the Ponzi poker game that is our current monetary system. It seems impossible to predict even for those in the know.
Frugality is a real gift that many Depression-era parents passed on. You are fortunate to be one of the beneficiary's of the hard-learned wisdom. It also makes us resourceful and prepares psychologically to "do without" if need be.
As for having a third bank, it certainly never hurts. Neither does having plenty of cash on hand.
Once upon a time there were bank deposit reserve requirements that ranged from 12 to upwards of 15 percent. That was fifty years ago.
Here's the latest from the Federal Register:
Effective March 26, 2020, the [Federal Reserve] Board reduced reserve requirement ratios on all net transaction accounts to zero percent, eliminating reserve requirements for all depository institutions. The annual indexation of the reserve requirement exemption amount and the low reserve tranche for 2023 is required by statute but will not affect depository institutions' reserve requirements, which will remain zero.
Now doesn't that just give you a "warm and fuzzy"? That announcement slipped through with very little fanfare. BTW, SVB had reserves of roughly 3 percent when it went down.
I caught that, but you're right: it got almost no attention. Once the whole Covid ordeal struck (just 2 weeks prior to the announcement you linked), I knew a lot dirty shenanigans were about to take place. It's like Rumsfeld announcing on September 10, 2001 that the Pentagon was "missing" $10 trillion, and then the 9/11 attacks happened less than 24 hours later, effectively erasing that "minor detail" from the consciousness of Americans and the world over as if he had never said it.
Pure insanity. Fractional reserve banking --and now zero-reserve banking-- is an absolute disaster. The entire fiat-currency system needs to come down and forever remain dismantled. Of course, people lacking in understanding of monetary history and policy (most people and Keynesians) find our position insane. The irony is that their positions are what got us here in the first place (along with a family banking mafia etc).
Thanks as always for adding valuable information to conversation, H!
I’ve divided our funds between two banks, and I’m thinking about adding a third. We pay almost everything via cash-back credit cards, which I pay in full every month. Lately I’ve been paying them off every week or two, just to keep the balances low. We have no other debt, which I think is really important right now. Being “Boomers” we have the advantage of having been raised by parents who grew up during the Great Depression. The frugality they instilled has kept us living a bit below our means, which hopefully will help hen the inevitable crash happens.
Yes, same for me Jim the Geek. I agree. Also, keep cash on hand in a reliable safe. Money must be decommoditized. An oxymoron.
You've always been a sane voice, Rosemarie. Glad you made it over here from Medium. I agree with you 100% on both fronts. Unfortunately, what we're seeing and will continue to see is the result of a monetary system that operates much like a Ponzi scheme and stock markets that are essentially digital versions of Las Vegas casinos.
Thank you, JM! Substack makes Medium look like a kindergartner. Agree with you completely about the Ponzi poker game that is our current monetary system. It seems impossible to predict even for those in the know.
Ha! Sure does. Kindergartner is an apt description. Thank you again for adding to the conversation, Rosemarie.
Frugality is a real gift that many Depression-era parents passed on. You are fortunate to be one of the beneficiary's of the hard-learned wisdom. It also makes us resourceful and prepares psychologically to "do without" if need be.
As for having a third bank, it certainly never hurts. Neither does having plenty of cash on hand.
Once upon a time there were bank deposit reserve requirements that ranged from 12 to upwards of 15 percent. That was fifty years ago.
Here's the latest from the Federal Register:
Effective March 26, 2020, the [Federal Reserve] Board reduced reserve requirement ratios on all net transaction accounts to zero percent, eliminating reserve requirements for all depository institutions. The annual indexation of the reserve requirement exemption amount and the low reserve tranche for 2023 is required by statute but will not affect depository institutions' reserve requirements, which will remain zero.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/12/01/2022-26065/reserve-requirements-of-depository-institutions
Now doesn't that just give you a "warm and fuzzy"? That announcement slipped through with very little fanfare. BTW, SVB had reserves of roughly 3 percent when it went down.
I caught that, but you're right: it got almost no attention. Once the whole Covid ordeal struck (just 2 weeks prior to the announcement you linked), I knew a lot dirty shenanigans were about to take place. It's like Rumsfeld announcing on September 10, 2001 that the Pentagon was "missing" $10 trillion, and then the 9/11 attacks happened less than 24 hours later, effectively erasing that "minor detail" from the consciousness of Americans and the world over as if he had never said it.
Pure insanity. Fractional reserve banking --and now zero-reserve banking-- is an absolute disaster. The entire fiat-currency system needs to come down and forever remain dismantled. Of course, people lacking in understanding of monetary history and policy (most people and Keynesians) find our position insane. The irony is that their positions are what got us here in the first place (along with a family banking mafia etc).
Thanks as always for adding valuable information to conversation, H!