All your money belongs to them
Do you remember when you would ask your parents for some money and after a “short period of reflection” they would dig out the coin purse, cross your palm with silver (in the old days, the mint actually used semi-precious metals) and ask you to explain, again, what exactly you were going to do with all that capital? Do you remember how you loved the idea of finally earning your own cash? No controls. Free to spend as you pleased, on your own where and when. In some places, freedom to manipulate currency is not a given.
Yesterday, I stood in line in a bank for the first time in years. With the introduction of ATM and debit systems, the need to stand before a clerk and count has been a thing of the financial past. The lines are as slow as they ever were, and my quest was actually a simple one. I wanted to exchange my national currency for that of our nearest neighbour. Not a large amount; sixty dollars, so that son #3 could be as well-heeled as his friends on a school trip to verdent Vermont. I had done my homework, too.
You see, this was a flying trip – I wanted to complete my business in the few short minutes between leaving the office and catching my bus to the ‘burbs. The exchange rate was available on the bank website, so I arrived at the head of the line with my cash in hand. Cheap money plus tariff, in return for the “devise” of my choice. Small bills, please. I figured, in my mental movie, that it should take all of about 30 seconds.
Not so fast, young man. There is a need to know that you are dealing in large amounts of unmarked bills. See above for the definition of large amount. Even though I had the money on the countertop, I still had to “log into” my bank account with my ATM card, so that a record of the transaction, duly identified by my PIN (#$#@#$#@$%%%), could be recorded in the databanks.
Who needs to know? Is this a statistical inquiry for a research team? Rather, it fulfills the need of our government to track all the money, all the time. With a level of paranoia (both theirs and mine) at that level, I am now feeling very guilty about my penny hoard. If the government finds that I have enough uncontrolled cash to actually buy a Starbucks venti, will the financial system grind to a halt?
To my son; spend that money carefully, because someone IS watching over you.
