A Cashless Society Approaches
Here are a few excerpts below; but my question is what happens when the lights go out...I mean...OUT for a long time...this is Not chicken little stuff...as we always have been but especially over the next 15/20 years...it is very likely that the whole global grid will go down...so...what cha gona do then?
It's just like the governments, the kakistocracies, to not look ahead for possible disruptions...
"Not everyone is cheering. Alderman noted that Sweden's embrace of electronic payments has alarmed consumer organizations and critics who warn of a rising threat to privacy and increased vulnerability to sophisticated Internet crimes."
"It might be trendy," said Bjorn Eriksson, a former director of the Swedish police force and former president of Interpol. "But there are all sorts of risks when a society starts to go cashless."
Despite the conveniences, even some who stand to gain from a cashless society see drawbacks. According to Jacob de Geer, a founder of iZettle which makes a mobile-powered card reader: "...But Big Brother can watch exactly what you're doing if you purchase things only electronically".
He concluded: "Liberty will be non-existent. However, it will be sold to us as expedient simplicity itself, freeing us from crime: Fascism with a friendly face. Perhaps the scariest consequence of all is that an individual can be "terminated" by a bureaucrat erasing his identity. Do not kid yourself, it will happen. Real 'Mark of the Beast' stuff".
It's just like the governments, the kakistocracies, to not look ahead for possible disruptions...
"Not everyone is cheering. Alderman noted that Sweden's embrace of electronic payments has alarmed consumer organizations and critics who warn of a rising threat to privacy and increased vulnerability to sophisticated Internet crimes."
"It might be trendy," said Bjorn Eriksson, a former director of the Swedish police force and former president of Interpol. "But there are all sorts of risks when a society starts to go cashless."
Despite the conveniences, even some who stand to gain from a cashless society see drawbacks. According to Jacob de Geer, a founder of iZettle which makes a mobile-powered card reader: "...But Big Brother can watch exactly what you're doing if you purchase things only electronically".
He concluded: "Liberty will be non-existent. However, it will be sold to us as expedient simplicity itself, freeing us from crime: Fascism with a friendly face. Perhaps the scariest consequence of all is that an individual can be "terminated" by a bureaucrat erasing his identity. Do not kid yourself, it will happen. Real 'Mark of the Beast' stuff".
Banknotes have always had serial numbers. If you have ever seen an old police drama, when they make a sting, they write down the serial numbers of the notes, then catch the criminal with those bills.
However, coins are anonymous. Right now, silver is at $15.46 (ask) and gold is at $1239.40 (ask). At any coin store in America, generic silver rounds such as the American Silver Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, etc., are about $20 each. For the same $20 you can get generic US silver dollars (Morgans and Peace), which have 0.773 oz (troy) of silver. The old US coins have higher demand.
Gold is also available as modern American Gold Eagles, classic US gold, modern world gold and classic world gold. You can buy 19th century UK Sovereigns 0.2435 oz gold for about 10% over spot. (If you want the spot price, buy your own 100-oz bar in Chicago.)
And there's US dimes and 1/10 oz gold and UK sterling three pence, and all kinds of small change out there. And people who will take it. You just have to ask. It won't work in a Big Box store, of course. It just depends on what you want and who can provide it. (Please do not bring up Executive Order 6102. By 1938 with gold "illegal" the Numismatic Chronicle magazine was carrying ads for gold coins priced according to the London Fix.)
In WIlliam Gibson's "Sprawl" trilogy, people trade with New Yen, demonetized notes, no longer "good" but limited in number and easy to use. Sounds like science fiction, but, in Iraq, at least for some time, maybe a couple of years, people in Kurdish areas used the last issue of Saddam Hussein. They were "worthless", indeed, but there were never going to be any more. They were counters, accounting symbols.
Read about community currencies like Bay Bucks (http://www.baybucks.org/content/direc...) and Ithaca Time Dollars (http://ithacahours.com). In poor places in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, they use tally boards for the same purpose. You can do it on a computer, but the paper is prettier.
Checks are still used for utilities and paying bills, I automate mine with USAA's excellent bill payment service but it is largely the same as it always was.
Mobile commerce, like a Starbucks or Amazon app are probably going to grow somewhat, but I don't think our basic medium of exchange, or minted currency will change much. How much is in circulation will, but that is just consumer preference.
I assert that they are not human in the same senses as we are or have the potential to be...in my book I identify them as: Parasitical Humanoids.
They are only 2 parts of the 3 part equation...meaning they are only a brain in a body.
In shorthand, paying with cash means more than paying with credit and those who rely on credit (and to some degree virtual funds) don't place the same value on money that those who pay with cash do. Explains an awful lot in this world, if you ask me.
The Zero Tolerance Drug Wars began with Richard Nixon. They even appointed a Drug Czar. How's that working out for them? If they had just left it alone, it would have not been worse. But the point is that "they" cannot stop anything. Crime or the lack of it -- and I prefer the lack of it -- is a consequence of social culture which is the aggregate of individual choices.
What I read here is an aggregate of paralysis, paranoia, surrender, and retreat.
Read The Fountainhead for the tragedy of Gail Wynand, He was not a nice guy. Ever. And Rand did not laud him for the virtues of Howard Roark which he lacked. Can you imagine Howard Roark leading a gang? Wynand did. Can you image Roark bullying kids? No, he wanted to be left alone. But Rand nodded to the boys in the classroom who could not be controlled, the ones with the fast fists. She was not endorsing violence and aggression. She was giving symbolic meaning to assertion.
The government only has the power that you give it. In a rational world, we all give it the power of physical force in defense of rights. Beyond that, what power do you give it? You give it free rent in your mind -- and then wonder why it has taken over the house.
Could it be coincidence that governments and central banks want to move in this direction at this particular time?....naw, their not smart enough for that...but they are cunning though...
Years ago, I'd take about $200-300 a month out of our checking account via the autoteller, stash it in a dresser drawer and keep about $60 in my wallet at all times.
It's been months since I've done that, even since the autoteller limit was raised from 200 a day to 300 locally. Today, several $20's still sit in the drawer, maybe $100 worth, and I still keep about $40 in my wallet.
But I also notice that our Cash Burn Rate, now done via everyday Visa charges, auto-payments via the bank to routine bills and bank-mailed checks to other services, triggered online by me via my bank... All those payments comprise a Burn Rate of about $3,000-$6,000 per month!
Virtually no 'money' is used by me, and I essentially never carry coins in my pocket, either. They just wear out pockets. If I get change from a rare cash transaction it goes to my wife for her piggy-bank 'coin collection' which she empties once or twice a year at the automated machines at the grocery.
I don't see a 'problem' with a 'cashless' world as you seem to describe it.
As I occasionally joke to the cashier in the supermarket... "I'm waiting for the implant in my wrist that I can wave over a reader here to pay my bill"... and at the hardware store, gas station, restaurant...
So, in other words, "... and the Problem Is???"
There are just some things we should never throw out by the wayside.
Hmmmm Interesting logic and 'solution.' [not]
Hmmmm Interesting logic and 'solution.' [not]
If people did in fact find some way to avoid the banks and the fiat currency (dollars), and trade amonst themselves, THAT might have a significant effect on the ability of the government to exert control over citizens.
Attacking the "root cause" as you mention is going to be dependent on a complete philosophical revolution, which is going to take longer than I have left on this earth, and probably longer than you have left too.
made to disappear over the Internet. It can't be
just wiped out like a bank account. Isn't there some
way we can make it stay around?
dle and to carry around, which is fine when they
are backed up by metal, but if they are not going to
be, maybe we should just return to gold and silver
coinage.
Laughing cause I feel your pain.
"Excuse me sir/maam. I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time to consider this petition. It is to penalize the rich banks for their credit/debit card policies. You see, they allow their cards to be used for all size transactions. Isn't it amazing? I know... They allow little smug pukes like you to waste everyone's time to avoid the trivial challenge of carrying cash...We all hope you enjoyed your equally wasted 5 minutes."
permarket I would have segregated lines: separat lines for people paying with cash; maybe one line for cash, one for checks and one for credit cards.(Of course, now I use a plastic SNAP card to get food until it runs out for the
month; the store clerk has me swipe it in a ma-
chine, then punch in a PIN number, then it's ap-
proved and I get my food).
...enjoying a good laugh picturing this in the right hemisphere of my brain.