Coming to the U.S. Soon? Small Notes being Refused in ChinaBy John Galt
January 28, 2011
A fascinating story caught my eye in the January 27th newspaper edition of The Shanghai Daily as reported by Yang Jian which highlights the damage inflation really can do to the faith of a nation in the currency. While this story,
Small notes are refused
seems like an innocent story about a relatively old unit of currency it gives one a moment to reflect. Read this excerpt and follow the logic I think is quite reasonable to follow afterward:
MANY small businesses in Shanghai are refusing to take 1 and 2-jiao notes from customers because their low value means they are difficult to pass on as change and time -consuming to count.
A Shanghai Daily study found owners in nearly half the local small shops investigated, including convenience stores, fruit stalls and news-stands, especially those run privately, rejected 1 and 2-jiao notes and asked to be paid in coins instead.
Nigel Upstone, from the United Kingdom, told Shanghai Daily he was astonished when a Tesco Express store on Dingxi Road refused to take a 1-jiao note from him.
“I can’t believe that it can be lawful to refuse legal tender,” he said.
Staff in half of six convenience stores in Changning District rejected the jiao notes, according to the investigation. Staff from two other stores said they would take no more than five from each customer, while the cashier in the last store said the notes must be clean and not torn.
A fruit stall, newsstand and cigarette store flatly refused the notes.
Let’s follow this to its logical conclusion; if a nation engages in an inflationary if not outright hyperinflationary path, the price fluctuations and package sizes vary on an almost weekly basis. The American public doesn’t notice these things as a general rule until it reaches painful levels, which is right about now, and that means the manufacturers and retailers have to get a little bit more clever. In the old days it was a simple process to raise the retail price of an item 40% then offer a special the following week or now day of “buy one get one free” which embeds the idea in the back of the consumer’s mind that they are getting a bargain. Now the process is to raise the price 60 to 70% above earlier retail prices, offer “buy two get one free” and the perception of the bargain is still there, even if in reality the prices increase dramatically. Take this to the next level with price variations on produce or meats which are sold on a per unit basis and you begin to understand how the ‘sneak inflation’ is hitting the American pocketbook while the official rate remains exaggerated to the minimum.
Think about the story above and the excerpt now. What use are dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, if the per unit cost of purchasing those items are so excessive you don’t really need them? And why should vendors be forced to accept them, even if it is legal tender, when they are simply being saddled with the cost of transporting and managing the banking costs of small denomination coinage and cash notes. This is where the genius of twenty years of less than subtle conditioning by the banksters and mainstream media will finally pay off for the new system of monetary exchange is implemented. The American public is about to finish its course of indoctrination where the “Cash Only” lanes will be moved to the end of the line, fewer lanes will be open thus causing longer lines and check out time, and inconvenience the name of the game. The rest of the retail customers will be treated like royalty receiving “store rewards” for using their credit or debit cards while cash customers will be castigated as participating in the leper line. In the end it means the small bills and coinage which used to have purchasing power will become irrelevant and soon enough phased out as the price inflation of goods and services exceed the ability of the average citizen to lug around 320 quarters, 80 one dollar bills, or 16 five dollar bills to pay for something at the liquor store becomes excessively impractical and the store owner is allowed by law to refuse to accept those denominations for large if not any purchases.
Welcome to inflation by destruction, as in currency destruction, the ultimate definition of the nightmare America now faces. Now excuse me while I get my 1,795 pennies to buy one of my favorite cigars in the morning; it’s going to take me a while to count out all of that formerly viable currency unit.
__________________
I've always wondered what the 1920's and 1930's were like, but I never wanted to see it from the German perspective.....
Shenandoah
"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything. " - Tyler Durden
Johngaltfla on Twitter
Listen to my program Monday through Friday from 7-9 p.m. Eastern Time at
www.thewatchmen.fm or
Via Shoutcast at this link
Yahoo Group Location for The Watchmen Radio Network
Reply With Quote
