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RAHN: Why do we still use paper money?
Washington Times ^ | 04/08/2014 | By Richard Rahn

Posted on 04/08/2014 6:52:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Paper currency is dirty and is a major transmitter of disease as it goes from unwashed hand to unwashed hand. It is easily lost and stolen, and can be easily destroyed by getting wet or burned.

It physically wears out in a short time and is costly and troublesome to replace. So why do we still use the filthy stuff in the electronic age?

When given a choice, people find credit cards, debit cards and bank account electronic payments more convenient than cash. In many parts of the world, payments can be made from cellphone to cellphone, with the phone companies serving many of the functions of traditional banks. Money can be stored and transmitted from and to almost any form of computer.

Also various forms of electronic money can be made more secure than paper currency. Electronic monies and payment systems do not spread disease.

Governments like electronic money payment systems that they can monitor, such as credit cards, but they don’t like nongovernment created electronic monies and payment systems that they find difficult to monitor like bitcoin. So, predictably, last week the IRS ruled that bitcoin is not money, thus the users must report the capital gain and loss against the U.S. dollar for each transaction made with bitcoins. Even with advanced software, an individual who might use bitcoins for the purchase of many goods and services will find trying to comply with the IRS an accounting nightmare.

Some 15 years ago, I wrote a book forecasting the demise of paper currency. I expected paper currency to gradually disappear like paper checks have. However, I was wrong. Rather than disappearing, the demand for paper currency is rising faster than inflation or population,

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: currency; money; papermoney
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1 posted on 04/08/2014 6:52:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
Governments like electronic money payment systems that they can monitor

Bingo. That's the real reason.
2 posted on 04/08/2014 6:53:19 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia (Democrats: The perfect party for the helpless and stupid, and those who would rule over them.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Yes, we should all take an implantable mark on our skin in order to buy or sell.

Where have I heard this once before?


3 posted on 04/08/2014 6:55:31 AM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Paper currency is dirty and is a major transmitter of disease as it goes from unwashed hand to unwashed hand. It is easily lost and stolen, and can be easily destroyed by getting wet or burned. It physically wears out in a short time and is costly and troublesome to replace. So why do we still use the filthy stuff in the electronic age?

It's called "diversification". It's far easier for thieves to to electronically steal all of our money kept in one mason jar ("bitcoin") than it is to for them to dig up a million mason jars in our individual backyards.

4 posted on 04/08/2014 6:56:28 AM PDT by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: SeekAndFind
what is this “we” . how about letting individuals and the free market (capitalism) decide what kind of money , products , services are produced.

If you made $100,000 per year after taxes then you could buy anything you could ever need in the free market because someone would produce it for money( look at the millions of products for sale on Google , internet , ebay , amazon,Walmart, Dollar Tree etc etc). So we don't need government for ANYTHING. private industry created a whole city DISNEY WORLD in Florida. So democrats create fake crisis like “global warming”,”no health insurance crisis” to justify the very existence of government and the continued growth of government(socialism)

5 posted on 04/08/2014 6:56:46 AM PDT by Democrat_media (Obama ordered IRS to rig 2012 election and must resign)
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To: SeekAndFind
Rev 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
6 posted on 04/08/2014 6:56:48 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: SeekAndFind

A trial balloon to see what the Fed Reserve and Uncle Sam can get away with in the near future.


7 posted on 04/08/2014 6:57:11 AM PDT by peyton randolph (Show me the man and I will find the crime. - Lavrenti Beria)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

The mark of the beast is next. Who would ever have thought that our own government and media would be conduits of evil???


8 posted on 04/08/2014 6:57:18 AM PDT by Halgr (Once a Marine, always a Marine - Semper Fi)
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To: SeekAndFind

When they rob you of paper money, they get what is in your wallet.

When they rob you of electronic money, they get all that you have in your accounts.


9 posted on 04/08/2014 6:57:47 AM PDT by CrappieLuck
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To: SeekAndFind; rightwingintelligentsia

I use mostly my amex card....get back 1%-3%. I use it everywhere it is accepted except most gas stations which around here charges $.12 a gallon more for credit.

clean and neat. I prefer it. But I too am concerned about the Govt. tracking


10 posted on 04/08/2014 6:57:51 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Electronic funds are more easily stolen. Electronic funds are easily tracked and a state like New York can more easily tax them. Gold and silver were the means of currency for thousands of years. The world bankers could not manipulate them easily and invented “money” to make their larceny easier.


11 posted on 04/08/2014 6:57:58 AM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: SeekAndFind

It concerns me, that , in this day and age of electronic snooping, that we all have such a long trail of money transactions. This is a big downside of electronic money, in my opinion, that someone who wants to trace your transactions can do so.


12 posted on 04/08/2014 6:58:02 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego (as)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

this is so the IRS can crack down on any one they choose to


13 posted on 04/08/2014 6:59:37 AM PDT by Democrat_media (Obama ordered IRS to rig 2012 election and must resign)
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To: SeekAndFind

Hmmm... Bitcoins were stolen out of Mt Gox. Credit card numbers are stolen every day. Stealing someone’s electronic wealth is easy enough, or 419 scammers wouldn’t exist.

Seems like thieves will steal wealth no matter what the format.


14 posted on 04/08/2014 6:59:47 AM PDT by bolobaby
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To: SeekAndFind

KEEP PAPER MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!


15 posted on 04/08/2014 7:00:15 AM PDT by dalereed
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To: SeekAndFind
Eliminate paper money and you put drug dealers and strip clubs out of business. There would be no beggars on intersections. The underground economy collapses.

I only use cash to pay my car mechanic (he gives a cash discount) and to leave tips at restaurants. Tips in cash are never reported as income, and I like to keep as much money as possible out of the hand of the government leviathan.

16 posted on 04/08/2014 7:00:47 AM PDT by FatherofFive (Islam is evil and must be eradicated)
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To: SeekAndFind

“Paper currency is dirty and is a major transmitter of disease as it goes from unwashed hand to unwashed hand.”

And a waiter or clerk NEEEEVER touches my debit card, right?

“It is easily lost” - Never really had that problem. And quite frankly the vast majority of people only carry around small amounts of paper money.

“and stolen” - Yep, much easier to steal than Bitcoin :)

“and can be easily destroyed by getting wet or burned.” - Wet money dries out...I’ve never accidentally burned any money while doing a fire dance.

“It physically wears out in a short time and is costly and troublesome to replace.” - Mankind seems to have been able to deal with this for centuries.

“So why do we still use the filthy stuff in the electronic age?” - Its not an all or nothing proposition. I can carry both a 20 dollar bill and a debit card in the exact same wallet. They both fit....although that filthy 20 is going to get all over my debit card.


17 posted on 04/08/2014 7:01:04 AM PDT by lacrew (Mr. Soetoro, we regret to inform you that your race card is over the credit limit.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Dick sounds disappointed.


18 posted on 04/08/2014 7:01:17 AM PDT by grobdriver (Where is Wilson Blair when you need him?)
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To: SeekAndFind

A robber can only take whatever cash is on your person. An electronic thief can take your entire bank account!


19 posted on 04/08/2014 7:02:09 AM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: SeekAndFind

I agree.

We need to get rid of cash and make it only electronic transfer so the NSA/govt can have a record of every penny we spend and what we spend it on.

I just love having the govt know and keeping a record of everything I’m doing so I can be easily controlled.


20 posted on 04/08/2014 7:02:35 AM PDT by IMR 4350
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