Some Push-back Against The Plan To Eliminate Cash

Manhattan Contrarian ^ | 10 May, 2025 | Francis Menton

[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.

[ridesthemiles]

AGREED

[ridesthemiles]

BREAD & MILK DO NOT NEED BITCOIN

[ridesthemiles]

AGREED

[rlmorel]

LOL...I use that quote about statistics often...it reminds me of the famous Abraham Lincoln quote about the Internet...:)

[napscoordinator]

Tell that to the president. He’s pushing this.

[JimRed]

“You already are using digital currency anyway. 70% of people make 95% of their money transactions using cashless methods. This just makes it even easier, everywhere! (I just made that statistic up out of thin air-they will too, and far, far more extravagantly)”

We have used autopay on almost everything since it was available. Never a late mortgage or utility payment and all revolving credit accounts up-to-date, so a terrific credit score. We have retired all but a couple of our credit cards over the years, and prefer to pay upfront rather than charge it and pay later.

But one EMP event could stop that cold, and deny access to cash funds in our accounts. As could regulations by another Democrat administration.

You are right, digital is evil.

[oldtech]

I don’t like any plan to eliminate cash. If I am careful enough to save my meager funds to be able to pay for something & someone else making the same amount is always broke, who do you think they will want to examine? Each person has their own priorities for what they want to accomplish & we sure don’t need some government entity trying to micromanage us.

[oldtech]

VERY valid statement!

[SaveFerris]

(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.)

Yep. All along the road 🛣️🛣️

All according to plan.

You must use your Global One-World Digital Currency to shop at only "officially-approved" stores using your hand or cellphone 📱📱📱 to authorize payment.

That is all, Comrade Global Citizen.






Satan is certainly preparing the world 🌎🌍 for the debut of his Antichrist - the spirit of antichrist is empowering the godless reprobates 🐐🐐🐐

The sheep 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑 and the goats 🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐 are being divided like never before.





(lurkers please click on my screen name to see my FR homepage for more information)

[SaveFerris]

(Digital currency is pure, unadulterated evil. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.)

Yes, far too much tracking and control possible

Democrat Joe Biden slipped in CBDC in Execution Order 14067, March of 2022 IIRC

[SaveFerris]

(I think that a Central Bank Digital Currency could easily lead to a Social Credit System similar to the one used to control the population in China.)

Exactly

—————6-6-6-———

Just wait until TPTB control all commerce via Digital Currency / Facial Recognition

Sounds farfetched but it has ALREADY begun in China

(farfetched: unlikely and unconvincing; implausible.)

---

(It works great in Communist China.)

China...No Digital ID...Can’t BUY food!

October 19, 2023

https://youtu.be/f6diM6X2A8E

[SaveFerris]

Biden’s Executive Order Nightmare: Government Will Track Every Dime You Spend

Gatestone Institute. ^ | March 1, 2023 | Lawrence Kadish

Posted on 3/12/2023, 11:34:39 PM by george76

Under this new digital currency, any transfer of funds to family, friends, charities, or clients would be able to be tracked by the nation’s central bank that issued this virtual money. Big Brother will be in your wallet every hour or every day. You will not be able to buy a stick of gum without a Federal Reserve computer knowing where, when, and to whom you just put down a buck.

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4137726/posts

≠==========================

[Executive Order 14067]

(in 2022), this commercial kept popping up on my YouTube - I finally watched it - it is all about EO14067.

I hope people can take time to watch what I recommended below:

The Digital Dollar will save us! Yeah, That’s the ticket!

(worth it to watch just the first 17 minutes - there will be no way to “prosper”, though)

The Jim Rickards Commercial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCfzQNhi_ns

[SaveFerris]

(Vaccine Passports are one thing, and those are evil. We have seen how a totalitarian government could use them)

ABSOLUTELY AGREE 👍👍👍

safe AND effective (they said)

COVID-19(84) - GLOBAL 🌍🌎🌏 EVIL

A WORLDWIDE 🌎🌏🌍 DECEPTION, too

DRY RUN? Lotsa parallels

Seems like many governments follow Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum

[444Flyer]

BTTT