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The War On Cash Is Advancing On All Fronts: "First They Came For The Pennies..."

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Don Quijones via WolfStreet.com,

The War on Cash is advancing on all fronts. One region that has hogged the headlines with its war against physical currency is Scandinavia. Sweden became the first country to enlist its own citizens as largely willing guinea pigs in a dystopian economic experiment: negative interest rates in a cashless society. As Credit Suisse reports, no matter where you go or what you want to purchase, you will find a small ubiquitous sign saying “Vi hanterar ej kontanter” (“We don’t accept cash”):

Whether it’s for mulled wine at the Christmas market, a beer at the bar, even the smallest charge is settled digitally. Even the homeless vendors of the street newspapers Faktum and Situation Stockholm carry mobile card readers.

A similar situation is unfolding in Denmark, where nearly 40% of the paying demographic use MobilePay, a Danske Bank app that allows all payments to be completed via smartphone. With more and more retailers rejecting physical money, a cashless society is “no longer an illusion but a vision that can be fulfilled within a reasonable time frame,” says Michael Busk-Jepsen, executive director of the Danish Bankers Association.

World’s Biggest Cashless Laboratory

While Sweden and Denmark may be the two nations that are closest to banning cash outright, the most important testing ground for cashless economics is half a world away, in sub-Saharan Africa.

In many African countries, going cashless is not merely a matter of basic convenience (as it is in Scandinavia); it is a matter of basic survival. Less than 30% of the population have bank accounts, and even fewer have credit cards. But almost everyone has a mobile phone. Now, thanks to the massive surge in uptake of mobile communications as well as the huge numbers of unbanked citizens, Africa has become the perfect place for the world’s biggest social experiment with cashless living.

Western NGOs and GOs (Government Organizations) are working hand-in-hand with banks, telecom companies and local authorities to replace cash with mobile money alternatives. The organizations involved include Citi Group, Mastercard, VISA, Vodafone, USAID, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In Kenya the funds transferred by the biggest mobile money operator, M-Pesa (a division of Vodafone), account for more than 25% of the country’s GDP. In Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria, the government launched a Mastercard-branded biometric national ID card, which also doubles up as a payment card. The “service” provides Mastercard with direct access to over 170 million potential customers, not to mention all their personal and biometric data.

The company also recently won a government contract to design the Huduma Card, which will be used for paying State services. For Mastercard these partnerships with government are essential for achieving its lofty vision of creating a “world beyond cash.”

A New Frontier

In India an even more ambitious project is under way: the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which aims to create a centralized voter enrolment system for 1.2 billion people. It will be the largest identity platform and biometric database in the world. There’s only one snag: according to its creators, the only way to make the system work effectively will be through the widespread adoption of electronic payment systems, side by side, as always, with biometric recognition systems.

Given that cash is still king on the subcontinent, the government may have its work cut out. Finance minister Arun Jaitley has repeatedly underscored the need to transform India into a cashless economy, supposedly to “rein in the problem of black money.” However, with its huge informal economy, India remains the largest producer and consumer of currency notes after China (as well as the biggest consumer of gold).

Here’s more from India’s Financial Express:

Currently less than 5% of all payments are done electronically. Results from the ICE 360 Cash Survey 2014 show that cash is the preferred mode of payment even in Delhi, the most affluent and developed metropolis. Nearly 73% of all purchases by Delhi consumers are paid for in cash and only 17% by card.

Naturally the Indian government will do all it can to change this situation. In an article in the Daily Mail Nandan Nilekani, one of the technocrats behind UIDAI, urges the government to lead the way. “The government must be the initial driver, using the heft and reach of its social security schemes to drive the adoption of an electronic payments model,” Nilekani asserts. “As momentum grows, private players can step in.”

Those private players will no doubt include banks. After all, in a world where every transaction – or at least every “official” transaction – must be electronic, the power of banks over individuals is likely to dramatically increase, as Brett Scott warns in an article for The Guardian:

With this comes the specter of bank surveillance, where every transaction you ever partake in is authorized and recorded by a privately run commercial bank, giving it a transaction-by-transaction history of your entire commercial life. If such a bank does not like an enterprise – such as Wikileaks – it can just freeze it out.

The New Cost of Doing Business

An oft-overlooked benefit of cash transactions is that there is no intermediary. One party pays the other party in mutually accepted currency and not a single middleman gets to wet his beak.

In a cashless society there will be nothing stopping banks or other financial mediators from taking a small piece of every single transaction. They would also be able to use – and potentially abuse – the massive deposits of data they collect on their customers’ payment behavior. This information is of huge interest and value to retail marketing departments, other financial institutions, insurance companies, governments, secret services, and a host of other organizations.

Another very important perk of cash is that it significantly limits central banks’ ability to continue conducting arguably the greatest financial heist of the modern age, i.e., negative interest rate policy (NIRP). The only way that central banks can maintain negative interest rates ad infinitum is by abolishing cash altogether, as the Bank of England chief economist Andrew Hadlaine all but admitted. As long as cash exists, there’s no way of preventing depositors from doing the logical thing – i.e. taking their money out of the bank and parking it where the erosive effects of NIRP can’t reach it.

So in order to save a financial system that is morally beyond the pale and stopped serving the basic needs of the real economy a long time ago, governments and central banks must do away with the last remaining thing that gives people a small semblance of privacy, anonymity, and personal freedom in their increasingly controlled and surveyed lives.

The biggest tragedy of all is that the governments and banks’ strongest ally in their War on Cash is the general public itself. As long as people continue to abandon the use of cash, for the sake of a few minor gains in convenience, the war on cash is already won.

A war conducted by bankers, politicians, academics, even startup guys.

 

 

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Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:02 | 6764061 JustObserving
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Once the government is able to delete your cash in a nanosecond, your opinion will follow.

Elimination of cash will lead to eternal tyranny

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:05 | 6764068 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Its been going that way for years.This just puts a bow on it.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:17 | 6764095 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

There will be a black market solution to this should it get pushed through.  It doesn't matter if the majority agree with it or not, a cashless society will have wants and needs that are not allowed, and those wants and needs will be met, men with guns enforcing the laws or not. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:20 | 6764104 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

the question is more... will there be an app for that black market solution? jokes aside, I agree, there will always be prohibitions which generate... pressure

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:21 | 6764106 Captain Debtcrash
Captain Debtcrash's picture

The understanding that cash allows for a level of freedom, from both the government and more importantly the banking system died with those who were adults during the great depression. The lesson will be relearned in the near future; unfortunately it appears we are unable to learn lessons from the experiences of other nations and past generations. One word…hubris.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:26 | 6764117 tmosley
tmosley's picture

These idiots pushing a cashless society are whistling past the graveyard. One software update and suddenly everyone is using crypto-currencies that the government can neither track nor tax.

Fact is, we don't need government any more. As they clamp down on us harder and harder, we will slip through their fingers antil one day the people who enforce the will of the government just walk away, leaving screeching politicians begging for attention. They will be given nothing but derision, IF they don't get the Mussolini treatment.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:41 | 6764153 Skateboarder
Skateboarder's picture

Folkses around the world don't need gubbamin, but they need the bigCorp they so heavily rely on. bigCorp (as per public opinion and 'need') will continue to perpetuate itself faster than bigGubbamin, the former facilitated and validated into "law" by the latter. One cannot exist without the other, unless we live in the Tekken world. (watch the first 15 minutes)

Don't underestimate the people's reliance on bigCorp and its products. It is our downfall.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:03 | 6764255 Charming Anarchist
Charming Anarchist's picture

Yup.  Overnight, any bigCorporation can offer "credits" or "cellphone minutes" or "gift certificates" to compete with any currency. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:09 | 6764275 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

Government war on cash? Unless you acknowledge the banks as The Government, then this is aice piece of deflection. It is a bankster war on cash.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:23 | 6764318 Borrow Owl
Borrow Owl's picture

At this point in time banks *are* the government - at least a large part of it.

 

 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:32 | 6764326 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

This move to eliminate cash is a continuation of the racket that started with the Fed.  We are awash in rackets be they government, military, surveilance, law enforcement, medical, what have you.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:55 | 6764393 two hoots
two hoots's picture

 

First cash then credit cards, transactions by a mobile device is the near future.  That way the networks and banks get a slice of every sale. 

 

Next will be the debts first before purchase.  If you have a discretionary debt you will be restricted from purchasing other discretionary items, like food.  Choice:  movie, sunglasses, tatoo or food?

 

Later, your thoughts will be considered a transaction.   Even if you just think of buying something it will be too late. 

   

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:04 | 6764432 Never One Roach
Never One Roach's picture

Watch the folks checking out at the supermarket or macys or kohls, etc....90% of them are using cash, esp the mesicans, indians and pakis.

 

Much of their work (lawnmowing, convenience stores, hotels, etc) is cashola businesses so they want to stay under the radar when they buy since it's likely they do not report a substantial portion of their revenue.

 

Others simply cannot get a credit card as astounding as that may be in these EZ-Credit, zero down, never-pay-back loan days.

 

I can tell ya right now this will not work for USA considering the % of our GDP is consumption, no matter how much Obamacare sucks up our money.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:15 | 6764471 coinhead
coinhead's picture

Why should anyone on ZH care?  I mean unless you guys like GOVERNMENT money right?  Digital or physical... let them hyperinflate and let people learn the hard way.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:20 | 6764487 MeetTozter
MeetTozter's picture

A cashless society also solves the problem that our Kommon Kore Kids generation cannot make change in cash transactions.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:07 | 6764581 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

Can't wait to have 'em count back my cash.

Kommon Kore Cashier:  "$31.17.  Let's see, 17 is not really a 'friendly' number, so let's assume it's 20.  Now, let's add .03 to that and...'

Older Customer:  "If you don't give me my change right now I'm gonna punch you in the f#cking nose."

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:19 | 6764643 MalteseFalcon
MalteseFalcon's picture

"In a cashless society there will be nothing stopping banks or other financial mediators from taking a small piece of every single transaction. "

This "small piece" is just more rent; more dead weight on the economy.

The argument seems to be socialism vs.capitalism vs. fascism.  This is feudalism.  It is the negation of 500 years of history.

Serfs up!

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 16:11 | 6764784 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

That's not skimming, that's GDP!

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 16:59 | 6764887 Anonymous User
Anonymous User's picture

We're gonna be screwed !!!  Yep, right there in the pooper:

http://www.thepornster.net/video/67/

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 01:35 | 6766349 Lore
Lore's picture

Porn does not add value to the discussion. Come back when you're older.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 16:09 | 6764781 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

Is that common core?  Then I think a lot more of it than I'd been trained to here.  That's how an abacus works.  Thats how fingermath works.  Thats how you do complex maths in your head.  You work with 20, not 17, then adjust at the end.  Pretty simple.  It's why I can usually do shit faster in my head than people do on their fucking cell phones.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 18:26 | 6765121 Four chan
Four chan's picture

oi vey.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:24 | 6764497 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

People on ZH should care because even we are forced to use government/Fed fiat.  You can talk about alternatives until you are blue in the face, but in the end, sometimes you are going to have to transact with somebody who won't accept bitcoin, or you are going to have to pay your property taxes in FRNs, etc...  Break the FRN, and our standard of living changes, and not for the better, no matter how much we hate the damned things. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:43 | 6764555 coinhead
coinhead's picture

People are forced to pay their taxes using fiat.  Nobody is forcing buyers, sellers to use fiat in private transactions. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:55 | 6764588 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

And they are forced to pay their debts in fiat. There is a lot of debt out there.

 

https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/TCMDO

 

(Note that they just discontinued that one.)

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:12 | 6764622 James_Cole
James_Cole's picture

People are forced to pay their taxes using fiat.  Nobody is forcing buyers, sellers to use fiat in private transactions.

I dont have a problem with the 'fiat' issue most zh'ers have, but you're kidding yourself if you think people aren't being forced to use it.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 16:14 | 6764788 Socratic Dog
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Anything other than fiat is flat out illegal.  It's the law of the land.  Written by tribe bankers.

Try to buy a house with gold.  Nope.  Convert to FRN's, pay your taxes, stay out of jail.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 17:48 | 6765022 AllBentOutOfShape
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I recently paid cash (exact change) to an elder woman at a Macy's last week, and she was genuinely surprised to see a few 'dimes' in her hand.  She said: "Oh wow, you never see dimes anymore.  It's been a while since I seen any".

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 19:01 | 6765223 gmrpeabody
gmrpeabody's picture

What's a dime?

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 08:31 | 6766724 messymerry
messymerry's picture

A pre 1965 dime will still buy you a cup of coffee...

;-D   

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 01:56 | 6766362 Lore
Lore's picture

On a related note, looking at your cashier quote, I too have noticed confusion about appropriate usage of Active and Passive Voice. That particular example ('seen' in lieu of 'saw') stands out as unusually widespread.  "I SEEN a strange light in the sky." The change seems to be a trend, like the recent fashion to begin every sentence with the word "So." Language evolves...

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 06:01 | 6766576 Adahy
Adahy's picture

DEvolves.  Their, there, and they're all seem to be spelled the same now.
Some of the notices and notes that are posted at my job look like they were written by a toddler.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 22:10 | 6765856 False_Profit
False_Profit's picture

...i have thought to myself, the mesicans are why cash will be difficult to eliminate in the ussa, not impossible, but difficult...

the ISN number in your cell phone is the actual "mark of the beast"...no transaction will be possible without the participation of your pocket Stasi agent facilitating it...

almost everyone in africa has a cell phone?!?!?!

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 23:50 | 6766134 Dragon HAwk
Dragon HAwk's picture

What's a Cell Phone?

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:25 | 6764321 Bokkenrijder
Bokkenrijder's picture

Good luck to all you gold lovers out there! Good luck spending it in a cashless economy, and if that's not possible, good luck smuggling it across a border in an ever-increasing Police State! 

Oh wait, what's that...? China will introduce a gold standard you say? Hahaha, keep on dreaming!

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:37 | 6764347 two hoots
two hoots's picture

Piggy Banks, long a tool to teach savings?  What do we tell the kids, they will never trust us again?   “Jimmy, we have to turn it in, sorry”

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:50 | 6764355 HamFistedIdiot
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I was thinking of opening a BitGold account, but I couldn't do it because they require a cellphone for validation. I don't use cellphones due to concerns RE emf radiation, govt tracking, etc. BitGold intends to use a gold backed digital payment system that relies entirely on wireless connectivity, perhaps tied in with Apple Pay or something. I wonder why Soros and other NWO players have a stake in the company. I think it's because they see a cashless society coming our way, and ventures like BitCoin, BitGold, Mastercard, AmEx, etc. will prosper. But I ask, prosper at the expense of what? Our freedom? Our humanity? I am a PM stacker, but I am feeling increasingly marginalized. I saw the $300Billion Facebook market cap. I sure missed the boat on that one. I still don't have a FB account. My choice to not utilize or benefit from this move toward digital everything appears to be setting me back financially. It's like I continue to want clear, un-sprayed skies, but the government doesn't want to give me that. How much of FB's valuation is funny money from the Fed to advance the emerging control grid? I don't want to profit from Satan's activities. But it hurts financially to abstain from participation. I am weary. How much longer can the llies and fraud continue? How long before more people see that what they are supporting is actually their own enslavement? 

BTW: Minor differences aside, China and Russia are on the same page as the US when it comes to establishing a global centralized cashless tyranny.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:15 | 6764470 Talleyrand
Talleyrand's picture

"Be right and sit tight."

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 16:55 | 6764879 WhackoWarner
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BITGOLD

 

I used my land line as my (mobile)  phone number.  They phoned and gave me a sign up code within a few minutes..  Did it twice, once for me and once for my partner.   Try it because it works.

 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:06 | 6764609 Transformer
Transformer's picture

well... it all depends on whether TPTB can pull it off.  Their plans are going more and more astray.  The whole RFID,cashless society depends on their only being ONE bank, and that aint going too well.  They've just about destroyed Murica, but they have to get the guns... and they have more and more fails every day.

Just cause they can do it in Denmark or Sweden don't mean much.  The two countries to watch are Switzerland and the USA.

 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:20 | 6764646 divingengineer
divingengineer's picture

Then my great grandson can spend it, so be it.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 19:59 | 6765428 FIAT CON
FIAT CON's picture

I am sure drug dealers on the street level will want to accept real tax free money ie.gold. Gold will become the cash on the street, and with all of that gold flowing in the black market there will have to be places that will exchange it for fiat. So this cash free system may be the start of a gold standard. I sure would love to see this outcome.

 I can see the headline " Bnkers and .gov policies fail and a new physical gold standard has risen"

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 08:05 | 6766687 gonetogalt
gonetogalt's picture

That has been my life's working hypothisis for about 50 years.

Guess I may live long enough to test the theory.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 19:29 | 6765328 Jeffersonian Liberal
Jeffersonian Liberal's picture

A CENTRAL BANK and the government are two sides of the same coin.

They collude for their own mutual empowerment. Their increased power directly corresponds to the loss of freedom and ultimately prosperity (even if there is a temporary economic spike as a result of counterfeiting) of the citizenry outside their system.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 16:16 | 6764798 Agstacker
Agstacker's picture

So much for 'this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private'

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 17:33 | 6764982 Grumbleduke
Grumbleduke's picture

Amazon gift certificates - from 10 to 1.000 ................

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 15:40 | 6768893 PTR
PTR's picture

Gubbamin and bigCorp are both strands of the same spider web.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:43 | 6764172 o r c k
o r c k's picture

How true. And just imagine how the survivors of a nuclear war will feel about those whose crimes caused it. No bunker is deep enough or well stocked enough to let them hide forever.

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 07:46 | 6766664 fockewulf190
fockewulf190's picture

They got rid of the gold standard, and now they are getting rid of the paper standard.  Everything will now be backed with zeros and ones.   Then, Mr. Murphy enters  the picture, detonates a massive X-Flare on the surface of the sun, and all those zeros and ones vanish into nothingness. 

I´ll stick with phyzz as a backup.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:49 | 6764205 mobius8curve
mobius8curve's picture

The world wide web(www.) will be the government and you will not be allowed to transact through that government with bitcoin or whatever the electronic currency is without the proper ID oops I mean IP:

Revelation 13:15-17  And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image to the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed.  (16)  And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead;  (17)  and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his name.

 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:33 | 6764337 Borrow Owl
Borrow Owl's picture

"The world wide web(www.) will be the government..."

 

Interesting idea...but one that can be easily bypassed via P2P.


 

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 06:10 | 6766585 Adahy
Adahy's picture

Who's utility lines and sattelites do those signals run through?
I know you've seen all the metal boxes with the little green lights being put up on utility poles all over, tied directly in to the lower cables...
You think they can't find out the what's and who's of a P2P communication nowadays?

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:40 | 6764546 tmosley
tmosley's picture

Kim Dotcom is creating a second internet that is intended to work the way the first one was supposed to.

Basically turns the cell network into the internet, encrypted from end to end, and interfaces with the regular internet via wifi.

http://thehackernews.com/2015/02/meganet-decentralized-internet.html

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 18:04 | 6765068 WernerHeisenberg
WernerHeisenberg's picture

I understand Kim Dotcom's intentions.  However I am rather sure that he will not be permitted to carry them out.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 19:26 | 6765317 g speed
g speed's picture

P2P cell phones ????

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:28 | 6764665 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

Yes, and just like "1984", "Brave New World" and "Star Trek", they are using ancient writings (Bible, etc.) as "How To" books, rather than as self-evident Warnings of things to come, if societies persist along a given trajectory.

"The only real 'prophecies' that come true, are the self-fulfilling kind.  All others are Astrology for Sheeple and their Masters." (c) 2015 -Kirk

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 03:01 | 6776140 Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog's picture

Don't forget the Protocols.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:49 | 6764387 Muppet
Muppet's picture

tmosley: "leaving politicans begging".   I hope so.   This is what's happened in Greece.   People enmasse ignoring their Government.    It was/is a revolution without firing a shot.   A truly great event downplayed by the media and not widely seen for its amazing potential.   Scary for Government.   Here, in the US, this would be tricky because our Government would use force early on to suppress any such movement.    Here, local police are nearly militarized.   They are totally prepped and even seemingly anxious to suppress any citizen action.  Still, this is one tactic not to overlooked.  Again... citizens enmasse simply ignoring their Government.

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 05:03 | 6766537 John_Coltrane
John_Coltrane's picture

A current example is supposedly mandated obamacare.  I and millions of others are simply ignoring it on all government forms.  And that includes the ineffective "penalties".  And they are too incompetent to verify coverage even for those who are actually covered.  Incompetence will save us from these fascists.  Imagine they passed a law outlawing guns.  Do you actually think anyone would turn in firearms?  Guns in private unregistered hands is their greatest fear, just as the founding fathers intended when formulating the 2d amendment.  There are more NRA members than all the police, military etc.  And they are a lot more competent having trained many of the aforementioned .gov forces. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:09 | 6764445 Lorca's Novena
Lorca's Novena's picture

404

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:34 | 6764532 tmosley
tmosley's picture

Take off everything past "money" (ie the last 6 characters) and it will work.

Or just click here: http://www.wired.com/2015/11/zerocoin-startup-revives-the-dream-of-truly...

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 17:58 | 6765049 Scooby Dooby Doo
Scooby Dooby Doo's picture

"404"

Around here we say it's "Bitcoined" instead of 404.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:36 | 6764537 tmosley
tmosley's picture

Eh, looks like shitcoin shilling. There is already anonymous crypto. Dash is one, there are probably others.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:31 | 6764661 Dick Buttkiss
Dick Buttkiss's picture

The point is that anonymous digital money is the future and that governments will being playing and utterly futile game of Whack-A-Mole as their sustenance disappears into the ether.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 18:04 | 6765069 Scooby Dooby Doo
Scooby Dooby Doo's picture

Maybe you don't understand Dick. "THE BIG GOVERNMENT" are the ones who own ButtCoin. They control the national governments who in turn control the state, who control the municipals.

There is only one fucking mole to whack!

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:04 | 6764604 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

First off, if you are thinking you can use a smartphone with your cryptocurrency then please just stop reading now because there simply is no hope at all for you.

Cryptocurrencies are a nonstarter.  Here is why.  Governments will outlaw encryption they cannot trivially break.  They have already gained access to routers and backbones so they can "see" all internet traffic.  Once you start using an encryption for your currency that they cannot break they will arrest you for that, as well as the illegal currency.  The idea that you can use their internet to outsmart them is a fools fallacy.

For example...  Suppose you use TOR to route your traffic.  Guess who funded the development of TOR.  Yeah, the same as the internet itself - a DOD project.  Good luck using government communications systems to communicate privately.

The big companies that get the big projects/funding have all been infiltrated by the CIA/DOD from the beginning.  Why do you think they get the big projects/funding?  They have built this system for total global control, not for you to transfer illicit currency.  Odds are that any software you use, and 99.999% of people use precompiled software, is already compromised by... whomever paid for it to be developed and that is usually a government entity, bank, or oligarch or some devil's brew combination.  For example, the software on your iPhone allows them to remotely turn your iPhone back on so they can listen and see you through it.  Do you really think they won't look at your wallet when you open it?  The same goes for infected harddrive firmware/BIOS code in computers.  THERE IS NO PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET.  They have simply built it OUT.

 

 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 17:24 | 6764956 Dick Buttkiss
Dick Buttkiss's picture

At their root, governments are reptile-brained thugs, and however many of society's "best and brightest" are lured into serving them, once the thugs' banking cartel collapses under the weight(lessness) of its monopoly money, its servants will be but rats abandoning a sinking ship.  Thus will government's presumed control over the galloping advance of technology vanish; thus will money return to the people; and thus will humanity be "free at last" to realize its all but unlimited potential.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 17:32 | 6764978 Borrow Owl
Borrow Owl's picture

"Governments will outlaw encryption they cannot trivially break."

Been there, done that.

Ever heard of Phil Zimmerman?

The vermin-that-be tried to stifle PGP and its author when he released it into the wild.

That didn't turn out so well for .gov.

Why?

Because myself and countless others began uploading the code to any BBS we could find as soon as we understood what .gov was trying to do.

Replace 'BBS' with 'Darknet', 'Meshnet', etc. and history will repeat itself soon enough.

 

 

 

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 05:15 | 6766541 John_Coltrane
John_Coltrane's picture

Concealing your real ID and IP on the internet is trivial.  Just don't use your home ISP connection and its assigned IP.  Use some public WI-FI connection combined with encryption to protect from private ease-droppers/data thiefs.  Now, the IP of your computer is assigned to an airport, hotel, public library etc.  It has no connection to your name or real address.  And if you want anonimity on a phone just buy a pre-paid phone using cash.  You can activate it anonomously and even use a phony area code.  And of course, never use real information online.  I think its estimated that a signficant fraction of all facebook accounts use fake names and other information.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 19:07 | 6765248 g speed
g speed's picture

at T mosley ---yep-- gov'ts are obsolete----

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 01:55 | 6766372 Yuubokumin
Yuubokumin's picture

surely, goverment hasn't worked for the benefit of the peoples, and therefore they do not need it. now, how about big business? they are in dire need of ever more goverment, and because of that it'll remain in place. after all, doesn't half the registered voters in the US fail to cast theirs each election?

the only way goverment goes away is that we destroy it

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:29 | 6764128 itchy166
itchy166's picture

"For every prohibition you createyou also create an underground." - Jello Biafra 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:05 | 6764262 Charming Anarchist
Charming Anarchist's picture

"To create an underground, you create a prohibition." -- Charming Asshole

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:17 | 6764420 two hoots
two hoots's picture

 

 


These type articles  and comments are food for policy makers (they may even commission them).  They find out what they are up against and build answers to every question they observe. 


Works same with political campaigns, like hiring protestors to protest your own speech knowing you have the perfect answer for their concerns or the opposite if they are trying to appeal to the majority of others.

  . 


 

 

  

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:02 | 6764598 NidStyles
NidStyles's picture

Further confirming what many long time ZHer's have always thought. Zerohedge is an intel op. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:35 | 6764680 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

Even if it wasn't, it would be.  Suupose they don't run the show here.  You can bet the farm they monitor and participate.  Certain posters of the EuroPEON persuasion come to mind.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 22:38 | 6765942 Bunghole
Bunghole's picture

Do they know I upvoted you?

I want to know where I score on their index.

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 00:22 | 6766213 uhland62
uhland62's picture

The black market solution is likely to be driven by the high cost of cyber security insurance. It is rising as we speak, must flow through to customers who will then abandon electronic money because of the costs. Black markets are very adaptable; they took different forms where they evolved in areas of collapse and crisis. 

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 08:15 | 6766698 gonetogalt
gonetogalt's picture

TPTB find it very affordable to simply self-insure since they also can create and uncreate digital money...

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:06 | 6764264 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

So if I understand correctly this system runs on a backbone of celllular communications is that correct?  Unless were going  back to Ma Bell this does not seem that robust..  Someone enlighten me...

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:13 | 6764461 Talleyrand
Talleyrand's picture

Those cellular networks? They're anti-fragile, right?

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 00:27 | 6766217 uhland62
uhland62's picture

They just ignore that. The institutions save money and you gotta s1ck up what evolves. As the government also has access to all digital devices including passwords you are trusting the government not to do self-service? Frightening prospect, and in the end result not any different from Stalinist and STASI practices.

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 05:22 | 6766547 John_Coltrane
John_Coltrane's picture

People who have cash on hand will be in better shape when the next coronal mass ejection from the sun shuts down the electrical and communications grid and renders all electronic transactions useless.  In fact, I'm sure many readers have already experienced a local shutdown of electronic transactions at a grocery store, etc. when only those customers with cash can check out.  You not only go the front of the line but actually get your groceries.  These electronic systems are very fragile-cash is the best anti-fragile backup.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 18:12 | 6765088 Casey Jones
Casey Jones's picture

There will be a black market solution to this should it get pushed through.

 

El Vaq, I've tried to imagine what this looks like. Is it a new paper "currency" suddenly appearing that you imagine? 

Will it be digital? Matchsticks? Cigarettes? Silver dimes. Straight barter is awkward as hell. It matters because whatever it is that actually works could be the think that undermines the extant.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 19:34 | 6765352 g speed
g speed's picture

Come on--its going to be plain old hundred dollar bills---its what everyone has under their matress---

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 02:24 | 6766423 SixIsNinE
SixIsNinE's picture

or $600,000,000 in hundred dollar bills buried in your yard like this fella in Colombia :

http://bmwmblog.com/columbian-farmer-finds-600000000-of-pablo-escobars-m...

 

600 Meelllion Dollars !

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 23:36 | 6766088 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

I've no idea what it will be.  But some ingenious and enterprising drug dealer will surely think of something. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:15 | 6764468 glenlloyd
glenlloyd's picture

I can see a new govt department devoted to scrutinizing what you buy and where, and why. The freedom we have now will be curtailed because of the fear that someone will know about what you purchased.

So much for the Dodd/Frank consumer advocate, not that they were going to do much anyway.

Think of all the things we use cash for now and imagine that gone and replaced by the payment cards...yuck.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:08 | 6764075 agent default
agent default's picture

Like the article says.  It is the public that enables this.   Thew public usually gets what they want and they get it god and hard. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:34 | 6764118 Welfare Tycoon
Welfare Tycoon's picture

"With more and more retailers rejecting physical money, a cashless society is no longer an illusion but a vision that can be fulfilled within a reasonable time frame,' says Michael Busk-Jepsen, executive director of the Danish Bankers Association."

Michael Busk-Jepsen, you have been added to the List. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 18:07 | 6765075 Scooby Dooby Doo
Scooby Dooby Doo's picture

I didn't even read a word of this "post". I'm just freeforming it based on the temperature of previous comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUdG0RYd6jk

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:24 | 6764112 ToSoft4Truth
ToSoft4Truth's picture

Bill Cosby is turning into an Un-Person.  LOL  

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 17:58 | 6765045 Borrow Owl
Borrow Owl's picture

Who?

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:51 | 6764214 chubbar
chubbar's picture

Well, In my opinion, there is no sense in getting out balls in an uproar because the economy is going to collapse WELL before TPTB can implement a cashless society. Perhaps those of us that make it to the otherside of that debacle will be faced with some sort of authoritarian effort to force this upon society. I'm going to worry about one thing at a time and for now it's the upcoming collapse.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:16 | 6764298 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

Your prediction of collapse presupposes that others are like you, your own little normalcy bias.  I know better, most Americans are stupid, grifting, morally reprehensible morons who will do what their told as long as circuses and bread are plentiful.  You can be sure our currency will continue to supply at least that for quite a while.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:01 | 6764422 DaveA
DaveA's picture

What are you saying, that a society of 70-IQ morons is *less* likely to collapse into barbarism because they're too stupid to see that they're getting screwed?

Civilization isn't something that exists naturally until smart people decide to overthrow it. It requires constant hard work by a competent and civic-minded ruling class to maintain.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:45 | 6764697 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

Dave, Very close to what I am saying yes.  This system relies on one thing to continue: confidence.  If the 70 IQ morons are dependant on the MSM and of course they are this confidence will be easy to keep their are just not enough of "us".

 

That continues this farce for a long time,, you might say "when the dollar does not buy much at all then the morons will rise up and realize the truth" no they wil be told to blame the evil corporations, easy to manipulate this could go on for years..

The ruing class is in large part heavily dependant on the system going forward they will shoot the golden goose or ride it into its sunset?

 

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 08:24 | 6766713 gonetogalt
gonetogalt's picture

Long term thinking is now dependent on the outcome in Syria and the ME in general. Things could go full retard very shortly and the resulting devestation could set all of this back for those of you in the US.

If the world dodges this bullet (temporarily) the financial beast could rein for a good while longer.

The final destruction of Rev 18 is years away, so we best be figuring out how to get from here to there.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:45 | 6764370 Griffin
Griffin's picture

The war on cash is not advancing on all fronts.

In Iceland the use of cash has increased considerably since 2008. 

http://hagtolur.sedlabanki.is/data/set/5258/bankakerfi-peningamagn#!ds=5258!8ub8=a.c&display=line

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:47 | 6764702 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

minuscule outlier

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 18:10 | 6765081 Scooby Dooby Doo
Scooby Dooby Doo's picture

Funny how a long term ZH'er would be anti-Iceland..... Will you call them Muslim Terrorists next?

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 18:51 | 6765184 Griffin
Griffin's picture

He is actually right, we are minuscule outliers.  http://www.outliersiceland.com/

Iceland is a rock that sticks out of the sea in the northern Atlantic on the edge of the civilized world.  In the old days, before it was named Iceland it was called Thule, or ultima Thule because of that.

It is scarcely populated with only 330k people

When the settlers came some 1000 years ago, most of them Norwegian vikings, expeditions to Ireland were launched to get some women to come to this volcano spewing, wind beaten rock.

Those who ran the fastest and fought the hardest ended up being shipped to Iceland where they ended up dominating the homesteads.  Iceland used to be a rough place, so only those who were spirited were likely to survive.

I guess this is one of the reasons why Iceland is somewhat unusual in many ways, like gender equality, how well we respond to crisis etc,

 

If i would have gone on a viking to Ireland 1000 years ago, i guess i would have been chasing after something like this :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZooiZiMm9w

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 19:04 | 6765196 Scooby Dooby Doo
Scooby Dooby Doo's picture

"Unfortunately, this video is not available in your country because it could contain music from UMG, for which we could not agree on conditions of use with GEMA." I'm German.

Anyway, so why post your initial comment. Why not just post "FUCK YOU ICELAND!". Sums it up nicely, no?

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 19:07 | 6765246 Griffin
Griffin's picture

Even though Iceland is remote and has a small population, it seems to do quite well in many ways, and i guess larger nations can see some wisdom in the successful things we do, and also learn from our mistakes.

 

 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:31 | 6764673 Francis Marx
Francis Marx's picture

Listen, as long as I can get my football and beer thats all that matters.  (prevaling public mood to any story like this)

So what if we will be walking a treadmill to power the cities partime,  It will keep them from locking our accounts.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 17:19 | 6764792 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

"Once the government is able to delete your cash in a nanosecond, your opinion will follow.  Elimination of cash will lead to eternal tyranny"

It also means that any living entity (natural or AI, earthly or ET) can leverage their Total Control, using electronic money.  Especially when it is tied into the Military-Intelligence-Complex):  EVERYONE can/is being watched.  And any past action can be re-constructed from electronic archives, to recreate a kind of a time-travel in an electronic Holo-Deck.

You may think that I am using my Name/Avatar as a metaphor (and I am), but it appears there is more to it than you realize, if the words of a former Canadian Defense Minister (Paul Hellyer) are an indication:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2535698/Aliens-walk-theyre-refusing-share-technology-change-warring-polluting-ways-claims-former-Canadian-defense-minister.html

2013 Minister of Defense of Canada: 2 living ETs working with US government: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcbCafpvIT0

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 18:11 | 6765083 Scooby Dooby Doo
Scooby Dooby Doo's picture

OMG we better buy into ButtCoins!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUdG0RYd6jk

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:04 | 6764065 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

We are headed towards a cashless society, not through digital transfer, but due to the fact that no one will have any money...period. Our"digits" will be used to record our liabilities, not assets.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:08 | 6764073 Freddie
Freddie's picture

While Sweden and Denmark may be the two nations that are closest to banning cash outright, the most important testing ground for cashless economics is half a world away, in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sweden is turning into sub-Saharan Africa.  When did Sweden go full zio?  When they killed Olof Palme?

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:24 | 6764111 duo
duo's picture

Sweeden doesn't have 20 pecernt of it's population speaking a different language and operating their own economy using cash only.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:38 | 6764686 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

Having seen the new* Bond film, I see an uncanny similarity between SPECTRE (the movie), and Barbara SPECTER (the Zio-agent).  

The Globalist Crime Cartel is getting more brazen each week.

 

* Best Bond film, ever.  Worst Bond song, ever.  Totally unmemorable song (can't even recall a tune of any sort), with a guy instead of a girl singing, and his 'singing' had some god-awful screeching in falsetto -- like a sick Bee Gee.  Disgusting!

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:13 | 6764076 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

Now I understand why the are giving away Obama phones and EBT cards, what's next, free remote driven cars...

S/

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:29 | 6764107 rwe2late
rwe2late's picture

 The banks also provide individuals

"cash back" credit card rewards for NOT using cash.

(Ultimately a fee on both the sellers and all buyers in general, i.e. higher prices.)

 

We can get an inkling of one way how "cashless' powers will be used

 by the example of banksters

regulating "morality" (lol) by denying credit card use for legal Backpage ads.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:17 | 6764302 silent one
silent one's picture

No free cars, well not for normal folk, they plan to make travel difficult. Australia is going to trial electronic passports in the 'Cloud', those will be used to restrict your movement not only physically but also restrict your movement on the internets which might make things difficult using bitcoin (i say might).

It all goes to show they are getting a bit nervous about the state of things now that they are beginning to accelerate the prison planet. Where I live (an island) in the UK there is a sign that says 'HMP Isle of Wight' I am not so sure they haven't considered using it as a massive prison, the local council seem to be doing all they can to destroy the tourism industry that the island needs.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:10 | 6764079 cherry picker
cherry picker's picture

Went to check on a pre paid cell phone.  Need two pieces of id, with a picture.

I want to be left alone, get a discount for paying with cash (why should I be penalized for people paying with credit)?

There will be a war and it will come from within, the givers and the takers (who have been biting the hand that feeds them for decades) will be at each others throats.

Government employees used to have job security at the expense of some wages.  Now they have it all and they keep on sucking it out of small business.  TBTF corporations are like government, sticking their noses where it don't belong and taking the pleasure out of being a free man as there is no freedom left.

I am a baby boomer, but never gave in to what is happenng today.  Don't want it or need it.

 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:20 | 6764102 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

TBTF effectively have partial ownership of the government.  They are not like the government, they are a de facto part of it.  The interesting thing is when the other partial owners of the government have conflicting interests.  That's going to happen more and more as things degrade.  Expect pure insanity before this is all said and done. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 18:13 | 6765092 Scooby Dooby Doo
Scooby Dooby Doo's picture

"partial ownership". that's funny.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 23:37 | 6766092 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

And other partial owners include the players in big ag, the MIC, etc...

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:41 | 6764357 seek
seek's picture

I've noticed the same thing with prepaid, but the key is to not deal with the phone company, but resellers or retailers.

You can get a T-mobile prepaid sim kit and the prepaid cards are supermarkets here, for cash. Activation gets interesting and it's pretty obvious they're trying to de-anonymize transactions. In the past I've used one burner phone to activate the next one, but one friend of mine just scopes out big-box stores that still have wireline phones on columns, and either just uses them or plays a poor victim and gets permission.

There's a war on not only cash, but on privacy and anonymity. At this point I think the key is to just load up on things you need and then drop off the radar. You can do this periodically and it's still of no real use to TPTB when they don't know your activities inbetween sightings.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 18:20 | 6765109 Scooby Dooby Doo
Scooby Dooby Doo's picture

Agreed. You can get a Walmart cell and use it as a detonation trigger. It's easy peasy. I just wear my Obama mask into the Walmart of choice:
http://amzn.com/B004SGKIB8

and the mixed race debt slaves at Walmart cheer me on while I'm getting my Terrorist Phone.

Bitchez!

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:14 | 6764089 TomJoad
TomJoad's picture

Lets just get this shit rolling already, I'm tired of waiting around.

 

Jump! You Fuckers!

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:14 | 6764091 stant
stant's picture

Grishams law indeed

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 15:48 | 6764705 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

Gresham.  Gresham's Law,  you troglodyte.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:15 | 6764093 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

correct, it's a war conducted by

- bankers (first main advantage: less costs for ATMs. you remember, the machines that lowered costs, by getting rid of expensive human tellers and cashiers)

- academics (one main advantage: finally understanding how that least visible part of the economy works)

- start up guys (of course, if promoting an app that makes "cash obsolete")

- and politicians, though their main advantages go into an even more difficult discussion about power, taxes, even inheritance, and so on

But here in this one thing I find hilarious: the way how it's Sweden and Denmark that are leading this "war against cash" in europe. both countries that have their own national currency, not the EUR

(kudos to the article to highlight how it's Africa that is leading the race towards a "cashless economy". I'm not sure readers that haven't seen it there can grasp how far they are already going, in some African nations)

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:20 | 6764103 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture

Politicians always take bribes etc in cash.... 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:22 | 6764108 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

a promise for an excellent post after the term is not in cash. a seat on a board isn't directly cash. an ambassadorship also not. in short, the revolving door does not need cash, those who live from that can be full enemies of cash without having to worry

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:25 | 6764113 cherry picker
cherry picker's picture

How right you are

Have we sold our souls?

I think so.

 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:54 | 6764221 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

Plus, politicians will just make bribery legal... Oh, hold on a second...

 

A cashless society will make it damned hard for the street level drug dealers though.  HSBC has already proven that it will launder money for cartels, and I'm sure all TBTF banks will do the same.  The issue is how to distribute to the end users. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:49 | 6764389 seek
seek's picture

That's pretty much what got bitcoin off the ground. Now the bitcoin goes way beyond that, but the early economy was dominated to a large extent by transactions on Silk Road.

As BTC goes legit the baton will get passed to a different cryptocurrency, be it zerocoin, dogecoin or whatever, and there will be people willing to act as intermediaries to the banking system through that.

If there's one thing the "war on drugs" has proven, you can't prevent a market from asserting itself no matter how restrictive you make things. Indeed, the more restrictions the higher the profit incentive to bypass them.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:16 | 6764401 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

That profit incentive could be classified as a risk premium.  And the higher the risk premium, the more likely those markets are to attract people who have no compunction about using violence to hold on to their market share. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 17:31 | 6764976 PresidentCamacho
PresidentCamacho's picture

WHat is dogecoin trading at now?

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 17:41 | 6765005 seek
seek's picture

13 cents to 1000 doge +/- a penny.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:29 | 6764125 SamEyeAm
SamEyeAm's picture

AND Liberals and Progressives.

They like just about any change no matter what it is, except changes in threats to their power.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:30 | 6764328 silent one
silent one's picture

But here in this one thing I find hilarious: the way how it's Sweden and Denmark that are leading this "war against cash" in europe. both countries that have their own national currency, not the EUR

It makes sense to me, you wouldn't want people from a different country coming with euros in cash trying to spend it, by keeping it to krona it is kept isolated as a controlled experiment.

 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:18 | 6764097 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture

When they try that here, just imagine how many businesses will go under. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:12 | 6764456 HamFistedIdiot
HamFistedIdiot's picture

All part of the communist/centralization plan. Home Depot will provide all the pool cleaning and yard maintenance services because they will be the only entity capable of clearing the regulatory hurdles to become a "trusted vendor" in the digital payment system.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:25 | 6764114 AMPALANCE
AMPALANCE's picture

The group notorious for historically over-reaching is once again over-reaching. This is the last ditch effort to hide what they have been sweeping under the rug since 2001. Making everyone a government employee won't work when the government is at best dysfunctional. The real life problem here is the government still doesn't produce anything of value, same with banks, however the banks and government still have a very real need to consume. A cashless society will lead to shortages of the very things that fall into necessity consumption, food, fuel, clothing, and housing. The real producers will still produce, they will just find a more efficient medium of exchanged, because like the bureaucrats hand ringing over public transportation's failures, and lack of understanding for these failures, People, (the real purpose of any economy) like their cars, and they like their cash, the government? most could do without.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:14 | 6764291 silvermail
silvermail's picture

If they ban cash, how the CIA will sell worldwide drugs from Afghanistan?
CIA goes bankrupt? Either they will legalize drugs, and will sell drugs to all comers by cashless payments - by Visa card, Pay Pal and bank transfers?

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:16 | 6764477 HamFistedIdiot
HamFistedIdiot's picture

Never underestimate the power of fraud and digital subterfuge. People will still get paid, and they will be provided with several layers of digital cover via shell corps and fictional/front persons. The whole thing will be a lie, but the media won't disclose this, and the law will be applied just to the "little people" because we are the only ones weak enough to need morality in our lives.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 18:02 | 6765064 ljag
ljag's picture

Agree silvermail

You mess with the very cartels that pulled the banksters out of deep TARP and the current level of violence inflicted by those such as ms-13 will seem like a simple bitch slapping. 10k metheads rioting in the streets can burn a city down to the ground in under an hour.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:28 | 6764116 michigan independant
michigan independant's picture

Retina scans or starve. Just a blink away children. You think that seal was on your forehead was indeed warned as in it.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:52 | 6764218 AMPALANCE
AMPALANCE's picture

Farmers/gardeners won't starve, might be a good time to support your local farmer, the more organic/natural the better. The life you save may be your own.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:32 | 6764119 silvermail
silvermail's picture

Autor say: "The biggest tragedy of all is that the governments and banks’ strongest ally in their War on Cash is the general public itself."

Of course not! Governments - it is only a servants and slaves of the banks, rather than their "allies".

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 12:26 | 6764120 SamEyeAm
SamEyeAm's picture

This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:04 | 6764258 22winmag
22winmag's picture

Laundry soap, ammo, and whiskey are as good as any FRN.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 13:58 | 6764413 seek
seek's picture

You know, I was pondering this just the other day, currencies substitutes to invest in, and I realized for probably 95% of society none of this would actually work for any meaningful transaction, even people in a great position to barter. The AC guy that fixes my furnance has zero incentive to take whiskey or soap.

I thought about something like gasoline, and that won't work either. Who's going to buy gas in small containers from a sketchy dude on the side of a road?

This stuff would probably work in a mad max scenario, but not in current-day US. The closest things I've seen that probably would work would be Amazon/other gift cards (sold at a steep discount with some form of ability to verify they're functional.) I've noticed that the off-books markets tend to be hugely deflationary as well, a brand-new anything will sell at a massive discount on craigslist, for example. Items like generators and bicycles rountinely see used for under 1/10th of their value new, if that.

For value presevation it sure seems like straight-up barter trades of services is about the most fair. Once there's an intermediary transaction that's not cash, things seems to fall apart fast. I'd love to hear from other ZHers on this topic, especially someone that works in pawn or other used sales, on what they see as the highest value v purchase cost (e.g least money losing/deflationary) items to trade in the real world today.

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:27 | 6764508 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

Just a guess, but I think that the relative values of many things would change drastically in the absence of cash. 

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:31 | 6764521 Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs's picture

Gold and silver?

Sun, 11/08/2015 - 14:51 | 6764573 seek
seek's picture

That will work at pawn places today, but not with most J6Ps.

I asked myself what I would accept for payment today, with no crisis, other than cash, and it was either direct qualified barter (e.g. I'd take steak as payment from a butcher, but not seafood from a car mechanic because it's untrustworthy), sex (even that would need some qualifications, obviously), and while I'd take PMs, I don't think that many others would due to the challenge in spending them without re-conversion back to cash with an intermediary.

You could try to keep some type of "favors" ledger, but that'd get complicated relatively quickly. The currency problem seems slight easier to solve than the store of value problem, but cash as we know it is seriously entrenched and I genuinely don't know what someone could purchase in today's environment that would truly work as a relable monetary storage substitute.

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