Gambling in Tijuana
Who is going to review the gambling scene in TJ? I've been to the casino in the Pueblo Amigo hotel just across the border.
Although the girls in the promotion are not the ones I remember. There is w-house next door.
Quote: WizardIf they have roulette and craps, as the pictures suggest, that is the first I've heard of such games in Mexico. However, my next trip to San Diego I will definitely try to investigate.
If you decide to go to TJ I'd get in and out before noon. Getting to be a dangerous place and they say few Americans are going anymore. When I was there in 2001 I saw no gaming, but also did not care to look back then. Best advice is stay in the USA, drug violence too great down there.
Quote: AZDuffmanIf you decide to go to TJ I'd get in and out before noon. Getting to be a dangerous place and they say few Americans are going anymore. When I was there in 2001 I saw no gaming, but also did not care to look back then. Best advice is stay in the USA, drug violence too great down there.
That is what everyone told me when I took the family to San Felipe for easter week in 2009, and we had no problems. With some common sense about safety I think the risk is quite low.
Grand Hotel in TJ used to have sports book inside the hotel.
Casa Plasencia is a few blocks from Grand Hotel.
The Pueblo Amigo in my last post is the closest hotel to the border. It is kind of isolated, and grim. I would not recommend.
Quote: pacomartinThe extreme violence is not aimed at Americans. I've been there hundreds of times.
Stray bullets don't care whom they strike.
I'd stay away from army and police vehicles, though.
Quote:Grand Hotel in TJ used to have sports book inside the hotel.
There's a Tijuana based sports book called "Caliente" which boasts of decades in the business. Tijuana is a free port and follows laws a bit different from the rest of the country. US Dollars circulate there as much as pesos, if not more.
Quote: WizardThat is what everyone told me when I took the family to San Felipe for easter week in 2009, and we had no problems. With some common sense about safety I think the risk is quite low.
If you go, please be safe. Not sure where San Felipe is, but border towns in Mexico seem to have the biggest problems. Having seen TJ once I can safely say I do not care to see it or any other Mexican Border Town again. I wandered off the main street and saw some of the "real deal." Still can't believe I did that.
Quote: Nareed
There's a Tijuana based sports book called "Caliente" which boasts of decades in the business. Tijuana is a free port and follows laws a bit different from the rest of the country. US Dollars circulate there as much as pesos, if not more.
You need a US passport to fly from TJ to Mexico City if you are not a Mexican citizen. USD circulate just as freely since the 1993 peso crash, but it is customary to round off prices using a bad exchange rate. You can get pesos out of the ATM using your bankcard.
Exchange usually hovers around 12 pesos to the dollar. Many people will try to hustle you for 10 pesos to the dollar.
Circulation of banknotes in the USA are (7 $5 bills, 5 $10 bills, 20 $20 bills, 4 $50 bills per person). As a result you always know in the USA you will get a stack of $20 bills from an ATM in the USA and you will have no trouble spending them in the smallest shop. Casinos are the exception as they give $100 bills.
Circulation of banknotes in the Mexico are (3 $20 peso bills, 3 $50 peso bills, 4 $100 peso bills, 6 $200 peso bills, 6.5 $500 peso bills per person). Different ATMs in Tijuana will give you a huge stack of $50 peso bills, or sometimes a short stack of $500 peso bills. Given the relatively small number of banknotes in circulation, there is a relentless competition for change, particularly in small places or on the street. If a shopkeeper is willing to take all your small bills, keep in mind that you will have trouble for the rest of the day paying for things since many people won't have change.
The 1000 peso note is very rare outside of Mexico city. They are much fewer printed per person than the American $2 banknote. They would be difficult to spend outside of major hotels or top rated restaurants.
Like every developed country except USA, Mexico does not have the equivalent of a $1 banknote. They have a 10 peso coin in wide circulation, and a 20 peso coin in more limited circulation. The smaller banknotes are being replaced with polymer instead of paper to reduce costs.
Quote: pacomartinYou need a US passport to fly from TJ to Mexico City if you are not a Mexican citizen.
Only if you're an American citizen. Canadians, for example, would need a canadian passport :P
Quote:USD circulate just as freely since the 1993 peso crash,
1995. I was there.
Quote:Circulation of banknotes in the Mexico are (3 $20 peso bills, 3 $50 peso bills, 4 $100 peso bills, 6 $200 peso bills, 6.5 $500 peso bills per person). Different ATMs in Tijuana will give you a huge stack of $50 peso bills, or sometimes a short stack of $500 peso bills. Given the relatively small number of banknotes in circulation, there is a relentless competition for change, particularly in small places or on the street. If a shopkeeper is willing to take all your small bills, keep in mind that you will have trouble for the rest of the day paying for things since many people won't have change.
I haven't seen that. I used to handle cash on a regular basis, and one problem lay in obtaining sufficient amounts of large denomination notes to reduce bulk. Banks were forever trying to plam off 50 and 20 peso notes on me. These days I only handle the petty cash at the office, but 9 times out of ten I've no trouble obtaining enough low-denomination notes.
But you may be speaking about Tijuana. I wouldn't know about that.
Quote:The 1000 peso note is very rare outside of Mexico city. They are much fewer printed per person than the American $2 banknote. They would be difficult to spend outside of major hotels or top rated restaurants.
They're pretty much unspendable. I've had them rejected even ay high end department stores. Banks do take them.
The criticism of the first 1,000 note was that it looked too much like the 20 note. I think that's ridiculous, as the 20 was physically smaller and the color was a distinctly different shade of blue. But the fact is most businesses don't have change available to accept such notes regularly. The best thing to do with one is deposit it.
Quote: Nareed
I haven't seen that. I used to handle cash on a regular basis, and one problem lay in obtaining sufficient amounts of large denomination notes to reduce bulk. Banks were forever trying to plam off 50 and 20 peso notes on me. These days I only handle the petty cash at the office, but 9 times out of ten I've no trouble obtaining enough low-denomination notes.
But you may be speaking about Tijuana. I wouldn't know about that.
They're pretty much unspendable. I've had them rejected even ay high end department stores. Banks do take them.
The criticism of the first 1,000 note was that it looked too much like the 20 note. I think that's ridiculous, as the 20 was physically smaller and the color was a distinctly different shade of blue. But the fact is most businesses don't have change available to accept such notes regularly. The best thing to do with one is deposit it.
Mexico City is different than the rest of the country. I was thinking of small shops anyway. I once tried to pay a bill in a small bakery shop in Oaxaca with a 20 peso note and the woman couldn't make change.
Every place has their habits about currency
$20 The 20 dollar note in the USA is one of the smallest value banknote to be commonly used in the developed world
$69 The 50 Euro note is the standard banknote in the EMU
$81 The 50 pound note in Britain is rare and hard to spend outside of London
$83 The 1000 peso note in Mexico is extremely rare and very difficult to spend
South Korea is so afraid of counterfeiting that they only print small value banknotes meaning you must carry stacks of bills.
Quote: pacomartinMexico City is different than the rest of the country. I was thinking of small shops anyway. I once tried to pay a bill in a small bakery shop in Oaxaca with a 20 peso note and the woman couldn't make change.
What was she selling? It's hard to imagine not being able to make change for a note that small.
Tiny shops off the beaten path may ahve trouble making change for a 200 note, but shouldn't for anything else. Sometimes if you pay for a 5 purchase with a 100 they'll say they have no change. they do, they just don't want to give you all of it.
The Bank of Mexico varies the amount of banknotes in circulation more than some countries, but it has been between 5000 and 6000 peso per capita for the last year (including coins). On the other end the European Union circulate their 500 Euro note (worth over 8000 pesos) at a rate of almost 2 banknotes per capita. I think they are just catering to organized crime.
Quote: pacomartinThe Bank of Mexico varies the amount of banknotes in circulation more than some countries, but it has been between 5000 and 6000 peso per capita for the last year (including coins). On the other end the European Union circulate their 500 Euro note (worth over 8000 pesos) at a rate of almost 2 banknotes per capita. I think they are just catering to organized crime.
The EU has a much higher per capita income, too.
South Korea used to have their highest bill be the 10,000 won note. That was the equivalent of a ten dollar bill. You couldn't carry alot of cash. On the other hand, it kept my spending down when I was there :). For contrabanders and illegal gamblers, they would carry around huge bricks of currency and you would see it in gangster movies. It was pretty funny. Now they have come out with the equivalent of a $50 bill, which is nice. North Korea is one of the biggest counterfeiting centers in the world.
The $1 bill is pretty useless and frustrating but the cheapest bill I have encountered was the Italian 1,000 lira note (in the pre-Euro days) which was worth about $.50.
Quote: teddysDon't know how we got to talking about banknotes, but:
Because it's a fascinating subject.
Quote:The $1 bill is pretty useless and frustrating but the cheapest bill I have encountered was the Italian 1,000 lira note (in the pre-Euro days) which was worth about $.50.
A long time ago there were one peso notes. They've been demonetized since 1996 but the national bank will exchange them at face value. So, in 1993 three zeroes weer dropped from the currency, therefore the 1 peso note is worth .001 pesos in face value now. That's USD $0.000081 given an exchange rate of 12.2 pesos per dollar.
Oh, South American currencies are even more screwed up.
Anyway, I don't know when that note went out of print, but it must have been around 1970. Assuming it was then, the note at the time was worth USD $0.08
Quote: NareedThe EU has a much higher per capita income, too.
That's true. But that does not mean you need a banknote worth US$700.
Britain has a similar per capita GDP as France, Germany and Italy yet the Bank of England takes a very different attitude towards banknotes as the European Central Bank. If Mexico circulate roughly US$500 per capita, then Britain circulates about US$1500 per capita.
Britain circulates large numbers of £20 pound banknotes (= 400 MXP = US$32.50). They also circulate a small number (3 per capita ) of £50 pound notes for those cash transactions like buying and selling of used cars. There is plenty of cash for common everyday legal transactions. But if you are paying for a high priced call girl, or buying and selling large amounts of drugs, or illegally moving large amounts of money on an airplane, you are often stuck with suitcases full of cash that weigh far more than cocaine. You are forced to convert your cash to bearer bonds, or diamonds,or artwork.
The European Central Bank by printing large numbers (almost 2 per capita) of €500 notes (=£424 = US$700) has made it not just to buy and sell used cars, but to engage in all kinds of illegal transactions, money movement in secret, and private deals. There is no pressing need to convert your illegal cash into diamonds. With US$400 billion of these huge notes circulating, if anyone is clever enough to counterfeit them they could steal a billion dollars and practically ruin the economy because of fear of counterfeiting.
Quote: NareedA long time ago there were one peso notes.
Guatemala introduced one quetzal notes just when I was there in 2007. That's about 1/7 of a dollar.
Quote: teddysDon't know how we got to talking about banknotes, but:
South Korea used to have their highest bill be the 10,000 won note. That was the equivalent of a ten dollar bill. You couldn't carry alot of cash. On the other hand, it kept my spending down when I was there :). For contrabanders and illegal gamblers, they would carry around huge bricks of currency and you would see it in gangster movies. It was pretty funny. Now they have come out with the equivalent of a $50 bill, which is nice. North Korea is one of the biggest counterfeiting centers in the world.
The $1 bill is pretty useless and frustrating but the cheapest bill I have encountered was the Italian 1,000 lira note (in the pre-Euro days) which was worth about $.50.
The dollar bills in circulation weight 9,000 metric tons. What is worse is that you have to gather them all up after 18 months and replace them because they wear out. No other developed country in the world goes through this trouble. They simply mint a coin and stop printing the banknote.
The weight of the pennies minted every yearin the USA is close to 20 thousand tons. And they are worth less per pound than dirt. You have to distribute this weight (with some security) just to see all of them vanish into penny jars and need to be replaced. What's worse, it costs more to mint pennies or nickels than they are worth.
The fear of counterfeiting in South Korea is a hindrance to the economy because it makes cash transactions so awkward.
Partly the reason that Britain relies on such relatively small banknotes was because they had to de-monetize their entire currency above the 5 pound note in WWII because the Jewish prisoners of war in Germany were forced to develop a near perfect counterfeit. The notes never got into wide circulation, but massive fear of counterfeits is far more damaging than the actual counterfeit notes. They only re-introduced the 50 pound note about 30 years ago, and today they only circulate at the rate of about 3 per capita.
Quote: pacomartinThe dollar bills in circulation weight 9,000 metric tons. What is worse is that you have to gather them all up after 18 months and replace them because they wear out. No other developed country in the world goes through this trouble. They simply mint a coin and stop printing the banknote.
America will never embrace soccer or a one dollar coin. Accept it and move on.
A fifty cent coin is something else. Why aren't they in circulation?
Quote:What's worse, it costs more to mint pennies or nickels than they are worth.
You could always remove one zero from the currency. That way pennies make sense again. But I don't see that happening absent massive devaluation.
Quote:The fear of counterfeiting in South Korea is a hindrance to the economy because it makes cash transactions so awkward.
Modern banknotes are impossible to counterfeit except by another government mint. Counterfeiters have some measure of success because people are ignorant, lazy or stupid when it comes to money. Simply color shifting ink ought to be enough. Plus there's fluorescent inks, security threads, holograms, watermarks, micro printing and more.
So, are we done hijacking the thread? :)
Quote: progrockerWow! I haven't seen a conversation this interesting about M1 since....well....since I was in economics classes that used terms like M1 for coin and paper currency.
And no one's even said M1!
Oh, wait....
I'm not knowledgeable about the ins and outs of monetary policy, but I know a great deal about bank notes and coins.
Why is the U.S. so behind on electronic payment systems? In many countries you can just give someone your bank account number and they can put the payment directly into your account. It is getting better with electronic bill pay and electronic bank drafts, but it is nowhere near as convenient as it should be.
Also, we need more RFID payment systems. PayPass is a good start, and I use it every chance I get, but it is only in very few places. It should be ubiquitous.
Quote: teddysMoving slightly upward to M2:
Why is the U.S. so behind on electronic payment systems? In many countries you can just give someone your bank account number and they can put the payment directly into your account. It is getting better with electronic bill pay and electronic bank drafts, but it is nowhere near as convenient as it should be.
Also, we need more RFID payment systems. PayPass is a good start, and I use it every chance I get, but it is only in very few places. It should be ubiquitous.
Do you remember this commercial, from almost 5 years ago? RFID check out, IBM
They gave you the impression that it would be part of supermarkets within the year.
Quote: teddysMoving slightly upward to M2:
Why is the U.S. so behind on electronic payment systems? In many countries you can just give someone your bank account number and they can put the payment directly into your account. It is getting better with electronic bill pay and electronic bank drafts, but it is nowhere near as convenient as it should be.
Some of it was actual laws/regulations. Checks used to have to actually be presented to a bank to get the cash, an image did not count. My brother like many pilots built his hours working for an outfit that delivered bags of checks from one city to another to be sorted and delivered. He could be flyhing with millions of dollars in cheks every night. It was a case of "well, that is the system and it works, to change it would require a lot so we keep using it." With all that cash many banks liked keeping it because even a few hours of extra "float" was worth millions a year. Pressure to be on-time was high, and if a plane went down millions in cash went down as well as thousands of people had payments.
The week after 9-11 was extremely disruptive to this system and that is when Congress got serious and allowed "images" to be presented for payment. One bank I worked for was letting customers send scanned images for deposit! However, I think potential fraud is the reason for caution in adopting this system.
Today, the $100 banknote is the USA's most valuable export, ahead of even Boeing aircraft. There are more $100 banknotes circulating than $20 banknotes, but 75% are overseas. There are about $700 per capita in notes and coins smaller than the $100 banknote. These satisfy the domestic requirement for small scale transactions + incidental overseas requirements for Mexican border towns, Panama, El Salvador, Ecuador. Bahamas, Bermuda and Papa New Guinea that make heavy use of US currency.
Circulation of the $100 note is now at $2200 per capita. About $500/pc is circulating domestically, and the other $1700/pc is around the world being used for everything from savings accounts of nervous middle class people, drug money, overseas tyrants, and foreign reserve of national banks.
The #2 world currency, the Euro, circulates slightly more value per person (using current exchange rates) over the 329 million people in the Monetary Union. Currently the USA is 311 million people. However, a great deal of the value is in large value banknotes. Although some money is circulating outside of the EU, it is not the majority (like the dollar). The USA considered printing the $500 banknote again fearing that they would lose their competitive edge against the 500 Euro banknote, but rejected the idea as catering to organized crime.
The #3 world currency, the Japanese Yen, prints a lot more cash value per person in banknotes than either the dollar or the Euro. The Japanese do considerably more cash transactions than the Western world. However, there are only four different denominations of notes which have more or less been comparable to the US $10, $20, $50, and $100. Despite their massive use of cash, they have resisted printing large value notes, but they must use the highest value banknote far more routinely than they do in the USA.
The #4 world currency, the British Pound is the most conservative. They make very limited use of their 50 pound note, and it is often rejected in small towns (more often than the $100 banknote is rejected in small US stores). Circulation is still below 1000 pound per capita.
Today, the 1000 Swiss Franc note is the world's most valuable banknotes that can be used as a "store of value" outside of the borders of it's own country. Today it is worth US$1075. The 1000 Swiss Franc note has displaced the 500 Latvian Lat note (which is now worth $982) as the most valuable in the world of banknotes for general use. However, the large Latvian note could never be circulated outside of the tiny country of 2.2 million people with the highest unemployment rate in the EU. Latvia should switch to the Euro inside of 2 years.
Switzerland will probably never be displaced as the country that issues the greatest amount of money in banknotes on a per capita basis. Their extremely conservative economic policies means that holding their currency is similar to holding gold. Banknotes are a kind of readily available savings account for the Swiss people, and not solely a means of conducting private transactions. Presumably some of the large value banknotes are held by citizens of nearby countries as private hedges against the value of the Euro.
Quote: pacomartinToday, the 1000 Swiss Franc note is the world's most valuable banknotes that can be used as a "store of value" outside of the borders of it's own country. Today it is worth US$1075.
I take it you mean currently in print notes. The highest denomination ever issued, as far as I know, is the USD $10,000 bill. These are no longer in production and were never in circulation. I think they were used only in large transactions between banking isntitutions.
I'm less clear on what became of the USD $500, $1,000 and $5,000 notes. I've seen the $500 once at a numismatic store right here in Mex City. It was on exhibit, not for sale. I've only seen replicas and images of the others.
Quote: NareedI take it you mean currently in print notes. The highest denomination ever issued, as far as I know, is the USD $10,000 bill. These are no longer in production and were never in circulation. I think they were used only in large transactions between banking isntitutions.
I'm less clear on what became of the USD $500, $1,000 and $5,000 notes. I've seen the $500 once at a numismatic store right here in Mex City. It was on exhibit, not for sale. I've only seen replicas and images of the others.
Yes, I do mean current notes. The $10K bill was still legal tender if an individual got one. Benny Binion had a hundred of them on display at his casino. After his death, his daughter sold them all to collectors.
The other three denominations were all printed during WWII. They essentially never wore out since they exchanged hands very rarely. In 1969 every time a bank collected one they turned them in to the fed who destroyed them. Since the US government makes it a policy to never demonetize any money, they are still valid currency. However, anyone who has kept them for the last 40 years is counting on their value as collector items. I doubt that they are worth enough to justify keeping them through 4 decades of inflation.
Since $100 today is worth about as much as $20 was in 1969, people who advocate currency want the government to resume printing the $500 bill. When the 500 euro note came out, they held meeting regarding the idea in congress. Canada issued a 1000 dollar note for a while, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police persuaded the government to stop printing them and begin destroying them. There are still some in circulation, but most people have never seen one.
Banknote advocates are losing ground. The IRS continues to require special forms for cash transactions over $10K, or to carry that much on an airplane. However, the state of Florida can confiscate any cash over $4k in a car or on a pedestrian that the passenger tells about where he got the money. The burden of proof is on the passenger to show where he got the money.
Quote: pacomartinYes, I do mean current notes. The $10K bill was still legal tender if an individual got one.
Really? that would be an easy bill to counterfeit these days, with a high-end printer and scanner, a hacker to disable built-in protections, and a supply of washed-off bank notes from any source.
But one bill wouldn't be profitable. you'd need to do a few, say ten at least. And you'd likely be able to cash them only through a large bank or directly at the Treasury, neither of which would just cash it without some testing. and they'd likely detect fakes. I'd be surprised if the Treasury doesn't have a list of all serial numbers on $10K notes, both extant and destroyed.
Quote:The other three denominations were all printed during WWII. They essentially never wore out since they exchanged hands very rarely. In 1969 every time a bank collected one they turned them in to the fed who destroyed them. Since the US government makes it a policy to never demonetize any money, they are still valid currency. However, anyone who has kept them for the last 40 years is counting on their value as collector items. I doubt that they are worth enough to justify keeping them through 4 decades of inflation.
Every note has lost value proportional to inflation after 4 decades. Still, if an Argnetinian or Brazillian citizen had some such notes, he'd have lost a lot less value than if he had held local currencies. Up to the 1990s at any rate.
I'd like to have one of each as collectibles some day. I'm not a serious collector, though I have some interesting specimens in my meager collection (intereting to the layman, not to serious collectors). I dind't even save any 100 and 200 peso conmemorative notes last year because I didn't relly like the designs.
Quote:Banknote advocates are losing ground. The IRS continues to require special forms for cash transactions over $10K, or to carry that much on an airplane. However, the state of Florida can confiscate any cash over $4k in a car or on a pedestrian that the passenger tells about where he got the money. The burden of proof is on the passenger to show where he got the money.
Those limits will have to come up some day, given ongoing inflation. I mean, once upon a not too distant time, a luxury car sold for just over $10,000. today most new cars sell for over $10,000. But then the alternate minnimum tax bites more and more middle-class tax payers evey year.
Quote: NareedReally? that would be an easy bill to counterfeit these days, with a high-end printer and scanner, a hacker to disable built-in protections, and a supply of washed-off bank notes from any source.
When I say a US note is always legal tender, that doesn't mean a store has to accept them. It never loses it's face value, so a bank must accept them. However, the remaining ones have been in collector's hands for so long that a bank would give them a serious examination. But you are correct that it would be much easier to counterfeit 70 year old technology.
Quote: NareedThose limits will have to come up some day, given ongoing inflation. I mean, once upon a not too distant time, a luxury car sold for just over $10,000. today most new cars sell for over $10,000. But then the alternate minimum tax bites more and more middle-class tax payers every year.
Forty years ago when they started destroying all the $500 banknotes and up, the currency supply was about $230 per capita. Now it is $3000 per capita with 75% of that being in $100 notes, but about half of the value is circulating overseas. So people in favor of currency say that inflation has already caught up and it's already time to start printing the $500 note again.
But the law and order side of the argument keeps saying that the legal transactions can all be handled electronically without cash.
Quote:Forty years ago when they started destroying all the $500 banknotes and up, the currency supply was about $230 per capita. Now it is $3000 per capita with 75% of that being in $100 notes, but about half of the value is circulating overseas. So people in favor of currency say that inflation has already caught up and it's already time to start printing the $500 note again.
But the law and order side of the argument keeps saying that the legal transactions can all be handled electronically without cash.
Before the hyperinflation of the late 80s to early 90s, there was a 10,000 peso note worth $800. If I could counterfeit them today, they'd be worth 10 pesos in face value, or around $0.80 each! That's loss of value worth printing higher denominations. By the end of the hyperinflation period, we had notes worth 100,000 pesos (now 100 pesos face value, or $8; so you see furhter loss of value since then anyway).
For now in the US even legal large cash transactions can be done with $100s (illegal ones are another matter). For a new car worth $20,000 all you need are 200 notes. That's two bricks, which fit easily in a man's jacket.
Quote: pacomartinYes, I do mean current notes. The $10K bill was still legal tender if an individual got one. Benny Binion had a hundred of them on display at his casino. After his death, his daughter sold them all to collectors.
When I worked at Chase they had an article in the company newsletter that one branch had one in their vault forever, but it was being moved to HQ (Chase is on the $10,000 bill.) The branch was happy to be rid of it because there was a pain balancing it somehow.
Quote: teddys
Also, we need more RFID payment systems. PayPass is a good start, and I use it every chance I get, but it is only in very few places. It should be ubiquitous.
There is a basic problem with RFID technology. Because they do work from a distance readers have been developed to steal the data and make a duplicate. They only have to get the reader close to your wallet or purse to read them, you don't even know it has happened until you see the counterfeit charges showing up on your account.
However, you have to be very careful in the USA. The federal government takes it very seriously if you engage in cash transactions of over $10K without reporting it to the IRS. Most people would never buy a car for $20K in cash. It might start an investigation.
Here is an article about a cash sting operation:Four nabbed in cash reporting crackdown by feds.
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As to the larger issue, the massive printing of the $100 banknotes that began in 1991 is starting a backlash. There are increasingly open attacks on the position of the dollar as the world currency. Like this article: 'A product of the past': China's president says dollar should no longer be world's top currency.
China's GDP is now up to 70% of the GDP of the USA (in Purchasing Power Parity terms).
The USA national debt is now up to 100% of one year's GDP. In comparison the UK national debt is up to about 60% of one year's GDP. China is the biggest holder of our paper.
Quote: pacomartinHowever, you have to be very careful in the USA. The federal government takes it very seriously if you engage in cash transactions of over $10K without reporting it to the IRS. Most people would never buy a car for $20K in cash. It might start an investigation.
i know. Most people wouldn't want to walk around with that much cash on them anyway.
