Tuesday, September 1, 2015

"Abolish cash? You’d be losing a crucial part of free society."

From today, France is banning the use of cash for transactions worth more than €1,000, or slightly more than £700. On one level, that is about combating crime and terrorism. But on another, it is also part of a growing movement among academics and now governments to gradually ban the use of cash completely. It is inefficient, oils the underground economy, and makes it harder for central banks to manage the economy, or so runs the argument. Much like gold, it is a “barbarous relic”, as some publications loftily dismiss it. The trouble is, cash is also incredibly efficient. And it is a crucial part of a free society.

13 comments:

Chiu ChunLing said...

Incredibly foolish, but typical of the mentality of central planners. All that making fiat currency even less convenient for common use is going to do is push more people to making transactions in barter (including semi-precious metal coinage) and alternative currencies like BitCoin. Once this becomes a commonplace in society, fiat currencies 'managed' by central banks and taxed by the government are going to become utterly uncompetitive and collapse in value.

I've read too much history to relish the prospect of the global finance collapse which is going to occur as a result of the criminal malfeasance of our elite class of self-appointed rulers. But I can't help feeling a snarky satisfaction when I see them dooming their own schemes for imposing control by choosing tactics bound to backfire spectacularly, despite the consequences their fall will have for civilization in general.

And heck, the more people accustomed to economic dealings outside of the fiat currency system when it crashes, the more of them will have a chance at surviving the aftermath. So I guess this is a good thing, all else being equal.

Anonymous said...

I remember this. Some Mexican men (who'd obviously been up here working in the fields, and heading home), were stopped, and they said the 'large amount of CASH they had was very SUSPICIOUS.

How is having money that you'd obviously worked hard for 'suspicious'

Papers, please.

Anonymous said...

And that's the part that the statists of all stripes want to control, is a no-longer-free society. Hence the desire to eliminate cash. TPTB want every transaction to be involuntarily transacted electronically and tracked through "plastic". Those transactions not approved by Teh Statists will be denied, and the ones attempting the transaction will be punished.

Soon to be announced: Bank holidays; Bank "haircuts and shaves".

This harkins back to the days of the Great Depression, where people didn't trust the banks, and "stuffed" their money under their mattresses. They bartered and traded. They followed the ancient Yankee principle of "Use it up and wear it out, make it do or do without".

SO. . . . got cash? got silver and/or gold? got a barterable trade? got goods to barter and trade? Are you attempting to be a little bit semi-independent?

B Woodman
III-per

Kenny said...

Free society is 100% correct. I certainly don't use a credit card for TIPS, buying ice cream cone and much much more on vacations etc. Cash for me is also preferred by the wife for her play money. What else needs to be said?

Anonymous said...

"The theory of Communism may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property." Karl Heinrich Marx

With your labor you can earn money which is your private property to use in what ever way you chose, choice is freedom. Those that control your private property control your choice/freedom, Controlled choice/freedom is not freedom nor liberty but tyranny.

When tyranny becomes law
Rebellion becomes duty

Comrade X

Informed42 said...

The PTB and the elitists want a cashless society so everything individuals do or buy is traceable and can be tracked to individuals. Those that use credit or debit cards or other things that leave a paper or traceable trail, are more easily controlled. That will definitely be proven when the system goes down and/or the cards are useless. First there will be chaos and then the rioting and looting will spread like a wildfire.

A number of people are aware of these goals of TPTB, and have stopped using credit or other cards. That's why you get so much mail offering 'pre-approved' cards. The
banks and credit card companies have lost a lot of business.

The people that are aware of what's coming have started using strictly cash, and that's why there has been an increasing demand for cash nationwide. Use the fiat cash while it's still worth something !!! Use it to buy items to stock away that will be valuable when things go down the tube. Tangible items that can be used for bartering. Precious and/or semi-precious metals, canned goods, paper products, etc..

If you have a bank account, only keep a minimum amount of money in it to keep it open and active, because when the banking system shuts down, anything that's in there will be gone with a key stroke. I still think the scenario will be a shut down on a Friday due to a 'computer or system glitch' (just an excuse)that will be resolved by Monday, only Monday won't come.

A lot of talk is that things could happen in October, but there have been numerous predictions like that before, and nothing has happened. When it does, it may very well be that there won't be any advance warning at all. Kind of like the stock market shutting down in the middle of the day.

Plan ahead and be prepared as much as you can !!

Josh said...

"And makes it much harder for central banksters to mismanage the economy"

Edited for accuracy.

Unclezip said...

I just helped a lady learn all about building a patio. All I did was show her how it's done. When she was done, with me putting in 7 hours and gas, and her and hers putting in dozens of hours, she asked me what it would cost. I told her "I've got my eye on a nice box of cigars, which cost about $160". Sure enough, a box of Oliva cigars showed on my doorstep a couple of days later. No tax. No contractor fees. No tax feeding inspectors. A happy customer with a nice patio. And some damned fine cigars. I'm sure that the Feral government will be knocking any day now, looking for revenue...

Anonymous said...

Loosing a crucial part of a free society, ummm that's the point. It's a feature not a bug. The elites want to go back to a time when thier was only really individual liberty and freedom for the very top most elites.

Anonymous said...

For those that don't travel internationally, you already
have to declare cash over $10,000 when returning to the United States.

http://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/WelcomeToTheUS.pdf

Harry_the_Horrible said...

And, best of all in the minds of the Totalitarians, it makes "Bail-ins" (seizure of deposits to pay bank debts) very easy.

CowboyDan said...

Unclezip, they GOT theirs when somebody paid money for the box of cigars.

That's presumptious, I know. She may have taken a five finger discount, but not likely. People who smoke good cigars are not often thieves.

The point is that taxes were paid at every stop along their way to your house. What more should the .gov want from you? They can't take a joke, so... you know the rest of the line. I'm trying to clean up my language, but it's a work in progress.

Anonymous said...

"... and a crucial part of a free society."

Hmm..... Perhaps the author is over thinking this one. What makes him think they see a free society as a good thing?