Help cash is dying

I think most of us have heard the conspiracy thoeries and worries and fears of living in a totally cahsless society. I think these concerns are closer now and have more validity.

I was at the bank recently odddly enough toget change from a 10 dollar bill I had. I guess the bank teller was trying to get more bussiness and wanted me to talk to a banker that handles accounts. She was trying to tell me the marvels and wonders of having direct deposit and having a debit card. when I told her I like cash she asked me what are you "old school"? Then she tried to convince me by talking to me like she was my boss or my parents and saying well direct deposit and debit cards are the way to go because they are safer amd its just the thing to do now days. But in any event this post is not about salesmenship, as I would I have liked to heard the postive aspects of direct deposit and debit cards othe rthen being able to pay your bill at a a bar for drinks. which is what she said instead of telling me the negative ways of how I lea dmy lifestyle of paying with cash.

So weather you believe in the mark theory where everyone has a chip inside of them or not. It seems this bid to become cashless is getting closer. As people are saying that it is more onvieint to pay ith a card. Even thoughto me it is no inconvieint to pay with cash it is actually easier for to pay with cash. I dont want to live in a cashless society.

Does anyone think ther eis anything we can do to halt this mentality of cahsless ness? And if there are people out there who believe in going cashless tell me the benefits of it?

a reply to: American-philosopher

Does anyone think there is anything we can do to halt this mentality of cashlessness?

Nope. The oligarchy will win, because cashless is in their favor. It matters not that the individual is inconvenienced. Every time I pull out plastic to pay it feels like another cut towards the thousandth.

Electronic transactions are much easier to track too. I do not like cash because it is a worthless fiat currency, a cashless society with all transactions being done electronically is still based on a fiat currency that is vulnerable to all kinds of market manipulation and scams. The biggest threat to the fiat currency system is an educated population, not a problem at all in the US.

a reply to: Snarl

is that because your put in a situation where you have to use plastic? I mean to me it is about making a lifestyle choice. to those of us who want to defy the "oligarchy" we should live a live that is in defiance of 1984 tactics.

a reply to: American-philosopher

Cash, just like any monetary standard, is just an arbitrary way to exchange goods and services. Your hesitation about a cashless society was issued by those in early centuries who thought that using paper money instead of metal coins would bring all sorts of economic ruin.

I use a rewards credit card for almost everything because I get cash back. Since I always pay off the balance every month I'm getting free money from Chase. Hey, if they want to give me money for using their card I'm ok with it.

I'm sure they use the data of my spending habits to sell to marketers, but stores now use cameras everywhere to track what, where, and when you buy. Using cash only won't protect someone from having that personal data skimmed.

If you are not immersed in society, there is no benefit. Cashless is not only coming, if you want to, it's already here. You don't really need cash any more. Whether that is GOOD or not is a whole different issue. It's really a double-edged sword.

For example, when you pay by debit card, you have an automatic receipt for your own record-keeping. You know where your money went--precisely. You also get a statement every month so you can reconcile your expenditures. This is good.

But "they" have a record of what you bought as well. Not only the retailer, who can profile you, but law enforcement and government on demand, within minutes of the sale. This is bad.

On the other hand, I was involved in a situation once where someone was missing and it was urgent that they be found as soon as possible. The authorities told me at the time, if this person uses their card, we will know what and where within minutes and we'll have a chance to get to them. In THIS PARTICULAR CASE, this was good.

In my case, all my bills are on auto-pay but two. These remaining two are a pain in the butt because I have to pay attention to getting them paid on time, plus they are snail-mail, an added complication which requires attention. I can't "just leave" without making arrangements. Without these two outliers, I could just go any time anywhere. However, if you're going to do that, you have to have auto-in as well as auto-out and have a good reason for needing to do it, like a permanent place with utilities and insurance and all that kind of stuff.

So it really depends on the circumstances and what you want to do. If you want to stay anonymous, cash is the way to go. If you don't care one way or another, cashless is a lot easier. If you're paranoid and believe the government is out to snoop on you, cash is the way to go, but if they're serious, they'll get you anyway. Being all-cash won't save you.

let me get this straight, the bank teller tried to HELP YOU by reducing the steps to deposit your checks by using direct deposit and...gasp...wanted to give you a debit card so you can use it for any purchase on the spot instead of writing a check or using a credit card?

holy crap what a vampire, i would of grabbed a silver stake and stuck the evil entity for such nefarious deeds.
welcome to 2014, debit cards/direct deposit are no conspiracy

a reply to: Toromos

your right it wont' stop people from getting my personal data if I use cash only. But I will take away one less tool for them to get my personal data.

On a grand scale, no, there is not much we can do.

I, personally, use cash exclusively, which is what we can do from a personal level.

I have to be honest, I have a very big problem with what I purchase, where I purchase it, and when I purchase it being tracked.

The truth of the matter is, though, that technology has advanced beyond cash, and it is in the interest of almost all businesses to get you to use a card, so dont hold your breath on it changing.

I am strongly opposed to a cashless system, not because of any relgious hocus pocus though. Cash has worked since the dawn of human civilisation, so why change it? One issue I have with it is that it is completely dependant upon a working grid. Any number of things can happen to cause the grid to go down, and while safeguards are in place, not everything can be protected against. But this isn't what I am worried about.

The main thing is the potential deliberate design, which causes you to lose everything, meaning the elite have ultimate control over us all. With a cashless system it is so easy for them to one day just flip a switch, and reset our bank accounts to zero should they have the need/desire to. It would really put you in a hole.

Even with our practically worthless fiat cash we have now, it still would have a tangible value to people in a personal or widespread SHTF scenario, particularly coins. But people would not have this to fall back on, and would not necessarily have anything of value they could trade for what they want. So charity of others aside, they would be completely screwed.

So maybe there is something to the "cannot buy or sell unless you bear the mark" - I do not believe it is the work of satan or anyone affiliated with a mythical creature. More like it is solely the work of massively egotistic and evil people who want to believe they are a part of the grand scheme, and are self-fulfilling the prophecies. Reality is we are an insignificant race on an insignificant planet, and whether we live or die, or even manage to destroy the planet, has no bearing on the universe whatsoever. All this stuff is madness.

a reply to: schuyler

yeah I thikn you mentioned it I see that as a major benefit to using cash I dont want to be tracked I know in your situation that you mentioned that ebing tracked helpped. But for me I would not like to be tracked and would liek to hang on to a smuch privacy as is possible in this world that we live in now.

A friend of mine once tried to pay a restaurant bill with a piece of 8. That is a gold coin that weighs an ounce. The waitress would not accept and neither would the manager. The bill was about $50, an ounce of gold is a lot more. Needless to say after trying to reason with the manager and waitress to just take the gold coin for the $50 tab. The manager then threaten to call the cops and my friend suddenly found his debit card and it was swiped for a measly $50 +$10 for the tip with a little note with the current price of gold per ounce.

My point is while a lot of people with rave about who great direct deposits and debit cards are, but fail to realize something of value when it is right in from of them.

a reply to: ThinkYouSpeak

I didnt say they were a conspiracy and I know the bank teller was just doing her job.

what I talking a bout is the fact that we as a society are using cash alot less and the mentality of using cash is changing and cahs is goign out of existence.

If they go cashless, the government will be able to tell exactly how much we spend and can instantly compare it to what we make. A computer can kick out a discrepancy immediately and then inform whomever, including your credit card company who can freeze your card if they feel you are possibly not able to pay. So in the future, if you miss a month worth of work, watch your credit limit decrease and your card rate go up quickly. We will not be able to float across a river of dispare successfully, we will be forced to keep working at our jobs.

Complete control of the population is the end game, nothing is really yours. The government will be able to freeze your assets in an instant, laws will be created to make this possible. No problem, keep those copper pennies.

a reply to: rickymouse

your scenario is kind of from the Aaron Ruso documentary right, Freedom to Facism?

a reply to: American-philosopher
Why did you need to go to a bank to get change for a ten?
I only go to the bank to withdraw all of my pay and have never had anyone there try to talk me into keeping it in the bank and only use my debit card. I usually only keep a balance of about $10 in my account and only use cash for purchases. And don't use those store cards for discounts or points, it's only another way of keeping track of you.

a reply to: American-philosopher

Huh, who is that. I didn't think someone would make a documentary for a conspiracy like that. I just think that is what it is starting to progress by examining what is trending. Well, at least I am not the only one thinking that way, I feel better now...I'm not the only nut in the world.

a reply to: American-philosopher

We've changed from a "figure-it-out-yourself" society to a "let-someone-else-figure-it-out-for-you' society. Gadgets rule the day and those who create the gadgets rule the masses. The bankers like the cashless approach because it allows them to track and target the flow of value in order to scrape off even more of the value in society. It also gives them power, because they can track what individuals do as well as society at large. Governments like it because it is what their handlers, bankers and multinationals like, as well as their IRS type collection agency scam.

If I have to, I myself prefer physical paper and coin currency as I would rather deal is a fiat that is tangible rather than a fiat that is intangible. The only way out of this drive towards a cashless society is to either make value and therefore cash pointless or revolution. The time may not have passed for mass education in what is going on, but we are getting close to the point of no return.

Cheers - Dave

I'm with rickymouse and think a cashless society is a more controlled society. I do not wish for my every transaction to be noted and then marketed towards. I aslo like to avoid all those little charges and fees for using cards. Identity theft is huge here in the states as well.
Israel gov is considering a casjless society
They're justification:

Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office declared that “around the world, it is recognized that cash is a key element of the illegal economy and money laundering. It allows a wide gap between reported and actual incomes, with the corresponding effect on tax revenues.” By eliminating cash, the PMO said, “it will be possible to expand the tax base, and prevent money laundering.” The committee will study the issue from all its perspectives and make recommendations, the PMO said.

Well I can understand that, and I guess cash is a doubled edged sword because it also provides freedom and anonymity to some degree in a healthy and legal fashion. I would bet it is coming but I wonder how much resistance the movement will get from the public. I think cash from drugs is a huge source for black budgets. I also think big business(Heads) would not want lose the liberty of cash either.

a reply to: American-philosopher

Oh, I hear what you are saying. You and some others here have some very valid reasons. But I think you will find it increasingly difficult to remain "all cash" as time goes on, particularly if you have any assets to speak of. It's a lot easier to remain "all cash" when you don't have any.

A friend of mine once tried to pay a restaurant bill with a piece of 8. That is a gold coin that weighs an ounce. The waitress would not accept and neither would the manager.

First of all I would question the sanity of your friend. Why would he want to pay a $50 bill with something worth at least exponentially more? What is gold per ounce today? $1250 per ounce or so? And what's the premium because it was old, a 'piece of 8'? Who is the crazy one here? What if they had said yes?

But I also don't blame the waitress and manager. He was asking them to take something of unknown value to them and ALSO laying the entire burden of exchanging whatever it was that they were being given into something useful, i.e.: cash or even debit-credit they could use to run the business. That "piece of 8" was a lot worse than cash to them. They were starting at ground zero not even knowing where to start to get that piece of whatever-it-was translated into something they could actually use. A 'piece of 8' is not 'legal tender'

You can sit here now with a smirk on your face because you and your friend knew what the piece was really worth, but that depends on your esoteric knowledge few people have. He wasn't being smart; he was being a s***head. He was gambling and happened to win.

Back to OP, a possible solution over time would be to have a hybrid system set up. Take the card and use it for mundane things, if for no other reason that to seem normal. People aren't interested in tracking 'normal' because 'normal' isn't a threat. If you are all-cash, you're not normal and will be more prone to be noticed. Then do the cash-only thing for anything of any substance, thus keeping those transactions off the grid.

Just as an example, let's say you pay utility bills. It's normal to pay by automatic deduction directly from checking. Over time more and more people will until most all do. So the government comes along and says to the utility company "Which of your customers do NOT pay by auto-deduction?" The utility company says, "Only a dozen or so" and gives them a list with your name on it.

So who is tracked and who isn't? What did "cash-only" get you this time? Tracked. So in attempting to avoid attention and tracking, you got both. That's why this thing is not simple. Simply going "cash only" is not going to work unless you stick to the rails and don't plug in anywhere.