No, officially. They're SUPPOSED to have those.

[theweaselking]

Russian mailmen to carry guns.

Without a viable bank checking system, prominent in the Western world, many Russian payments are made in cash, with bills stuffed in envelopes.

Apparently mailmen in Russia get robbed a lot.

Comments

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

If I was a mailman in Russia, I'd be arguing for my right to have a gun for my self-defense.
Considering that the banking system allows banks to create money out of thin air, I'm not sure if that system is all that great of a thing, but it might just be a "necessary evil", given the complexity of modern society.

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

Actually, it doesn't allow banks to create money out of thin air. It allows the Central Bank, in the US that's the Federal Reserve, to do so. The regular banks simply shift money around. It does mean that savings, instead of lying in a mattress, can be reused by others as credit, so in that sense you could say that they facilitate a wider use of money.

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

According to http://ingrimayne.saintjoe.edu/econ/Banking/Overview10ma.html , banks can create money through getting rid of reserves and lending out money; ultimately, however, the central bank controls how much money banks can create by deciding how much reserves they need.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

Kind of. They create temporary money, in that they don't have to have more than a small percentage of the money that they lend out.

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

:jaw drops:

I've got an idea for a new character now. Thanks...