In a Cashless World, You'd Better Pray the Power Never Goes Out

[DamianTV]

https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/1...never-goes-out

schwit1 quotes the Mises Institue:

When Hurricane Maria knocked out power in Puerto Rico, residents there realized they were going to need physical cash — and a lot of it. Bloomberg reported that the Fed was forced to fly a planeload of cash to the Island to help avert disaster. "William Dudley, the New York Fed president, put the word out within minutes, and ultimately a jet loaded with an undisclosed amount of cash landed on the stricken island. [Business executives in Puerto Rico] described corporate clients' urgent requests for hundreds of thousands in cash to meet payrolls, and the challenge of finding enough armored cars to satisfy endless demand at ATMs... As early as the day after the storm, the Fed began working to get money onto the island."

For a time, unless one had a hoard of cash stored up in ones home, it was impossible to get cash at all. 85 percent of Puerto Rico is still without power... Bloomberg continues: "When some generator-powered ATMs finally opened, lines stretched hours long, with people camping out in beach chairs and holding umbrellas against the sun." In an earlier article from September 25, Bloomberg noted how, without cash, necessities were simply unavailable:

"Cash only," said Abraham Lebron, the store manager standing guard at Supermax, a supermarket in San Juan's Plaza de las Armas. He was in a well-policed area, but admitted feeling like a sitting duck with so many bills on hand. "The system is down, so we can't process the cards. It's tough, but one finds a way to make it work."

[euphemia]

And there are only about 4 million people there. That's like Los Angeles. Or Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, and Knoxville together.

They should have been more prepared with a stronger grid and some emergency supplies in serious emergency shelters.

[DamianTV]

Or bigger than L.A., look up The Carrington Event...

[euphemia]

It's a comparable population if you include Orange County.

Places in the US get serious weather events all the time, and we are never without power that long. We got hit by a serious tornado here in Nashville in 1998. We were without power for about an hour. The ice storm of 94 left us without power for about a day. Parts of town were down about two weeks, but that was because it was hard to trim all the old growth trees and then repair downed lines.

[oyarde]

Modern world here today ,with no electric first off you cannot get cash from an ATM , you cannot buy anything any other way than barter . You cannot get gasoline at all . So even if you have a generator you cannot run it unless you already have gasoline . You will need that to charge your phone (unless you have a solar charger ) so you can call some family and let them know you have no electric ,no money , no gas . You got no air conditioning as well so if you live in some hot , humid cess pit of a place that people did not populate pre air conditioning you will get to see why .

[euphemia]

And that's what I'm saying. Although the mayor of San Juan always looks freshly showered, made up, and hair blown out. She has power and so do all the news crews and their power consumptive lights and whatnot.

[DamianTV]

So what happens when the power goes out around the planet simultaneously?

(I.E. X-Class Solar Flare that nails the Earth)

[oyarde]

So what happens when the power goes out around the planet simultaneously?

(I.E. X-Class Solar Flare that nails the Earth)

Everything reverts back to 1875 . In 10 years everyone will be skinny again .

[phill4paul]

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. <shrug>

[kfarnan]

cash would be the last concern, if the power goes out. Nothing will be operating.

[timosman]

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...e-internet-now

[EBounding]

It baffles me that most people have less than $10 in cash on hand/not in a bank. It really wasn't that long ago when 45 million people in the northeast had their power knocked out for several days.

[Carlybee]

Yep we've dealt with that here after hurricanes..not for that long but after Ike for several days nothing was working. Before Harvey I got $200 in small bills along with food and gas. (gas pumps don't work either when the power is out or when everything is shut down).

[jllundqu]

Pays to prep. I have several gold coins and a ton of silver. I also have tens of thousands of rounds of ammo that can be sold/traded. I also have 6 months food storage and water filtration, transportation, solar.... no biggy. Our grandparents had this figured out... why don't we?

[timosman]

Pays to prep. I have several gold coins and a ton of silver. I also have tens of thousands of rounds of ammo that can be sold/traded. I also have 6 months food storage and water filtration, transportation, solar.... no biggy. Our grandparents had this figured out... why don't we?

It is a great way to avoid responsibility.

[sam1952]

I've mentioned this before in other threads but think it's worth repeating. I keep a $100 in 1's and $200 in 5's along with whatever else you'd like in larger bills $20's, $50's. Nothing like wanting a gallon of milk/whatever and only having $100's. "Ok, $10 for a whatever seems fair, can you break a hundred?" "Sorry dude, don't have any change".