"I'm sorry Dave, but I can't let you purchase that."
-PJ
Posted on 05/12/2025 4:34:35 AM PDT by MtnClimber
On the to-do list of the progressives setting out the steps needed to perfect the world, right at the top we find “Get Rid of Cash.” That makes total sense. Use of cash for financial transactions is the source and enabler of human sin and failing almost without limit. Our free exchange (aka “capitalist”) system gives rise to endless varieties of undesirable activities, ranging from the criminal to the sketchy to the non-virtuous to the icky. If only we had a world without cash, all transactions could be forced onto electronic payment systems where they could be continuously monitored by the forces of good. The undesirable ones could be identified and stopped. What’s even the argument against this?
I had a couple of posts back in 2016 and 2017, here and here, covering the advocacy of one particular know-it-all, Kenneth Rogoff, who was calling for the forced elimination of cash. Rogoff was far from a nobody in this debate, having been, among other things, Chief Economist of the IMF and a big-time economics professor at Harvard. Since 2017 I have not much covered this issue, but the advocacy has moved on well beyond even Rogoff’s dreams. During the Biden years the big idea became the “Central Bank Digital Currency” — replacement of our humble greenbacks with “digital” (electronic) currency issued directly by the Federal Reserve. Of course, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen became a big promoter.
Over the near decade since I wrote those two posts about this subject, the use of cash has declined significantly, with the strong encouragement, although mostly not the mandate, of governments. The decline has been more pronounced in some countries than in others. In the U.S., data from the Federal Reserve indicate that the percent of transactions involving cash declined from about 35% in 2015 to only 16% in 2024. Two of the countries where use of cash has declined the most are Sweden and South Korea. According to the latest figures I can find (Sweden and South Korea, both 2023), the percentage of transactions involving cash is around 10% in both those countries.
Which makes it interesting that suddenly Sweden, of all countries, has caught on that elimination of cash might not be such a great idea. Here are two articles from March, one from The Banker (behind paywall) and another from The Guardian. Excerpt from The Banker:
Sweden is backpedalling on its decades-long push to go cashless. The [reasons are the] threat of war, coupled with concerns about “signals” from the US under President Donald Trump. . . .
From The Guardian:
[I]n the context of today, with war in Europe, unpredictability in the US and the fear of Russian hybrid attacks almost a part of daily life in Sweden, life without cash is not proving the utopia that perhaps it once promised to be. Such is the perceived severity of the situation that the authorities are trying to encourage citizens to keep and use cash in the name of civil defence. In November, the defence ministry sent every home a brochure entitled If Crisis or War Comes, advising people to use cash regularly and keep a minimum of a week’s supply in various denominations to “strengthen preparedness”.
The two articles put the reason for the shift as “war” or “civil defence.” That’s a very good reason, but it could be stated even more broadly: a fully electrified payments system is subject to what is called a “single point of failure.” When the electricity goes out, the means to make payments completely fails, and remains out of action until the electricity comes back on. That could be in an hour, or a month. Meanwhile, what? In a system without cash, there is no back-up.
What could knock the electricity out? War — hypothesized by Sweden as an attack by Russia — is one possibility. Hacking is another. Grid instability is a third, exemplified by the recent outage in Spain and Portugal. Those countries got their grids back up within about a day; but increasing penetration of wind and solar generation on grids in major countries significantly raises the likely frequency of such outages, and the challenges of recovering from them.
And then there’s the issue of surveillance. The whole electronic payments system is subject to continuous monitoring by the authorities, all done in the background without any notice to you that you are being watched. I am regularly amazed at the willingness of almost everybody to submit to this surveillance (which you can avoid every time you use cash). After all, the authorities would never misuse this information, would they?
If you think that the authorities would never misuse information gained from transaction monitoring for political purposes, you need to look at the “debanking” scandals of the Biden years. Here is a December 2024 piece from the Telegraph providing some details, and listing some prominent victims. Donald, Melania and Barron Trump — no surprises there. How about Nigel Farage, the likely next Prime Minister of the UK? And how about large number of prominent figures in the world of cryptocurrencies? Hey, the Bidenauts deemed the whole crypto thing to be sketchy. And besides, a lot of those crypto guys might be Republicans. Aren’t those reasons enough to banish the industry from the banking system? From the Telegraph:
The alleged debanking of crypto entrepreneurs comes amid a years-long crackdown on digital currency business and their billionaire founders. Under the Biden administration, US regulators have unleashed a series of civil and criminal lawsuits against cryptocurrency exchanges. Those prosecuting such cases claim they are simply enforcing regulation or crackdown on wrongdoing. Yet critics claim it is part of a broader effort to target political opponents. [Mark] Andreessen claimed that it is not only businesses that have been impacted, but “just generally political opponents”.
The general surveillance by the authorities of all of your banking and credit/debit card transactions takes place under the USA PATRIOT Act, passed in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. On May 7, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna of Florida introduced a bill called the “Privacy Restoration Act” to end that. From Representative Luna’s statement on introduction of her bill:
“For over two decades, rogue actors within our U.S. intelligence agencies have used the Patriot Act to create the most sophisticated, unaccountable surveillance apparatus in the Western world,” said Congresswoman Luna. “My legislation will strip the deep state of these tools and protect every American’s fourth amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures. It’s past time to rein in our intelligence agencies and restore the right to privacy. Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is using ‘security’ as an excuse to erode your freedom.”
Representative Luna’s bill is at least a small sign of push-back against the pervasive surveillance state. I am not expecting the bill to pass any time soon, but it is encouraging to see at least some small signs of resistance. Meanwhile, you too can push back by using cash whenever possible.
“I am regularly amazed at the willingness of almost everybody to submit to this surveillance (which you can avoid every time you use cash).”
Cash certainly helps, but there are now other ways to track people:
1. Look up “Flock Safety Cameras”. Where I live, if you leave your driveway to get a quart of milk, your car is electronically entered into the database. That’s how they caught the second Trump assassin - they do work. So don’t drive - walk.
2. Look at your smart phone...leave it at home.
3. Look up at Walmart (or Nordstrom’s, for you NeverTrumpers) - cameras everywhere, some, I suspect, with facial recognition. Also note that the time stamp on any receipt can be checked against even the basic cameras.
There is no end.
Bottom line, we have to stop this at the BALLOT BOX and wherever else possible - and NO, the problem is Democrats, far more than RINOs.
I’ll never forget the case where the police shut down a kid’s lemonade stand because it didn’t have a license and was’t collecting sales taxes.
That is the biggest draw of digital currency for government.
They get to tax every transaction.
Every transaction is recorded and taxed.
They think that the server farms for Amazon are huge, wait until the entire economy operates on digital currency.
Counting cash is far far too much work.
>>Digital currency is pure, unadulterated evil.
In addition to all your points, digital currency can turn into “programmable” currency quickly. Your money is still “good”, but you can’t buy any more meat this month since you have exceeded your ration. You can still spend it on anything you want except that it can’t be used to buy ammunition anymore..
It makes targeted micro-tyranny simple.
So criminals on both ends of the spectrum.
Technology is the Beast. And AI will tie all this “everywhere” control together.
The shiny new thing will be our leash.
"I'm sorry Dave, but I can't let you purchase that."
-PJ
Barter will make a big comeback. Swapping things, people doing favors for other people, no cash or digital currency involved.
Aren’t we most of the way there with digital banking anyway?
How many of you get your “paycheck” direct deposited into your bank account?
How many of you spend a lot of actual cash, currency and coins? How many of you do most of your spending with credit cards,debit cards and writing checks? All of these are booked electronically in your bank account nowadays.
When’s the last time any of you have been inside your bank? And did you go there to withdraw cash to go spend?
Of course it will. Similar to Venmo or Zelle or CashApp or GooglePay or ApplePay.... There are few flea market vendors that currently don't accept multiple non-cash options. This proposal would eliminate all of these. The problem with a state managed digital currency is privacy.
I suppose a cashless system could solve many problems, but I wonder if it wouldn’t create about as many. I should imagine that once the engineers of such a plan had it put into place, they likely would not be willing to return to the cash system.
Trump is definitely for getting rid of cash and using bitcoin. That’s going to make him the first trillionaire.
Well, they do this now with inflation. A digital currency just lets them do it faster whenever they decide they need to.
The people want a stable storehouse of value, and governments refuse because they cannot control people who have one.
MOB sarcasm
Sin is in the heart of every human, from conception onward, not in cash or any other inanimate medium of exchange
The wages of sin is death, and the threat of death is in the hands of whoever controls one's nehavior.
That is why in ancient Egypt, all the gold was in the hands of the royalty, and all the straw (and beer) was in the hands of the serfs.
Now, who was it that did all the crying?
The cashless ones, that's who.
(This is a perpetual truism, not to be ignored.)
It is the LOVE to control the medium of exchange that is the root of all injustice, not the money itself.
Internet porn is paid for in cash?
Govt graft is paid on cash?
USAID is all cash?
Freedom is paid with cash, which is why we have it.
God uses resources or the medium of exchange for them in His economics as a way of getting things done temporally, but but not a tool to subjugate His children one to another, one would suppose.
I don’t want to eliminate cash; I only want to eliminate pennies.
Stationed in England in the 1970s, we didn’t use pennies; transactions were rounded up or down. We never, ever missed pennies. And that was 50 years ago!
Fidelity: Sorry, you are unable to log into your account today as the market skyrockets.(actually happening today)
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