By Kerry Lutz, Special for USDR
Strange things are happening all over. Have you been to a bank ATM lately? They used to spit out brand new Federal Reserve Notes. No more, now you get old worn out notes that have long since seen their day. Once upon a time, when a new Treasury Secretary was sworn in, the the Bureau of Printing and Engraving in Washington DC rapidly dumped new bills into circulation. Not so today.
Our current T-Sec Jack Lew took office on February 27, 2013. On June 18, 2013, the Washington Post mentioned that Lew had to change his signature because it was indecipherable, much like yours truly. He was even ribbed by the President who said, “Jack assures me that he is going to work to make at least one letter legible in order not to debase our currency…”
Well it may come as news to the big guy in the White House, the debasement has been underway for a century, but we’ll leave that for another time. The article went on to state that, “There’s no exact word when the new signature will actually start to appear on [notes].” Another article stated that the new bills should be appearing in late fall. Where are they?
A look at the official government website moneyfactory.gov purports to show vast quantities of currency being produced, over 70 million 20’s in December alone. So my question is where are these notes?
Some anecdotal evidence is instructive. First, close friends of mine in Florida owned a number of ATM machines, which were located in hotels near airports. They were very profitable. Unfortunately they were forced to exit the business. They couldn’t get enough product—money. The quality of the notes they were getting was diminishing. New bills became increasingly hard to obtain and the banks didn’t have any. So for this and other reasons, they sold out.
Last week I visited my bank and had a talk with the branch manager. I asked him when he last received a shipment of new notes. Other than $100 notes, he couldn’t recall. While this is all hearsay, I’ve approached a number of people asking the same question, “Look in your pocket and see if you’ve got any new notes.” The result is always the same, only worn out filthy notes in poor condition.
I’ve heard from some of you that you’ve actually gotten a few Jack Lew 5′s and 20’s. But there’s so few, one has to wonder why they’ve made their way into circulation so slowly, and why Fed/Treasury is allowing the bills in circulation to deteriorate at such an alarming rate.
What does it mean? Are we getting a new dollar as Jim Willie said? Is it part of a plan to make cash undesirable by making it dirty and diseased? Will getting those nice crisp notes from the bank soon be just a distant memory? Is this helping along the transition to the cashless society? The trend appears unstoppable. Credit and debit cards are accepted in all manner of places that just a few years ago would never have been dreamed of. From gas stations, to fast food establishments, to strip clubs, to airplanes, to just about any place you can think of. It all fits in very nicely with the surveillance state too.
Last week Starbucks updated their smartphone app to allow cashless barista tips. How convenient. There are almost 11,000 Starbucks across these United States. If each tip jar accumulates $300 per day that would account for nearly $1 billion annually in cash gratuities. While the chain withholds a portion in taxes, it’s not a stretch to believe that Uncle Sam’s take from e-tips will be far greater.
Think about all those other tip jars where Uncle Sam isn’t getting his fair share of. Or those garage sales, or millions of other untaxed legal cash transactions. Allowing our currency to deteriorate and to become psychologically undesireable seems to play right into the hands of the cashless society-big government crowd, doesn’t it?
While we don’t have an exact answer to this riddle, the next phase of the collapse will provide one. One thing is certain, there is no way to track your gold and silver, or to print more of it out of thin air. Bitcoin, well that’s another matter altogether.
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