Mexican immigrants sending $1 billion a month to families back home

AMERICAN-STATESMAN ^ | December 14, 2003 | Juan Castillo

[Luis Gonzalez]

Some years ago, the government decided that we needed "new" money, so they redesigned the paper currency.

One day, the new "improved" bills were in circulation.

Did anyone ask you to turn in your bills to the bank in exchange for the new ones?

No, they were simply added to the economy.

They stole about 15% of the purchase power of our money by doing that.

Think of the economy as being a pot of soup, and money being the water that's this soup's main ingredient.

You add water to the soup, what happens?

It thins out.

Money is only worth that which you can purchase with it.

The government introduces all these new bills, and receives the full benefit of the current value of the dollar at the time of the introduction of the new currency, once these bills become fully integrated into the economy (the soup is thin now), the old bills, their buying power devalued, are slowly removed from circulation.

Yet, the lowered purchasing value of the dollar is not regained.

Inflation is a tax.

By the way, there are new, improved bills entering the economy these days...

[1rudeboy]

You are the one that is confusing free movement of capital and free movement of people. One can exist without the other, despite the most desperate attempts by protectionists to link the two.

[gubamyster]

ping

[MissAmericanPie]

Some figgures put it higher than that, they put it at fourteen billion a year. Government and press numbers always lie, one can always multiply their figgures by two or three to get the real deal.

[biblewonk]

Good for them!

[FITZ]

Gee, do ya think some of it might be drug money?

I'm not sure that is included in the $1 billion a month --- the drug money is the big significant money being sent. Drugs are one thing the country of Mexico does very well. Bringing truckloads of cocaine certainly nets a lot more money than raking leaves.

[DumpsterDiver]

I'm not sure that [drug money] is included in the $1 billion a month

Probably it isn't.

Drugs are one thing the country of Mexico does very well.

But are they as good at it as the Colombians? ;)

[FITZ]

They work well together on it. Mexico knows full well what's in those big planes arriving from Colombia to the Mexican airports and Colombia knows it's easy to land in Mexico and get the drugs over by land.

[Dan Evans]

I'm not concerned so much about the money they send to Mexico, I'm worried that they might try to send the southwest back to Mexico.

[TLI]

Since US Dollars can only be ultimately redeemed in the USA for products or services or investments, what is the problem with the route they take? If they are not redeemed, they are just scrap paper. When you cash a paycheck do you care if the Dollars come from the Bank of Japan, China, America?

YES! you do care. The reason if fairly simple. In order for the US B. of Engraving and Printing to print the money, the US Gov trades US Treasury Bonds (at interest, that is the key) for, get this, PERMISSION from the privately owned "Federal Reserve Bank" (inc.) to print x amount of dollars. The game is that the amount of dollars only covers the face value of the Treasury bonds, NOT the interest charged by the privately owned "Federal Reserve Bank" (inc). Where do the dollars come from to pay back the interest? NOWHERE. They show up as inflation. The federal reserve system is the biggest scam the American People have been subjected to INCLUDING SS and the IRS.

To take actual existing physical dollars out of the system is the kiss of death to any attempt to keep in control the inflation rates and the number of trips to the well of the privately owned "Federal Reserve Bank" (inc.)

TLI

[Bikers4Bush]

How charming. A billion a month. Scumbags continue to be scumbags regardless of where they reside.

[JustPiper]

And 'why'do we have such a huge deficit?

[texastoo]

And 'why' do we have such a huge deficit?

Do you really have to ask? Bush and Ridge could find out who the illegals are via the banks that transfer money to Mexico. Instead he wants to match willing employers to will employees. Bush wants a little piece of the patchwork quilt so us stupid Americans won't think that it is blanket amnesty.