elimination of cash

[emordnilap]

Cash is either being eliminated from society or, at least, demonised. Usually both.

I predict that the situation re transaction charges may reverse - that one day soon, a corporation will offer 'free' electronic transactions but a fee on cash transactions.

The IMF is working hard to 'de-cash' society: download this paper of theirs for their strategies.

What we are discussing is a plot, and it is a plot, by leading central banks, select governments, the International Monetary Fund in collusion with major international banks to force citizens—in other words, us!—to give up holding cash or using it to pay for purchases. Instead we would be forced to use digital bank credits.

Source

Post your examples of this happening and share your ideas for dealing with this loss of your sovereignty (theoretical or currently used) in this thread.

I personally would like to see a time bank or some kind of barter system where I live but there's extremely little interest (!) at present.

I have a friend in the next county who shares one day per week with friends for 'doing whatever is needed' on each others' property (they changed the engine of a participant's vehicle, for instance or they may prepare veg. beds for the winter). Great social day out and you never know what you're going to be doing that day. The only 'payment' is the host providing food for the day.

[kenneal - lagger]

Once we go to a cashless society we are completely at the mercy of government; they can "tax" us all they want. They can impose negative interest rates to encourage us to spend more money, although many people would like more money to spend at the moment.

The only people that this would effect is us ordinary mortals as, once again, the rich will be able to find avoidance schemes with the connivance of the corporate lawyers who "help" draught our legislation.

Moneyweek has been flogging a paper for about a year no warning of this and telling how to get around it. I'll go for bartering myself.

[fuzzy]

There are 2 items on their wish list:

100% electronic money

Mandatory ID cards

Then we are screwed.

[emordnilap]

I wish we could throw two of these words out of the language: 'mandatory', 'compulsory' and 'obligatory'.

But yes fuzzy, mandatory ID cards, along with compulsory electronic 'money', are exactly what corporate-controlled governments are going to implement; my impression is that we'll see positive moves in both directions within 6 or 7 years.

My inner self tells me it's obligatory to be 100% against both.

[cubes]

Most countries already have either ID cards or de-facto ID cards though, e.g. drivers licence in the states (or here for that matter).

[mikepepler]

Once there's no cash and mandatory ID cards, then we might as well have RFID chips implanted in the back of our hands? But we were warned about this a long, long time ago...

It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark...
Rev 13:16-17

[cubes]

This reminds me of a letter we got from our card terminal provider at work (worldpay I think). Currently contactless transactions under £15 are done offline (not that we do any) but very shortly "virtually all" contactless transactions will be online.

Banks finally getting fed up with offline contactless fraud?

[johnhemming2]

Banks finally getting fed up with offline contactless fraud?

It is probably a commercial decision. The cost of an online transaction is low and the sooner they pick up a stolen card the less that is lost.

To be honest I was not aware that any contactless transactions happened without immediate verification.

[emordnilap]

All the big supermarkets are taking advantage of competition to increase profits; expect more automation, discouragement of cash use, poorer customer service, less choice and pressure on suppliers to cut costs. Really, just more of the same.

Source

Buy local goods from people you know.

[kenneal - lagger]

More unemployed people! What do they think they are doing getting themselves unemployed like that? Still, waiting weeks for Universal Credit will make them think twice about doing that again!

Should companies making people unemployed have to contribute to the costs? Morally, I would say yes but practically it would just mean a lot of companies going bust and starting up again without the encumbrance of their previous staffing levels.

We are told that companies need to show increases in productivity for the economy to grow but that often means people being made unemployed: guardless or even driverless trains for instance. If the companies making the redundancies aren't liable for paying their ex workers then surely the national economy, which is making the gain, we are told, should be liable through Social Security payments.

Those SS payments should be paid for by the companies not the workers as it is the companies which are gaining. But company taxation is falling all over the world, as are wages. There can be no doubt that companies are in charge of the political agenda and the politicians supporting this should be thrown out. This all harks back to The Prostitute State in which all political parties are complicit.

[emordnilap]

We all know where all this is leading.

• 1. Corporate takeover of the economy (eliminate cash, crackdown on informal economy).
  
  2. Combine this with automation.
  
  3. Control legislation and gradually undermine the welfare state.

It's so obvious. But still we put the same psychopaths in charge.

[Potemkin Villager]

This all harks back to The Prostitute State in which all political parties are complicit.

Looks like an interesting read. The author's cv is a fascinating voyage of discovery of just how rotten the entire "system" is.

[emordnilap]

Like the elimination of insects through industrial chemical use article mentioned elsewhere, The Guardian has had another "Would a pope shit in the woods?" moment:

UK's low pay culture traps people in poorly paid jobs, study finds

No!

[Lurkalot]

After thirty odd years of being paid by bank transfer I was made redundant , am now self employed and find a sizeable chunk of my earnings are now in cash. Many of my customers prefer to use cash so at least some of us are trying to resist any form of cashless society.
Someone else who is keeping the cash society alive are a couple who have just brought a horse box from one of my customers . They turned up with £12,000 in cash and handed that over for the vehicle. My customer who doesn't do internet banking was a little surprised and just a tad worried about having such a large amount being elderly , living alone and being six stone wet through . It sat there for the weekend and went to the bank on Monday morning.

[emordnilap]

After thirty odd years of being paid by bank transfer I was made redundant , am now self employed and find a sizeable chunk of my earnings are now in cash. Many of my customers prefer to use cash so at least some of us are trying to resist any form of cashless society.
Someone else who is keeping the cash society alive are a couple who have just brought a horse box from one of my customers . They turned up with £12,000 in cash and handed that over for the vehicle. My customer who doesn't do internet banking was a little surprised and just a tad worried about having such a large amount being elderly , living alone and being six stone wet through . It sat there for the weekend and went to the bank on Monday morning.

There are limits in place for cash transactions in some countries. The bank would (should?) probably, in the case of £12K, ask questions. My credit union would.

I, quite simply, would not have put that amount in any official institution in one lump. No point in drawing attention to oneself unnecessarily, although I fully appreciate the situation with the elderly person in your story.

The horsey people over here are cash conscious too. It's hard to envisage how they'd get alone if/when cash is eliminated.