Cashless society? Not so fast, my friend!

Really kind of the easiest way to sum this up is that the whole cash is going away soon thing is much like the alarmist calls that collecting is dying or the economy is going to collapse any second and so on.

People really don't understand how hard it would be to go cashless as a world reserve currency. I honestly don't even think half the people saying it'll happen realize what cashless really means. That literally means there is no cash anywhere it's all destroyed besides what was collected, isn't made at all, all electronically converted and that's it.

Possibly more importantly, just because people use credit cards for the rewards or other methods of payment for convenience it doesn't mean they would be fine with cash being eliminated.

Cash isn't going anywhere just like PMs aren't going to save anyone during a compete collapse of society as no one trades food or supplies for metals when they don't know where their next meal, next medicine, next tobacco, next bullet etc is going to come from.

 

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Surprised nobody has mentioned legislation requiring stores to accept cash. Seems that there is a large group of people that do not have bank accounts, so the politicians want to ensure that they can participate in the economy without having to buy a prepaid card. Philly recently passed such laws.

I think gold and silver were valued back in biblical times for jewelry and as a store of value/medium of exchange, and we would go back to that dynamic again. Plus weapons, food items, seeds, batteries, fuel, etc. would be in demand.

 

Somehow Norway and Sweden are getting by without cash. I wonder how they do it?

 

I used to invest in the cash merchants ... such as Diebold Nixdorf. But I got out a long time ago after certain metrics (corporate ppl, revenue, etc) raised red flags. Last year they did cut their cash burn in HALF .. but still had it, thus the sudden increase in share price.



to make money in investments in this arena you have to track Merger & Acquisitions as they'll tank otherwise.

If you want potentially good investments in the "money" category go for fintech (credit card type companies). Compare the above DB to VISA .... which is consistent across the board.


But cash will still exist for everyone. Can't spend any form of electronic money, or PMs for that matter in a semi-emergency (no power, etc).

interestingly, my Dr's office has a sign up "no cash accepted"
it's just easier for them .. more convenient to take payment and it helps all the central processing.

 

What if I don't have a credit card, or a check?
He's going to refuse payment? I'm not spending money and waste my time getting a money order. He takes my cash or he doesn't get paid. He can send all the little late payment notices he wants.
Me: I offered payment. He refused US currency.
Treasury Dept. OK.

 

I would think it should be illegal for a business to refuse cash as payment.

 

That's not how that works.

 

There wasn't a story they wanted to tell, other than to inform readers that a number of companies that deal in the handling of cash appear to be good investments.

I cherry-picked from the article to focus on the point that the market is sending a signal that it doesn't think cash is going away any time soon. There was more:

"...there is little question electronic payments in the U.S., ranging from debit cards to mobile apps, are gaining ground. In the most recent Federal Reserve survey of U.S. consumer payments, covering 2018, for the first time cash wasn’t the most common form of payment. It was surpassed by debit cards. Yet digital’s gain isn’t necessarily coming at the expense of cash. The overall pie still appears to be growing. Fed governor Lael Brainard said in December that 'physical cash in circulation for the U.S. dollar continues to rise due to robust demand'."

 

I think they can reject cash payment before a service is provided.
But have to accept cash to pay a debt.
but someone's gonna have to find the federal policy/law or whatever for that.

 

From a Google-searched (so take it for what it's worth) article dated Oct. 28, 2019:

"As of yet, there are no truly cashless societies. Of all the countries moving closer to becoming cashless, most people agree that Sweden is the closest. 85% of the country has access to online banking and only 2% of the country’s transactions consist of cash."

They also cite China, the UK, Denmark and Norway as being at the forefront of moving toward a cashless economy.

 

The Fed was forced to fly a planeload of cash to Puerto Rico to help avert disaster, when Hurricane Maria knocked out power on the island, the residents realized they were going to need physical cash — and a lot of it.

https://www.paymentscardsandmobile.com/cashless-society-happens-power-goes/

 

Yap stones.

 

In one instance, a large rai being transported by canoe and outrigger was accidentally dropped and sank to the sea floor. Although it was never seen again, everyone agreed that the rai must still be there, so it continued to be transacted as genuine currency.

Sounds like a great system and one that would work perfectly in the U.S. of A.

Want to buy a bridge?

 

Why not get food, ammo, guns, gold, and guts. The are complementary shelf items.

 

same as it's ever been.

 

I believe the fed managed to lose the M1 for a couple of hours back in 80's. An amazing feat even for them.

The problem with digital is that It might be difficult to buy officials and regulators with paper trail money. They may demand gold and a couple of laborers from a "staffing agency" (the snow flake term for wine pool ) to lug it around for them. What would that do to the price of gold?

I also believe quantum computers used to break blockchain encryption and steal another country's
cryptos will lead the end of digital cash and the beginning of WWlll. Preceded of course with a "quantum gap" and "quant emergency" as more and more and bigger and bigger quantum computers are needed for defense and offense, just like a football game but without the half time booty show. Unless you win.

The "Super Soliders" of WWlll will be geeks, who, like their Silicon Valley forefathers, look like they're on meth.

When the war is over we'll be back to trading with the teeth of whales who didn't get nuked.

 

My place. We never have and never will close the doors for a power outage.

 

Stereotypically when there is a large swath power outage, a psychological effect initiates and people go home to see what is happening there. No power at home means the refrigerator and freezer are not working. In winter, it normally means no heat. And of course, no lights.

Most general stores I've seen stay open. A pizza shop may close as no power to run the oven, etc etc.

And I guess the stores where no cash is accepted would be closed too ...
Cell Towers (if outside the blackout area of course would still be powered) and Land Lines are normally powered separately. Land Line/telephone poles can run from a portable generator.

So in short, if you use electronic funds you may be out of luck.
If you have cash then you probably really aren't affected for general basic stuff.

The last blackout around here . if you needed gas and didn't have cash you were out of luck. If you had cash, you got gas.

I didn't ask, but they probably didn't take PMs either. After all, how do you correlate dollars to PMs? You can't just look it up online in a blackout.

 

I'm thinking a business can set the rules for what type of payment they will take.
Cash, credit cards, checks, money orders, pigs, goats or chickens.

 

How could all this possibly happen? Millennials all believe that we live in big cities with WIFI everywhere, electric cars charge themselves, and waiting 6 hours on a charge is no big issue to save the planet. Out here in the sticks life goes on just fine and with a week's backup power nothing goes dark.