The Cash Economy
Argentina has a tax rate of 65%, which causes a great many Argentines to engage in cash transactions. This has spawned a huge crime wave of robbers who are engaged in “liberating” the cash people are carrying around.
With nearly 5,000 victims in the first six months of 2010, “withdrawal robberies” are a huge crime wave in Argentina.
Robbers will place spotters in banks to watch for potential victims making large cash withdrawals. Upon leaving the bank, the spotter will signal the robbers of who’s got the cash. What follows is predictable, including assault and murder.
Argentines risking all to carry huge wads of cash
Unfortunately, the article doesn’t convey the general distrust Argentinians have for their banking system — or their government. The author alleges “Transferring such money electronically would solve the problem in an instant” — however, this is not true. Banks all over the world create huge paper trails of every transaction, itself a rather major problem, especially in fascist countries.
Argentina suffered a pretty severe economic meltdown in the recent past — one reason why “paying cash” is still preferred by so many — and as a way to avoid the ever-present taxation.
America’s economic future will rival Argentina (if it doesn’t already), as the global depression deepens even further (view Max Keiser, On The Edge:
“We’re getting closer to the true nature of the debts, ten of trillions of dollars as the deflationary spiral enters it’s fourth year and the global economy gets swallowed up in what looks to be the biggest, worst, ugliest, global depression, ever.”
Over 500 US banks are expected to collapse yet (last year, the number was 1,000 and a great many did).
And here’s a real bone for you: 11.2 million jobs already lost.
I don’t spend as much time documenting the economic collapse as others do, but the evidence is there.
Collapse can be spelled many different ways I suppose, depending on your personal perspective. But in the end, it’s all the same and you’re still left with finding a solution.
