[C19fan]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-10/citi-economist-says-it-might-be-time-to-abolish-cash

[C19fan]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-10/citi-economist-says-it-might-be-time-to-abolish-cash

[Resolute Conservative]

That way they have 100% control over your wealth. No more “mattress stashes”. They can lock you out and take it all with the flip of a switch.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

2008 would have been the time to abolish Citi.

[SpaceBar]

Yes.
Let’s all get a government number for all transactions.
That’s the ticket!
The people at citi are smoking crack.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

I don’t think rich liberals would go for that because illegals don’t accept credit cards which is probably why they are for Scamnesty.

[Buckeye McFrog]

No way to get his mitts on compounding double-digit interest if you are using cash.

[EBH]

If the government refuses to ‘coin money,’ silver coins will become the new underground currency.

Buy silver coins ...now!

[catnipman]

I’ve been waiting for this for decades. Governments will love this.

Just remember thatwhen cash is outlawed, only outlaws will have cash.

In my fantasies, I’ve always pictured the outlaw cash as being small-denomination gold coins minted in the Caribbean, and they would have the images of famous Mafia figures on the obverses.

[SandRat]

Time is pat to do away with all Ivy leaf college, Pampas A***

[MeganC]

I agree with him. Abolish cash and go back to silver and gold!

[Opinionated Blowhard]

[sten]

a centralized digital currency is 100% tracked and controlled by those in power

i’m a big fan of bitcoins... but this would be radically bad

[ctdonath2]

I'm reading the Jack Reacher book Killing Floor right now, and just got past an interesting monolog about how banks don't want to be in the cash business because it costs a lot to provide cash-handling services yet there is actually very little of it moving around. I've figured there's about $4T in US cash, with most of it "warehoused" one way or another (to wit: not moving anytime soon from vaults or mattresses); with so little in actual use now (I was startled the first time I realized I hadn't used _any_ cash, empty wallet, for 3 months) of course there will be pressure to just get rid of it entirely. And eliminating cash has the [un?]intended consequence of making ALL money holding reportable to the government, as all "electronic currency" is nothing more than a chain of debt holdings which must be traceable all the way back to the Federal Reserve.

[G Larry]

The ultimate setup for tyrannical control.

[G Larry]

Uh...please pass the tin-foil.

I’m suddenly seeing the setup for the “mark of the beast”.

[SES1066]

Left unsaid is how this would put the economy in a straight-jacket controlled by the card issuers and the government(s). This brings to the fore the issue of feedback and unintended consequences.

Imagine a failure of confidence in the financial system when there is no alternative? History demonstrates over and over again that without alternatives the results are disastrous to society and the ruling institutions.

Flexibility is a safety valve for society and in this case currency is that flexibility. This ‘Economist’ has been drinking too much koolaid!

[trisham]

This would be a terrible thing.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Make hard currency illegal too, while you’re at it. / S

[trebb]

Heck - I’ve believed that with all the QEs and the way the market will rise 200 points because it rained in Seattle and then drop 250 points because it didn’t rain in Bahrain, that the real intent of the drawn out recession and a lot of the international crap Obama has been promoting, the whole intent is to make cash irrelevant. They are dragging down the richest nations so everything seems ‘even” when they pull the plug on cash and start to dispense “credits” that we have zero control over. The next step will be to abolish the “credits” and they will just “provide what we need to live”.

[discostu]

When it’s time to get rid of cash we’ll know because nobody will be using it anymore.