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What? Of course. There have been several bank robberies in the US the last couple of years.
There's a lot more security in a bank than there used to be. And the standard is to let the thief walk in, get the money, and walk out. The alarm's already happened, but they don't like trapping the thief inside where it can get to be about more than stealing money.
Stealing money would be something with an automatic record. But it would just move theft to the non money items. Instead of cash they'd take things which can be sold for cash or traded for other needed items. An item hard to get or expensive to buy will still be a target.
In Sweden, which is largely cash-free, according to reports the banks don't even have cash, there's been a rise in identity theft and unauthorized use of people's credit cards. Cashless doesn't really work so well. Maybe they'll find a way to get the bugs worked out of the system.
Stealing money would be something with an automatic record. But it would just move theft to the non money items. Instead of cash they'd take things which can be sold for cash or traded for other needed items. An item hard to get or expensive to buy will still be a target.
Sweden has almost eliminated their 1000SEK=$116.40 banknote from circulation (down -91.3% from it's peak). It may be doing the same thing with their 500SEK=$58.20 banknote as it is down -16.2% from peak circulation.
The theft of non-monetary items that ultimately are used by the thief is a relatively small business. Most stolen items are fenced for cash. If the stolen items are of reasonable value (say $10,000) than it is impractical to be paid in $20 notes (which would weigh 11 pounds).
Sweden with a population of 9.5 million used to have over 48 million 1000SEK banknotes in circulation just after the Y2K scare. So far they have issued only a million of the new 1000SEK banknotes. It is not clear what the target goal is, but it may be only two or three million banknotes. Such a small number of banknotes will make them impractical for fencing. Primarily because they will be so unusual that they will be difficult to spend.
Sweden still has a 100 million of their old style 500SEK banknotes in circulation. The new banknote design will be introduced next year. If the government is able to reduce this number substantially large scale fencing will be effectively impractical in Swedish currency . You will have to fence stolen goods in Euros, which means another layer of difficulty in the operation.
Sweden's New banknotes replacing older designs used for last three decades.
The major sources of cash, USA, Euro-zone and Japan are unlikely to change for decades. Among the smaller wealthier countries, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia only Sweden is systematically trying to remove banknotes from circulation.
Questions.
Do you believe the purported benefits of digitizing all currency and transactions
are valid benefits, or trojan horses ?
Would you be willing to allow the government and study groups
of corporations have access digitally to all your financial information, with no loopholes ?
How important is the financial privacy which physical currency provides to you ?
Do you believe the world banking and political system has a hidden agenda ?
Is a cashless control grid part of the Antichrist system prophesized in the Bible ?
Would you be willing to fight, and possibly lose your life rather than be forced
to comply with draconian financial oversight of your life ?
This is not a subject that is comfortable to discuss. It's a scary subject, but
it's becoming apparently more likely that the population is prepared to accept
restrictions of freedom in exchange for perceived security and convenience.
After all, unless you're a criminal, you don't need cash. Right ?
The push to eliminate cash is one more governmental move to completely enslave and control the masses.
We were once free people, and the government was our servant, now we are slaves and the government is our owner and master. The people need to fight for their freedoms or they will be taken by a government with no conscience and no morals.
There's a lot of opportunity to control the population. Oops, all your accounts are gone and you can't buy anythign... now what is that you were saying ?
There's a lot of opportunity to control the population. Oops, all your accounts are gone and you can't buy anythign... now what is that you were saying ?
Which option bothers you more (or does neither seem scary)
Option A) Transactions carry on much as they do now, but there are almost no $50 and almost no $100 banknotes anymore as all have been removed by the government. The reasoning is the same that Canada used when they withdrew their CAD$1000 banknote in 2000, or that US used in failing to print any $500, $1000, $5000 or $10000 banknotes after 1934 (and announcing that all these notes that show up at the BEP will be destroyed in 1969). The government now believes that legitimate commerce no longer needs these denominations.
I used the phrase "almost no" because the USA has never de-monetized any currency. You might get the effect by stopping printing these denominations, and slowly destroying all notes that come into the possession of the government
Option B) The c-notes still are readily available, but most of the retailers and restaurants have removed their cash registers to reduce insurance costs. So you still have the privacy of buying and selling things with hundred dollar bills, but most quality retailing and dining can no longer be done in cash,
Both options are being pursued in countries in Europe today.
In Sweden, which is largely cash-free, according to reports the banks don't even have cash, there's been a rise in identity theft and unauthorized use of people's credit cards. Cashless doesn't really work so well. Maybe they'll find a way to get the bugs worked out of the system.
I can tell you from what I do for a living, bankruptcy law, there are some people who cannot get credit cards. Generally individual bankruptcy law debtors, or people who have had judgments entered against them that they cannot pay, have trouble getting credit cards about two to four years after a bankruptcy filing. there are other people who probably cannot get credit cards as well. People who finished terms of incarceration certainly cannot. There are other people who are outside the formal economy who cannot get credit cards.
Would I like to see is, on random and relatively short notice intervals, the replacement of cash with new designs and/ or new colors. This would, in one stroke destroy counterfeit money and make tax evasion a lot more risky.
I think the transition to cashless society will happen almost organically. Even now, I personally forget to withdraw cash on some weeks and just pay with a credit/debit card. The only place where using cash is advantageous is in a few small businesses that actually give you a discount for paying with cash. There aren't a lot of those places around any more and our bagel shop now takes cards even for buying one bagel...
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