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PHOTOGRAPHY: Maddy Watson
The Problem with Cash Lachlan Holt
Do you ever wonder why pirates hid their booty in treasure chests, buried deep underground? Or why people in many countries still stuff their money into their mattress at night? As a bank robber in the cult Australian classic Getting Square put it, “I don’t trust banks. People keep robbing em.”
As much as we joke about the idea now, for the majority of history, leaving your money in a bank was as risky as betting on the horses, or investing in Enron, or crossing the Clintons. Banks had a nasty tendency for going bankrupt and disappearing with your life savings. These were individual institutions that printed their own money, had no government safety net and had nothing resembling insurance to back them up. Basically, they were even worse than the big banks are now. This was a big issue. When people bury treasure or hide their cash, money isn’t being invested in the economy. With no investment, there’s very little growth. Hence, the Dark Ages.
