It cannot happen Here, Can it? | Eastern NC Now

    If you think that the turmoil in Greece is far removed from our situation, I suggest you review history.

    If we as a country continue to build up government debt that we have no hope of repaying, we too could have a "bank holiday". Since I have read many people in this country are just a paycheck away from being broke, I would suspect that those who have all their wealth in a bank or financial institution would be closer than the next paycheck to being broke.

    Before you jump to the conclusion that I am a chicken little shouting about the sky falling, I want to point out that we have already had our Bank Holiday once before.

    If you have a few dollars stuffed in a pillowcase to tide you over, you may be in a better position. Have you noticed how often we have changed the look and design of our money over the past few years? The reason stated is to help prevent counterfeiting and I do not doubt that is one of the main reasons.

    During my lifetime far away and long ago, I was paid in printed money over a card table in a rice paddy. Twice during my year, a helicopter landed and an officer got out with a briefcase and set up the card table. As we lined up for pay, he asked how much money we had with us and took it and issued us replacement money, which was a different color. We signed a receipt and affidavit on how much we thought we had back in base camp. He said when we got back we could go to the payroll office and exchange that money as well.

    In the course of a few minutes, the blue money was no good and the red money was now the legal currency for us. Unfortunately, the mama-sans who had been selling us beer and other things did not get to come to the table to exchange money. Their blue money was now worthless

    In the blink of an eye, your world can change as it did for my parents and many others during what we now call the great depression. The debate continues over what caused that event but I have never trusted my government to be my sole protector and provider when they possess the ink press and the power to print money at will.

    One last point of advice, never look straight up at the sky, you never know when some government pigeon is flying over and may drop some money in your eye.