Posted on 12/19/2016 9:11:00 AM PST by Lorianne
•Scandinavia is about to close its last mint.
•While conspiracy theorists fret about privacy, the real story may be rates.
•What would you do if cash disappeared tomorrow?
Fridays can be tedious when it comes to ferreting out interesting stories.
I found an interesting piece on Bloomberg about Scandinavia's transition to a cashless society. By way of introduction, note that interest rates are negative in Sweden and Denmark and barely positive in Norway. I'll come back to that.
So Bloomberg chronicles the rapid disappearance of cash in the region, noting that "by the end of this month, Scandinavia's last mint will have closed." They continue:
“ Following in the footsteps of Sweden and Norway, Denmark has decided to outsource the production of its coins to Finland. The Danish central bank has already stopped printing banknotes. They've become so unfashionable that there's no rush to find a subcontractor for those.
Scandinavia is way ahead of the game. The region is frequently cited as a trailblazer in the global transition to a post-cash society. Denmark, along with neighboring Sweden, is today one of the countries with the lowest percentage of notes and coins in circulation. As recently as 1991, cash and checks were responsible for 82 percent of Danish transactions. The check went the way of the Dodo in late 1990s, while the use of cash has been dropping steadily ever since, even during the current period of negative interest rates."
(Excerpt) Read more at seekingalpha.com ...
Central banks are an enemy of freedom
No, thank you. I like FedGov not being able to track everything I do, and I don’t do anything inappropriate.
The loss of financial privacy is troubling. If cash is done away with, then everything you do with money can be tracked.
Is it anyone’s business how much you spend on booze or cigarettes or fast food, for example? Obama Care bureaucrats could make it their business.
While so many of us use debit cards and credit cards for convenience, they leave behind a trail. Which you may not want someone else to follow.
The government believes that we owe a tax on every transaction. If you buy a bunch of old tools at a garage sale or you sell the extra produce from your garden you should be taxed on that transaction. There have been several proposals to add a underground economy participation tax across the board. The last one I’m aware of would have added $600 to everybody’s tax bill. It was defeated.
By doing away with cash every transaction you make can be tracked and taxed.
Separately but related there was an article recently on FR about a county that was buying transaction data from credit card companies and sending a bill to people who had bought pet food but hadn’t paid the county pet tax.
It’s all about control and control is about squeezing money out of new sources. The old ones have pretty much dried up.
Hackers are jumping for joy.
Here in NJ cash is probably growing in popularity; the Americans are fleeing, and what is left is mostly a welfare economy and illegals. Cash will be king as long as this continues.
Absolutely horrible, beyond the privacy is the notion of negative rates. Imagine your savings shrinking every month due to negative rates.
Gold and silver will go up considerably. .22 ammo, Tide, baby diapers and smokes will become the new currency/barter tools.
The county should be told "I'm eating that pet food due to the obama economy."
Is there a digital cash (Bitcoin, etc.) pinglist that needs to be included here?
It's bad enough that cash no longer has intrinsic value. But if it didn't exist, we'd be reduced to avatars with the gov controlling and tracking our every movement. Think about it. The gov would know where you are at every minute by your transactions history.
My generation won't let it happen. But those under age 50 (or so)? They're being programmed to put their whole lives and financial activity on the computer, with everything being a digital transaction. How much of a leap would it be from that to allocating how people could use their credits. Every transaction would be taxed automatically, and every transaction would have fees imposed by banks.
Logic is that it would be a Brave New World, with barter being the only way to maintain some freedom.
Cashless society-—talked about in the Bible. It will not be a happy time when it arrives.
Hardie, har, har. As if the government cares what you don't want.
Christians have long known that cash will disappear otherwise they can't control who will buy or sell. Just one more sign of the seasons.
That also applies to crooks and corrupt politicians. Well that will be a selling point but I suspect the politicians will have a way around it, or they won't pass it.
I need cash for my barber and some vending machines
All transactions are by electronic transfer or plastic
All my clients pay by direct deposit
There is no need for cash now
Oh and in summer, we take cash to the Farmer’s Market
Real silver or gold coins will be king but bills and the fake coins we now make will disappear rapidly. Then again gold coins disappeared rapidly under FDR, so who knows.
The imported Third Worlders here in NJ (growing in numbers by the day) use ONLY the current bills and coins - and their businesses often accept nothing else.
I pretty much only use cash at bars anymore. It’s basically dead. The moving hand has written, time to move on.
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