Newsweek reports United States is the 2nd most hated country in the world

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Who_so_ever said:
So, if you did or said something that the government didn't approve of.... they could shut off your access to your "money"? To control you.
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well no not yet... but this is why I..and many others are shouting from the rooftops for people to continue to use cash where possible.. beause once cash has gone.. the govt has complete control of your life....

People who say that it's so much easier to use a card and are proud they haven't used cash in years.. are dragging us all into a Utopian nightmare !
 

hollydolly said:
well no not yet... but this is why I..and many others are shouting from the rooftops for people to continue to use cash where possible.. beause once cash has gone.. the govt has complete control of your life....

People who say that it's so much easier to use a card and are proud they haven't used cash in years.. are dragging us all into a Utopian nightmare !
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I can't believe you use grimy dirty cash. 😝 We use pristine pretty cheques in USA.

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I pay in different ways, but don't write many checks anymore.
I pay the lawn man by check because He only accepts cash or checks.
My City charges a $25 late fee if the water bill not paid by the 10th of the month, but many times I don't even receive the bill until the 5th of the month, which means a check would probably arrive late, so I pay it online.
My county tax assessor charges a hefty fee for paying by credit card, so I paid my taxes by check in person at the tax office, and got a printed receipt, rather than taking a chance on mailing a check.
Much of my mail is taking longer to reach me, so I'm concerned if it takes the same length of time for my checks to arrive, my payment would be late, so whenever possible, I pay online or by phone.
I know people who pay every bill by check, out of concern that information they input into automated systems could be compromised and someone could access their account.
Unfortunately, such information is already "out there." We see on the news all the time that databases for most of the companies we do business with have data breaches and warn us to freeze our accounts or have them monitored by the credit bureaus.
 

I leave this thread and come back and get lost. Now the US is hated because we still write checks? (Or checques?)

Randy Newman wrote this song more than 50 years ago, but it is still completely relevant today.

 
Lawrence00 said:
I can deposit checks by taking a picture with my phone. If you send me $100 I can show you how it works.
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My husband’s done that with my carbon tax cheque. With bigger cheques you can’t do it. My income tax cheque came in today but it’s too big to do that with. We have to deposit in our bank account.
 
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PeppermintPatty said:
My husband’s done that with my carbon tax cheque. With bigger cheques you can do it. My income tax cheque came in today but it’s too big to do that with. We have to deposit in our bank account.
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I "thankfully" received a $900 tax refund today. Showed up in my bank account. A lot of people use venmo and assorted other apps to quickly give each money. I think there is another one where they touch phones to send money, like phones having sex, though at a distance you cannot tell who is the client and who is the provider ;)
 
Lawrence00 said:
I "thankfully" received a $900 tax refund today. Showed up in my bank account. A lot of people use venmo and assorted other apps to quickly give each money. I think there is another one where they touch phones to send money, like phones having sex, though at a distance you cannot tell who is the client and who is the provider ;)
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My husband says he’s not sure if they’ll accept the income tax cheque. It’s just under $3000 and doesnt want to chance it. When his income tax cheque came through 2 weeks ago it was a direct deposit. I don’t have mine set up to do that yet.
 
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Tom52 said:
Because some people take only cash or Check for payment. I don't keep a lot of cash on hand. Examples are handymen, landscapers, stores that accept only cash or check or want you to pay 3% premium to use your credit card.

I make some of monthly payments with echecks as well.
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yep this is the problem we're having too.. that some businesses have stopped accepting cash.. and that''s the start of the downward spiral...

It's a long time since businesses charged a percentage for a customer to use a card....
 
hollydolly said:
yep this is the problem we're having too.. that some businesses have stopped accepting cash.. and that''s the start of the downward spiral...

It's a long time since businesses charged a percentage for a customer to use a card....
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I did run across an ice cream shop that would not take cash, but it is not common where I live, at least yet....companies/businesses always had a price that covered the cost assuming most people paid with CC. It was just a little more profit when anyone paid cash. It seems only the last few years that companies/businesses have started adding a % for payments with a CC. I suspect they figured out a way to pad the profits a bit more.
 
dilettante said:
Perhaps you mean that we are still allowed to use them? :ROFLMAO:
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I thought everyone was allowed to use them (cheques). About four years ago, when someone in the US was doing some research for me, she said she had no PayPal or online banking. Even though we were communicating via email, she wanted to send me copies of documents by fax, and for me to pay for them via cheque.

I hadn't used a fax machine in over 25 years, or given someone a cheque since the mid 1990s. I had to order a cheque book online through my bank and wait a week for it to arrive, just so I could send a cheque to someone in the US, who had to wait another week for it to arrive, and then god knows how long to be processed and cleared. To me, it seemed as though someone was still living in the dark ages.

On the last two occasions I bought a car, I first called my bank to inform them of the amount and the name of the dealership -- answered some security questions, and responded to a text they sent me for confirmation. I also self-generated a security code using the bank's Mobile Banking App on my phone, after inputting my PIN, which was immediately confirmed by the bank through the same app. Then, when I went to the dealership to collect my car, I paid using my debit card and the app-generated code that had been authorized by the bank. The transaction was instantaneous, and the record appeared immediately in my bank account.

On the second occasion I had to pay the US researcher; she requested that I pay her by cheque again. I responded by sending her this email. She took it in good spirit:

"I can hardly contain my excitement with the thought that I might have to write you another cheque. As this will be the second time in a couple of weeks -- after abstaining from it during the past 24 years.

The prospect of being able to write another cheque gives me a wonderful feeling of nostalgia. So much so that the whole experience warms the cockles of my heart. A feeling I’ve not experienced since misplacing my debit card earlier this year, and had to momentarily resort to using cash!

I might even write a cheque to myself just for the fun of it. Oh how the simple things in life are the most rewarding."
 
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OneEyedDiva said:
I read today that many Canadians are selling the properties they have here in the states according to real estate agents. I love how the Canadians are united in showing their displeasure with the nonsense that's happening.
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I thought this has more to do with tax loopholes that closed over a year ago. The crashing CanuckBuck probably isn't helping either, and insurance costs have climbed.
 
Irishdude said:
You're right about Iran and Vietnam. We meddled in Guatemala and sponsored an invasion of Cuba, as well. On the other hand we were locked in a global death match with totalitarian regimes in the USSR and China who had sworn to crush us and who sponsored proxy wars of their own all over the world, as in Korea. The USSR had occupied all of Eastern Europe and half of Germany. In that context I think our actions were understandable, if not ethically appealing. It's what Henry Kissinger would have called "realpolitik."
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You're absolutely right about this all playing out in the shadow of the Cold War, with the USSR and China backing their own proxy conflicts and ideological crusades. But here’s where I part ways with the “realpolitik” defense. While the Soviets were ruthless and expansionist, and the U.S. found itself in a high-stakes ideological struggle the “understandable” wasn't justifiable, especially when the cost was propping up dictators, undermining democracies, and laying the groundwork for decades of blowback. Iran is a classic example where we replaced a democratically elected leader with a brutal monarch, and decades later we’re still living with the consequences.
 
oslooskar said:
You're absolutely right about this all playing out in the shadow of the Cold War, with the USSR and China backing their own proxy conflicts and ideological crusades. But here’s where I part ways with the “realpolitik” defense. While the Soviets were ruthless and expansionist, and the U.S. found itself in a high-stakes ideological struggle the “understandable” wasn't justifiable, especially when the cost was propping up dictators, undermining democracies, and laying the groundwork for decades of blowback. Iran is a classic example where we replaced a democratically elected leader with a brutal monarch, and decades later we’re still living with the consequences.
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I don't disagree. There is so much we could have done differently. Vietnam was another tragic error. We propped up the French then stifled the elections, as you pointed out. I'm just saying the climate was different. We hugely overestimated the strength of the USSR, for one thing.
 

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