12.15.1. "What are the motivations for outlawing cash?"
- (Note: This has not happened. Many of us see signs of it
happening. Others are skeptical.)
+ Reasons for the Elimination of Cash:
- War on Drugs....need I say more?
- surface the underground economy, by withdrawing paper
currency and forcing all monetary transaction into forms
that can be easily monitored, regulated, and taxed.
- tax avoidance, under the table economy (could also be
motive for tamper-resistant cash registers, with spot
checks to ensure compliance)
+ welfare, disability, pension, social security auto-
deposits
- fraud, double-dipping
- reduce theft of welfare checks, disability payments,
etc....a problem in some locales, and automatic
deposit/cash card approaches are being evaluated.
- general reduction in theft, pickpockets
- reduction of paperwork: all transfers electronic (could
be part of a "reinventing government" initiative)
+ illegal immigrants, welfare cheats, etc. Give everyone a
National Identity Card (they'll call it something
different. to make it more palatable, such as "Social
Services Portable Inventory Unit" or "Health Rights
Document").
- (Links to National Health Care Card, to Welfare Card,
to other I.D. schemes designed to reduce fraud, track
citizen-units, etc.)
+ rationing systems that depend on non-cash transactions
(as explained elsewhere, market distortions from
rationing systems generally require identification,
correlation to person or group, etc.)
- this rationing can included subsidized prices, denial
of access (e.g., certain foods denied to certain
people)
12.15.2. Lest this be considered paranoid ranting, let me point out
that many actions have already been taken that limit the form
of money (banking laws, money laundering, currency
restrictions...even the outlawing of competing currencies
itself)
12.15.3. Dangers of outlawing cash
- Would freeze out all transactions, giving Big Brother
unprecedented power (unless the non-cash forms were
anonymous, a la Chaum and the systems we support)
- Would allow complete traceability....like the cellular
phones that got Simpson
- 666, Heinlein, Shockwave Rider, etc.
12.15.4. Given that there is no requirement for identity to be
associated with money, we should fight any system which
proposed to link the two.
12.15.5. The value of paying cash
- makes a transaction purely local, resolved on the spot
- the alternative, a complicated accounting system involving
other parties, etc., is much less attractive
- too many transactions these days are no longer handled in
cash, which increases costs and gets other parties involved
where they shouldn't be involved.
12.15.6. "Will people accept the banning of cash?"
- There was a time when I would've said Americans, at least,
would've rejected such a thing. Too many memories of
"Papieren, bitte. Macht schnell!" But I now think most
Americans (and Europeans) are so used to producing
documents for every transaction, and so used to using VISA
cards and ATM cards at gas stations, supermarkets, and even
at flea markets, that they'll willingly--even eagerly--
adopt such a system.
By Tim May, see README
HTML by Jonathan Rochkind