Quote:
Originally Posted by tweetiepooh
As in my earlier post - yes cashless could block some of the low level criminal types (the high flyers would find ways and crime would move even more to the cyber space arena). But what if a future regime declares you or your social/racial/sexual/religious/etc group "bad guys"? What if the "good guys" are the one that agree to vote/follow/believe/accept what the rulers dictate? Yes you can vote electronically for the opposition, that's you democratic right as it is ours to control the spending of subversives out to destroy our wonderful way of life.
Cash prevents or at least reduces this risk as people can still trade without that trade being logged or controlled. It's always worth asking "what if?".
And no I haven't knowingly paid cash to avoid VAT/taxes other that very small jobs less than £20 or so and the last few of those the trader wasn't VAT registered.
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These are pretty big 'ifs.' Even in a society entirely without card payments, your cash has to go in and out of the bank unless you're going to keep it all in your mattress. The last place I saw giving out wages in little brown envelopes on a Friday was a shop my missus worked in part time when we were first married, 20 odd years ago. These days almost everyone is paid electronically and you have to transact with a bank to get the cash in your hand. Almost every domestic service provider you deal with will resist cash payments very hard indeed, more or less compelling you to use the electronic banking system for online payment or direct debit, which uses electronic payment for every transaction even though you only authorise it once to start it off. There are a multitude of opportunities for an oppressive regime to control you by interfering with this system whether or not you pay with cash in your corner shop.
As a side note, I would suggest putting a little less faith in eschatological readings of Revelation that hang on 19th century American hysteria around the tribulation. Such things have become wildly popular in Charismatic circles but they were not the orthodox belief of the church for most of the last two millennia. We are not on the cusp of having beastly payment barcodes stuck to our wrists or foreheads.
