The problem with fiat currency is it can be taken from you by printing more and devaluing what you have in your possession (in Myanmar they would often announce which bills would be worthless on the morrow by giving out the serial number and much of the money disappeared by the next morning if you were caught with the wrong paper) where a coin of value cannot be devalued by government declaration. India recently announced at 8 pm one evening (when banks are closed) that all 500 & 1000 rupee notes would be worthless on the next morning at 8 am. Any currency in your possession was good for fire starter and not much more.
If a bank did not engage in fractional banking (issuing more notes that it had coin to back) there would not have been receipt of pennies on the dollar, the bank would be able to account for every dollar it had or had loaned.
Cashless means a new level of control, if the government does not like an individual it does not have to take him to court and prove its case, simply make his 'money' unavailable to him and he will become compliant if he wants food, energy, medical care.
Storing coin of value in a vault is not necessarily a bad idea unless those who store it can find a way to steal it from you (fractional banking) or deny you access to anything of value to use in trade.

Insane.

Exactly.

The free market should be providing MORE tools for exchange, not less. If government got out of the way, it would. There would be dozens of currencies to choose from and the federal currency would be as valuable as its media: paper or electrons.

Hello jbrenner,
A cashless society is a Big Brother government's dream. At it's most intrusive worst it can, without detection, invade your privacy and monitor spending patterns and know all too much about individuals, violating their 4th amendment rights. On it's most basic level it is a power-grab which always comes at the cost of Liberty.
Regards,
O.A.

I bought Au for the same reasons.

Hi Jim, It's been a while. The only thing I've not seen is "Invasion of privacy" stated boldly. This leads to the exchanges between you and AMeador1. I think the mechanism may be "FEDCOIN" in the US. There have been whispers but nothing substantive that I can bring forth. Being substantively in manufacturing, I'm buying silver and claiming non-disclosure under "Trade Secrets". "Their" rules not mine....LOL

Sorry. I was summarizing what you said, and agreeing with you.

I think it is revolting. But what can you expect with
all this minimum wage, and government controls?

Here we go again. By controlling cash, the government controls you. In 60 years: Freedom? Oh yes, that was some obsolete philosophical concept.

Yeh, but cash means nothing either. It is just script backed up by nothing. And it can be taken from you or made to have no value by the powers that be any time they wish. We will probably have to go back to real concrete values like gold or bartering goods.

Did you ready my post and the post I replied to? I never said this cashless society issue is a conspiracy theory. I do believe the government is working on this. I've heard comments by people in congress suggesting that it is on their minds. I said I think that the government having already put a system in place to track details of credit card purchases is a conspiracy theory based on the details I explained in my post.

Exactly...we live in a physical universe as physical beings, therefore it makes sense that we derive benefit from physical things and representations.

It is also a redistributionists dream as well!

+100!

It's not a conspiracy theory if it is a fact. Cashless society coming soon.

My only concern here is there is nothing stopping the government from banning the ownership of precious metals. They've done it before under intimidation of major fines and jail time for not complying.

I have always though this to be conspiracy theory. I had a business for years that helped setup business to use computer based point of sale/inventory management systems that allowed the computers to perform credit card processing. None of the software that I ever worked with ever submitted anything to the credit card processing companies other than the amount of the transaction and the credit card information (name, card number, exp date, CVV number and so on). I have even worked on writing my own software to interface with these credit card processing systems and I can say on the backside - writing the software and working with the credit card processing software packages, that no data was ever being transmitted to them giving details of what was being purchased - and the businesses data (their account number, and such).

Now, they could track the company the purchase was made from - which might give an indication as to what type of stuff might be being bought. But, look a stores like Amazon, Walmart, etc... they would have no clue what your are buying in those cases. Nope, I don't believe this angle - at least not at the level of detail that many people think they are getting.

However, if they force digital currency - I suppose they could change regulations to begin forcing this level of detail so they could track every little thing. What would be your choice at that point with no non-digital currency to work with? None. Well, barter I suppose but that would be a big hindrance to people.

"Can you see where this would lead psychologically?"

As Dagny knew in AS when she gave Jeff a cash advance, "Cash in one's pocket turns to confidence in one's mind." (paraphrased). BT

I think the main concern is the redistribution aspect of a paperless system and negative interest rates. The government is effectively forcing people and companies with money to spend it - or loose it. It will do exactly as the Progressives/Socialists have wanted for a long time - take the assets of those with assets and force them to redistribute them to people with less.

If you have a choice of loosing money to the bank/government for keeping your "money" there, you will spend it. Whether it's on higher payrolls, buying more physical goods, etc... you will not want to hold on to "money".

I would assume the government would regulate this in a way where they get a certain portion of the negative interest collected by the banks as well. It would be income to them and thus taxable for sure.

Just a big redistribution plan! Government trying to convince people it will not hurt them and that they are only after the criminals using large paper currency for illegal exchanges. The next thing you know, you are a criminal because of some obscure regulation in this plan and have your money confiscated or you're put in jail. If you play their game - then your wealth is redistributed. By the time people figure this out, they are in so far they won't know how to get out - especially if the government takes their guns first.

Yes !!!!!!!!

Me dino is turned off by anyone who tries to look intellectual by pressing a finger to his head or mouth while posing for a photograph.
The joke for the author of a crappy novel I once read posed like that for the inside of the back paperback cover.
That out of the way, me dino would strongly recommend against there ever being a cashless society who is solely dependent on electronics.
Back in the good old days before the telephone, the sun that libs won't blame for a climate created a solar flare actually melted telegraph lines. The effect of that event on a horse and buggy cash in every pocket civilized society was minimal.
https://www.google.com/search?q=solar...
Right now today? Such an event would be a complete catastrophic disaster.
But that added to having no cash at all?
Mad Max here we come!

Then the gov't will make it illegal to hold gold/silver.
Then the gov't will be able to track everything you buy, or sell, and even allow or disallow it.

Another reason for Bitcoin, and pursuing a reliable, Peer-2-peer mesh network.
Of course, if the gov't blocks us from buying bitcoin then the only way you'll get them is by mining them, or trading them for goods or services.

I think it's time for prudent people to buy more gold.

Canada uses polymer bills, which are harder to counterfeit and last much longer than paper, with no denomination lower than five dollars (one and two dollar coins, though). Maybe this could be a good solution for the U.S.? The Canucks also dropped the penny for the same reason we should: it cost more than a penny to produce.