A Way To Eliminate Payrolls

[Gabz]

Sniff............

[Lazamataz]

'kay, so explain why consumers would want this? Also, since such a service would be by necessity offered for a fee, how would it guarantee business savings?

[MisterRepublican]

TheNightFly
Since Mar 10, 2005

[Egon]

Private individuals could open virtual electronic banks directly with the Fed. These virtual banks would be purely electronic and entirely managed by the Fed. Individuals would not have any access to or control over them.

Ignoring for the moment that you signed up today, and immediately posted a vanity (however articulately)...

I think this paragraph accurately sums up the first problem I have with this idea.

[Junior]

What the hell have you been smoking?

[TheNightFly]

Awesome! Someone actually asked an intelligent question! (lol)

This would benefit consumers because we could then create money at the point of sale (same as we're doing now with credit cards) without digging ourselves into debt.

[Born to Conserve]

So, I go to McDonald's, and ask them for a Big Mac. They go to the Fed and ask them if I have credit, which I evidently have, so they give me a Big Mac, and have the Fed reduce my credit and increase McDonald's credit? Is that right?

I have one addition to this novel idea. How about the Fed give us little metal and paper tokens that represent our credit, and then we can just trade goods and services with these tokens? We can call these tokens "money".

[Flyer]

Employment would increase especially since labor would be virtually free

So this is like a perpetual motion money machine?

[Fierce Allegiance]

Private individuals could open virtual electronic banks directly with the Fed.

This is the part I have a problem with. If it's worthwhile, why can't a business do this. I do not want the fed gov't having control over my money any more than they do now.

[TheNightFly]

I'm not suggesting we open bank accounts with the Fes, I'm suggesting we open our own banks.

Now then, if you were/are an employer, how confident would you feel depositing money into your employees bank knowing that they could abuse it? That's why individuals should have virtual banks but, not manage them.

[Lazamataz]

You just boosted your credibility as not-a-troll by responding.

This would benefit consumers because we could then create money at the point of sale (same as we're doing now with credit cards) without digging ourselves into debt.

I don't get it. If it's payroll-related, we are due the money anyways. So I'm still not seeing a benefit. Splain?

[Egon]

I do not want the fed gov't having control over my money any more than they do now.

Worse than this. I think the "Fed" referred to is the Federal Reserve, which is NOT the Federal Government.

By contrast, at least the Federal Government is accountable to us. The Federal Reserve is accountable to no one-- except, arguably, the World Bank. How nifty is that?

[TheNightFly]

No that's not correct. Man, I thought I had explained it clearly. You would always know how much credit you can extend before you ever go to McDonald's. From their the process would be identical to using a credit card only it's from the bank you own, not the one you owe. Since you would have a lending limit (as all banks do), what you credit to McDonald's would be subtracted from you lending limit so, no you wouldn't have unlimited lending.

If you wanted cash, you could simply extend credit to yourself- as I stated before.

[TheNightFly]

Yup! All banks are perpetual motion money machines. You didn't know? Read all about it here:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/bank1.html

[Egon]

That's why individuals should have virtual banks but, not manage them.

...and what if I want to pay my neighbor for helping me fix my fence? Or buy lemonade from the kid down the street? Am I going to have to whip out my PalmPilot and beam a "transaction" to them?

What if I go overseas and want to hire a taxi to take me across Bangledesh?

Are you going to have some sort of conversion system to actual money? Otherwise, the "virtual taxi ride" I receive instead is still going to be pretty hard on my feet.

[Egon]

The elimination of payrolls would greatly increase business profit margins.

Not sure how this washes. Businesses are still transferring funds through accounts payable that subtract from their profits-- even when they're not writing out checks.

Sure, you can rename them to something other than "payroll", but they still amount to some form of emuneration which the government will trip over itself to immediately figure out a way to tax.

[TheNightFly]

Because business don't have employers, they are employers.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I am thinking of me as an employer.

[Egon]

...some form of remuneration...

Forgot the "r". Hate it when I do that.