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International News • Will Canada Soon Go Cashless?
Will Canada Soon Go Cashless?
By Richard Giedroyc, World Coin News
June 05, 2012
http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Art … leId=25295
First the Bank of Canada began issuing polymer (plastic, if you like) rather than paper-based bank notes. Then the Royal Canadian Mint announced it will be ending production of the 1-cent coin later during 2012. Now the mint has posted a video online through which it is introducing what it calls MintChip, a product that could replace both coins and bank notes entirely!
We may live in a technologically advanced society, but where do you draw the line between the physical world and what represents that physical world? Since this is the Around the World column I’m allowed to editorialize. Let me rationalize what MintChip represents.
At one time a financial transaction might have required someone to trade two goats for a cow, or 50 cowry shells for a bowl of rice. This was later replaced with coined money that represented the same goods (and eventually services as well) in value. In more recent history the bank note and the check have each gained acceptance as substitutes for higher value coins.
From there we’ve made the leap of faith into credit cards—cash you don’t have, but hope to have at a later time, then into debit and pre-paid or smart cards. Isn’t it at least a little bit ironic that a mint, the very place that is supposed to strike the coins we use in circulation, to be the one to suggest we begin using a virtual, an electronic form of money you might envision being used in an intergalactic Star Wars type movie?
According to the RCM, this virtual currency MintChip does have physical forms, but they aren’t the sort of thing you can hand someone over the counter. MintChips will include microSD cards and USB sticks, which are used as flash drives through which files are transferred between computers. This is a far cry from gold, silver, or even aluminum coins, not to mention that folding stuff we call bank notes.
There is a certain amount of privacy associated with buying or selling something using coins and bank notes. Officially the RCM said, “No personal data is required or exchanged” when making transactions with the MintChip. This statement may proved to have been made prematurely. Your physical location can be tracked by the signals your cell phone gives to nearby cell towers. Since MintChips will be a form of electronic money the mint’s statement needs to be re-evaluated even before Canada figures out how the MintChip is going to function.
The RCM is offering a reward in a contest to develop smartphone applications for the MintChip. The very fact the mint says it has five patents relating to the MintChip it has yet to unveil and that the mint requires a contest to develop further ideas for this new invention suggest no one really knows if your privacy will become enjoyed or not.
There are many reasons coins and bank notes are used worldwide even in an age where computers and electronic wizardry dominate our society. First, yes—dominate “our” society, not all societies worldwide. There is a certain amount of security in owning what money represents rather than owning money itself. This has been proved many times over. The hoarding of all metal coins during the American Civil War is only one example.
Another factor regarding all modern electronics and computers that tends to be overlooked by almost all civilians using them is the potential for sabotage through electronic warfare. I don’t know if the US Army still has this policy in place, but during the 1970s every military system that used a computer was required to have a paper hand-calculated system as a backup. If a country such as Canada were to rely primarily on an electronic monetary system that electronic system could be completely destroyed by a hostile power, likely from a remote location.
The RCM video says, “Every since the beginning of time people have been buying and selling and using whatever currency was available. But today’s digital economy is changing faster than ever, and currency has to change, too. Imagine a whole new breed of transactions that are smaller, faster, and virtually everywhere. That’s where MintChip comes in—Using a chip, you securely load value onto a smart phone, USB device, computer, tablet, or cloud—or maybe even some future device.”
Irrational exuberance? The RCM may yet need a think tank to rationalize what it is developing much more than it needs a contest to flush out more uses for the MintChip.
Statistics: Posted by DIGGER DAN — Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:40 pm
View full post on opinions.caduceusx.com
A Cashless Society May Be Closer Than Most People Would Ever Dare To Imagine
Most people think of a cashless society as something that is way off in the distant future. Unfortunately, that is simply not the case. The truth is that a cashless society is much closer than most people would ever dare to imagine. To a large degree, the transition to a cashless society is being done voluntarily. Today, only 7 percent of all transactions in the United States are done with cash, and most of those transactions involve very small amounts of money. Just think about it for a moment. Where do you still use cash these days? If you buy a burger or if you purchase something at a flea market you will still use cash, but for any mid-size or large transaction the vast majority of people out there will use another form of payment. Our financial system is dramatically changing, and cash is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. We live in a digital world, and national governments and big banks are both encouraging the move away from paper currency and coins. But what would a cashless society mean for our future? Are there any dangers to such a system?
Those are very important questions, but most of the time both sides of the issue are not presented in a balanced way in the mainstream media. Instead, most mainstream news articles tend to trash cash and talk about how wonderful digital currency is.
For example, a recent CBS News article declared that soon we may not need “that raggedy dollar bill” any longer and that the “greenback may soon be a goner”….
It’s what the wallet was invented for, to carry cash. After all, there was a time when we needed cash everywhere we went, from filling stations to pay phones. Even the tooth fairy dealt only in cash.
But money isn’t just physical anymore. It’s not only the pennies in your piggy bank, or that raggedy dollar bill.
Money is also digital – it’s zeros and ones stored in a computer, prompting some economists to predict the old-fashioned greenback may soon be a goner.
“There will be a time – I don’t know when, I can’t give you a date – when physical money is just going to cease to exist,” said economist Robert Reich.
So will we see a completely cashless society in the near future?
Of course not. It would be wildly unpopular for the governments of the world to force such a system upon us all at once.
Instead, the big banks and the governments of the industrialized world are doing all they can to get us to voluntarily transition to such a system. Once 98 or 99 percent of all transactions do not involve cash, eliminating the remaining 1 or 2 percent will only seem natural.
The big banks want a cashless society because it is much more profitable for them.
The big banks earn billions of dollars in fees from debit cards and they make absolutely enormous profits from credit cards.
But when people use cash the big banks do not earn anything.
So obviously the big banks and the big credit card companies are big cheerleaders for a cashless society.
Most governments around the world are eager to transition to a cashless society as well for the following reasons….
-Cash is expensive to print, inspect, move, store and guard.
-Counterfeiting is always going to be a problem as long as paper currency exists.
-Cash if favored by criminals because it does not leave a paper trail. Eliminating cash would make it much more difficult for drug dealers, prostitutes and other criminals to do business.
-Most of all, a cashless society would give governments more control. Governments would be able to track virtually all transactions and would also be able to monitor tax compliance much more closely.
When you understand the factors listed above, it becomes easier to understand why the use of cash is increasingly becoming demonized. Governments around the world are increasingly viewing the use of cash in a negative light. In fact, according to the U.S. government paying with cash in some circumstances is now considered to be “suspicious activity” that needs to be reported to the authorities.
This disdain of cash has also grown very strong in the financial community. The following is from a recent Slate article….
David Birch, a director at Consult Hyperion, a firm specializing in electronic payments, says a shift to digital currency would cut out these hidden costs. In Birch’s ideal world, paying with cash would be viewed like drunk driving—something we do with decreasing frequency as more and more people understand the negative social consequences. “We’re trying to use industrial age money to support commerce in a post-industrial age. It just doesn’t work,” he says. “Sooner or later, the tectonic plates shift and then, very quickly, you’ll find yourself in this new environment where if you ask somebody to pay you in cash, you’ll just assume that they’re a prostitute or a Somali pirate.”
Do you see what is happening?
Simply using cash is enough to get you branded as a potential criminal these days.
Many people are going to be scared away from using cash simply because of the stigma that is becoming attached to it.
This is a trend that is not just happening in the United States. In fact, many other countries are further down the road toward a cashless society than we are.
Up in Canada, they are looking for ways to even eliminate coins so that people can use alternate forms of payment for all of their transactions….
The Royal Canadian Mint is also looking to the future with the MintChip, a new product that could become a digital replacement for coins.
In Sweden, only about 3 percent of all transactions still involve cash. The following comes from a recent Washington Post article….
In most Swedish cities, public buses don’t accept cash; tickets are prepaid or purchased with a cell phone text message. A small but growing number of businesses only take cards, and some bank offices — which make money on electronic transactions — have stopped handling cash altogether.
“There are towns where it isn’t at all possible anymore to enter a bank and use cash,” complains Curt Persson, chairman of Sweden’s National Pensioners’ Organization.
In Italy, all very large cash transactions have been banned. Previously, the limit for using cash in a transaction had been reduced to the equivalent of just a few thousand dollars. But back in December, Prime Minister Mario Monti proposed a new limit of approximately $1,300 for cash transactions.
And that is how many governments will transition to a cashless society. They will set a ceiling and then they will keep lowering it and lowering it.
But is a cashless society really secure?
Of course not.
Bank accounts can be hacked into. Credit cards and debit cards can be stolen. Identity theft all over the world is absolutely soaring.
So companies all over the planet are working feverishly to make all of these cashless systems much more secure.
In the future, it is inevitable that national governments and big financial institutions will want to have all of us transition over to using biometric identity systems in order to combat crime in the financial system.
Many of these biometric identity systems are becoming quite advanced.
For example, just check out what IBM has been developing. The following is from a recent IBM press release….
You will no longer need to create, track or remember multiple passwords for various log-ins. Imagine you will be able to walk up to an ATM machine to securely withdraw money by simply speaking your name or looking into a tiny sensor that can recognize the unique patterns in the retina of your eye. Or by doing the same, you can check your account balance on your mobile phone or tablet.
Each person has a unique biological identity and behind all that is data. Biometric data – facial definitions, retinal scans and voice files – will be composited through software to build your DNA unique online password.
Referred to as multi-factor biometrics, smarter systems will be able to use this information in real-time to make sure whenever someone is attempting to access your information, it matches your unique biometric profile and the attempt is authorized.
Are you ready for that?
It is coming.
In the future, if you do not surrender your biometric identity information, you may be locked out of the entire financial system.
Another method that can be used to make financial identification more secure is to use implantable RFID microchips.
Yes, there is a lot of resistance to this idea, but the fact is that the use of RFID chips in animals and in humans is rapidly spreading.
Some U.S. cities have already made it mandatory to implant microchips into all cats and all dogs so that they can be tracked.
All over the United States, employees are being required to carry badges that contain RFID chips, and in some instances employers are actually requiring employees to have RFID chips injected into their bodies.
Increasingly, RFID chips are being implanted in the upper arm of patients that have Alzheimer’s disease. The idea is that this helps health care providers track Alzheimer’s patients that get lost.
In some countries, microchips are now actually being embedded into school uniforms to make sure that students don’t skip school.
Can you see where all of this is headed?
Some companies are even developing RFID technologies that do not require an injection.
One company called Somark has developed chipless RFID ink that is applied directly to the skin of an animal or a human. These “RFID tattoos” are applied in about 10 seconds using micro-needles and a reusable applicator, and they can be read by an RFID reader from up to four feet away.
Would you get an “RFID tattoo” if the government or your bank asked you to?
Some people out there are actually quite excited about these new technologies.
For example, a columnist named Don Tennant wrote an article entitled “Chip Me – Please!” in which he expressed his unbridled enthusiasm for an implantable microchip which would contain all of his medical information….
“All I can say is I’d be the first person in line for an implant.”
But are there real dangers to going to a system that is entirely digital?
For example, what if a devastating EMP attack wiped out our electrical grid and most of our computers from coast to coast?
How would we continue to function?
Sadly, most people don’t think about things like that.
Our world is changing more rapidly than ever before, and we should be mindful of where these changes are taking us.
Just because our technology is advancing does not mean that our world is becoming a better place.
There are millions of Americans that want absolutely nothing to do with biometric identity systems or RFID implants.
But the mainstream media continues to declare that nothing can stop the changes that are coming. A recent CBS News article made the following statement….
“Most agree a cashless society is not only inevitable, for most of us, it’s already here.”
Yes, a cashless society is coming.
Are you ready for it?
View full post on The Economic Collapse
Police State • Cashless: The Coming War on Tax-Evasion and Decentralized ..
Cashless: The Coming War on Tax-Evasion and Decentralized Money
Cris Sheridan
There are two major trends taking place that are shaping up as a recipe for disaster. On the one hand, we have massively indebted governments around the world desperate for tax revenues and, on the other, steadily growing multi-trillion underground economies whose main goal is to avoid paying them.
According to a recent study, the amount of uncollected tax revenues in the U.S. is estimated around a whopping 500 billion dollars per year1 – enough money to bailout most of Europe.
At 8 percent of GDP, the underground or shadow economy in the U.S. is much smaller percentage-wise than other nations like Greece (25 percent), Italy (27 percent), or Thailand (70 percent)2, yet, given our overall size, America’s untaxed economy is larger than “the official output of all but the upper crust of nations across the globe…bigger than the GDP of Turkey or Austria.”3
Question is: How long will the government allow this to last?
When times are good and the economy vibrant, there is less incentive to crack down on tax-evasion; but now, unemployment is at all-time highs, income and property taxes have fallen dramatically, and the government is supporting an increasingly large and record number of people through a wide range of benefits.
Desperate times call for desperate measures
In an interview with Jim Puplava titled “Never Underestimate the Desperation of a Broke(n) Government”, world renowned economist, Martin Armstrong, cites numerous examples of how the U.S. is following a well set historical pattern where, inevitably, the “government is going to be much more aggressive to tax people, chase them down, and put them in prison.”
Just recently, noted author and blogger, Charles Hugh Smith, cited how California – a case-study for high taxes, regulation, and smothering bureaucracy – automatically seized funds out of a previous resident’s bank account for not filing taxes in the year 2006 – five years after he had long moved out of state. In response to this incident, Smith writes, “What is entirely believable is that the state of California, desperate for revenue, is churning out dubious income tax claims stretching back years and collecting the money without due process.”4
If true, and these types of aggressive acts are to become more common, it should be fairly obvious that they won’t achieve the desired results. As taxes are raised, regulations and filing requirement made more stringent, more and more people will merely leave the system. Eventually, the government will have to think of a different way to collect.
We could change current tax laws and make it less burdensome but, when given a choice between simple or none, most people would rather choose none; and since many realize that by doing everything in cash their transactions are virtually untraceable, the risk of getting caught is quite tiny compared to the benefits of keeping much more of their income.
The only option left is to remove the very thing that fuels the underground economy in the first place.
Cash becomes illegal
Consider Italy Intensifies Its All-Out War on Tax Evaders
In addition to banning cash transactions, [Italy] has included an ad campaign comparing tax evaders to parasites. There have been headline-grabbing raids on stores, hotels and restaurants in affluent Italian cities. For good measure, tax officials have also been stopping luxury cars and asking drivers to show their licenses, then using the information to pull their most recent tax returns.
Recently, best-selling financial author and well-known investor, Doug Casey, offered his perspective on this issue by pointing out that “governments hate cash for lots of reasons…it costs a couple of cents to print a piece of paper currency, and they have to be replaced quite often. As the US has destroyed the value of the dollar, they’ve had to take the copper out of pennies, and soon they’ll take the nickel out of nickels. Furthermore, with modern technology, counterfeiters – including unfriendly foreign governments – can turn out US currency that’s almost indistinguishable from the real thing. And the stuff takes up a lot of space if it’s enough to be of value. So sure, governments would like to get rid of tangible currency. They’d like to see all money kept in banks.”5
Italy or Sweden?
Aside from how governments personally feel about cash, some societies are choosing to abandon it voluntarily. As recently reported by the Associated Press, cash only represents 3% of Sweden’s entire economy – a trend that isn’t being enforced through law but rather embraced by a strongly technological and innovation-loving people.6 No "headline-grabbing raids", automatic seizure of bank funds, or stopping luxury car owners to check their most recent tax returns. Then again, Sweden is also known for having the highest tax rates in the world.
Although the total amount of money changing hands in America’s shadow economy is quite massive, again, with respective to our total economy it is fairly small – about 8 percent of GDP. Given the sheer convenience and accessibility of electronic payment options almost everywhere you go, the transition towards a cashless society is certainly "in the cards."
However, given the diversity of America’s population, our strong desire for privacy and longstanding hatred towards taxes, there will always be a strong demand for some form of cash or non-traceable currencies – something I doubt the U.S. government won’t try to supervise or restrict.
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated
Given the trends taking place, a hot or cold war against non-traceable decentralized forms of currency is almost inevitable. Like Italy, the U.S. could hit such transactions head on and declare them illegal – although not without a massive uproar. On the other hand, the government could take a more indirect and technological approach that forces compliance overtime.
Specifically, we should expect to see some form of the following if the U.S. made a goal of collecting the estimated $500 billion in potential tax revenues:
Make cash transactions illegal
Merge all your information into one account and flag for any discrepancies between income and expenditures
Make it impossible to receive any form of government-provided or government-regulated assistance (Social Security, Medicare, health insurance, bank loans, credit, etc.) unless all taxes are current and accounted for
Obviously, if cash transactions were made illegal it would be very hard for anyone operating outside the system to freely exchange goods and services within the wider economy. However, it’s very easy to transfer cash balances onto a stored value card and then use that instead. Also, people could start using gold, silver, Bitcoins, or any other form of decentralized payment methods within various sub-networks.
For the second option – merging all your information into a database – this would further help in cutting down uncollected revenues but would also require voluntary participation by most non-regulated providers of goods and services. You would also expect to see a large number of costly and intrusive audits for those operating businesses on a cash-basis.
The last option – slowly making it impossible to receive aid, loans, insurance – would effectively strangle the shadow economy into submission and mitigate the chances of a revolution by declaring war on decentralized methods of payment. Incidentally, I believe a very eye-opening glimpse of what’s truly in the works was revealed when the Social Security Administration released a report highlighting the Big Brother right-to-access approach in conjunction with various other government agencies.
Consider SSA seen going 90 percent electronic
The Social Security Administration has little choice but to move toward a goal of processing 90 percent of all transactions electronically in the coming decades, according to a new report adopted by an SSA advisory panel…
The “Re-imagining Social Security” report was published recently on the panel’s website after being adopted by the group at a meeting in May.
In practical terms, the full picture of SSA’s electronic processing would mean that hospitals would create an electronic medical record for each birth and communicate data about those births to SSA, which would set up a password-protected electronic account for each child.
Thereafter, as adults, people could log into their personal SSA account to verify information for jobs, name changes, widowhood, disability and retirement. Furthermore, SSA would communicate electronically with Medicare and with private doctors and hospitals to obtain patients’ medical information if needed for a disability or benefits claim.
The proposed birth-to-death electronic system described in the report does not exist. The envisioned medical data-sharing network is based on the Health and Human Services Department’s Nationwide Health Information Network, and the job-verification system is based on the Homeland Security Department’s E-Verify, neither of which is widely used [currently]. More spending would be needed to create the necessary systems and networks, the report states…
To serve the small percentage of people with complex transactions or those who are unable or prefer not to use newer technologies, SSA should look into creating joint service centers with other federal agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, the report states.
(emphasis added)
There you have it: the merging of all your information (and money?) into one easily accessible electronic file. Want to get Social Security or other benefits? Apply for a loan? Get health insurance? You’re going to have to be part of the system. Otherwise, except to hear from the IRS!
References
America’s Underground Economy: Measuring the Size, Growth, and Determinants of Income Tax Evasion in the U.S.
Hiding in the Shadows: The Growth of the Underground Economy
America’s ‘shadow economy’ is bigger than you think – and growing
Welcome to the Predatory State of California – Even If You Don’t Live There
Doug Casey on Cashless Societies
In Sweden, Cash Is King No More
http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/0 … hless.html
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Fri Apr 06, 2012 9:39 am
View full post on opinions.caduceusx.com
Other • Re: A Cashless Society May Be Closer Than Most People Would
Every transaction you do in cash is a protest against the banking cartel and the efforts of the New World Order.
Not to mention, it also is one of the 3 most important aspects of building your own wealth, the other 2 being:
1) live debt-free
2) invest in commodities that are inflation-proof (e.g. gold, silver, etc)
Statistics: Posted by Deo Vindice — Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:21 pm
View full post on opinions.caduceusx.com
Other • A Cashless Society May Be Closer Than Most People Would Ever
A Cashless Society May Be Closer Than Most People Would Ever Dare To Imagine
Most people think of a cashless society as something that is way off in the distant future. Unfortunately, that is simply not the case. The truth is that a cashless society is much closer than most people would ever dare to imagine. To a large degree, the transition to a cashless society is being done voluntarily. Today, only 7 percent of all transactions in the United States are done with cash, and most of those transactions involve very small amounts of money. Just think about it for a moment. Where do you still use cash these days? If you buy a burger or if you purchase something at a flea market you will still use cash, but for any mid-size or large transaction the vast majority of people out there will use another form of payment. Our financial system is dramatically changing, and cash is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. We live in a digital world, and national governments and big banks are both encouraging the move away from paper currency and coins. But what would a cashless society mean for our future? Are there any dangers to such a system?
Those are very important questions, but most of the time both sides of the issue are not presented in a balanced way in the mainstream media. Instead, most mainstream news articles tend to trash cash and talk about how wonderful digital currency is.
For example, a recent CBS News article declared that soon we may not need "that raggedy dollar bill" any longer and that the "greenback may soon be a goner"….
It’s what the wallet was invented for, to carry cash. After all, there was a time when we needed cash everywhere we went, from filling stations to pay phones. Even the tooth fairy dealt only in cash.
But money isn’t just physical anymore. It’s not only the pennies in your piggy bank, or that raggedy dollar bill.
Money is also digital – it’s zeros and ones stored in a computer, prompting some economists to predict the old-fashioned greenback may soon be a goner.
"There will be a time – I don’t know when, I can’t give you a date – when physical money is just going to cease to exist," said economist Robert Reich.
So will we see a completely cashless society in the near future?
Of course not. It would be wildly unpopular for the governments of the world to force such a system upon us all at once.
Instead, the big banks and the governments of the industrialized world are doing all they can to get us to voluntarily transition to such a system. Once 98 or 99 percent of all transactions do not involve cash, eliminating the remaining 1 or 2 percent will only seem natural.
The big banks want a cashless society because it is much more profitable for them.
The big banks earn billions of dollars in fees from debit cards and they make absolutely enormous profits from credit cards.
But when people use cash the big banks do not earn anything.
So obviously the big banks and the big credit card companies are big cheerleaders for a cashless society.
Most governments around the world are eager to transition to a cashless society as well for the following reasons….
-Cash is expensive to print, inspect, move, store and guard.
-Counterfeiting is always going to be a problem as long as paper currency exists.
-Cash if favored by criminals because it does not leave a paper trail. Eliminating cash would make it much more difficult for drug dealers, prostitutes and other criminals to do business.
-Most of all, a cashless society would give governments more control. Governments would be able to track virtually all transactions and would also be able to monitor tax compliance much more closely.
When you understand the factors listed above, it becomes easier to understand why the use of cash is increasingly becoming demonized. Governments around the world are increasingly viewing the use of cash in a negative light. In fact, according to the U.S. government paying with cash in some circumstances is now considered to be "suspicious activity" that needs to be reported to the authorities.
This disdain of cash has also grown very strong in the financial community. The following is from a recent Slate article….
David Birch, a director at Consult Hyperion, a firm specializing in electronic payments, says a shift to digital currency would cut out these hidden costs. In Birch’s ideal world, paying with cash would be viewed like drunk driving—something we do with decreasing frequency as more and more people understand the negative social consequences. “We’re trying to use industrial age money to support commerce in a post-industrial age. It just doesn’t work,” he says. “Sooner or later, the tectonic plates shift and then, very quickly, you’ll find yourself in this new environment where if you ask somebody to pay you in cash, you’ll just assume that they’re a prostitute or a Somali pirate.”
Do you see what is happening?
Simply using cash is enough to get you branded as a potential criminal these days.
Many people are going to be scared away from using cash simply because of the stigma that is becoming attached to it.
This is a trend that is not just happening in the United States. In fact, many other countries are further down the road toward a cashless society than we are.
Up in Canada, they are looking for ways to even eliminate coins so that people can use alternate forms of payment for all of their transactions….
The Royal Canadian Mint is also looking to the future with the MintChip, a new product that could become a digital replacement for coins.
In Sweden, only about 3 percent of all transactions still involve cash. The following comes from a recent Washington Post article….
In most Swedish cities, public buses don’t accept cash; tickets are prepaid or purchased with a cell phone text message. A small but growing number of businesses only take cards, and some bank offices — which make money on electronic transactions — have stopped handling cash altogether.
“There are towns where it isn’t at all possible anymore to enter a bank and use cash,” complains Curt Persson, chairman of Sweden’s National Pensioners’ Organization.
In Italy, all very large cash transactions have been banned. Previously, the limit for using cash in a transaction had been reduced to the equivalent of just a few thousand dollars. But back in December, Prime Minister Mario Monti proposed a new limit of approximately $1,300 for cash transactions.
And that is how many governments will transition to a cashless society. They will set a ceiling and then they will keep lowering it and lowering it.
But is a cashless society really secure?
Of course not.
Bank accounts can be hacked into. Credit cards and debit cards can be stolen. Identity theft all over the world is absolutely soaring.
So companies all over the planet are working feverishly to make all of these cashless systems much more secure.
In the future, it is inevitable that national governments and big financial institutions will want to have all of us transition over to using biometric identity systems in order to combat crime in the financial system.
Many of these biometric identity systems are becoming quite advanced.
For example, just check out what IBM has been developing. The following is from a recent IBM press release….
You will no longer need to create, track or remember multiple passwords for various log-ins. Imagine you will be able to walk up to an ATM machine to securely withdraw money by simply speaking your name or looking into a tiny sensor that can recognize the unique patterns in the retina of your eye. Or by doing the same, you can check your account balance on your mobile phone or tablet.
Each person has a unique biological identity and behind all that is data. Biometric data – facial definitions, retinal scans and voice files – will be composited through software to build your DNA unique online password.
Referred to as multi-factor biometrics, smarter systems will be able to use this information in real-time to make sure whenever someone is attempting to access your information, it matches your unique biometric profile and the attempt is authorized.
Are you ready for that?
It is coming.
In the future, if you do not surrender your biometric identity information, you may be locked out of the entire financial system.
Another method that can be used to make financial identification more secure is to use implantable RFID microchips.
Yes, there is a lot of resistance to this idea, but the fact is that the use of RFID chips in animals and in humans is rapidly spreading.
Some U.S. cities have already made it mandatory to implant microchips into all cats and all dogs so that they can be tracked.
All over the United States, employees are being required to carry badges that contain RFID chips, and in some instances employers are actually requiring employees to have RFID chips injected into their bodies.
Increasingly, RFID chips are being implanted in the upper arm of patients that have Alzheimer’s disease. The idea is that this helps health care providers track Alzheimer’s patients that get lost.
In some countries, microchips are now actually being embedded into school uniforms to make sure that students don’t skip school.
Can you see where all of this is headed?
Some companies are even developing RFID technologies that do not require an injection.
One company called Somark has developed chipless RFID ink that is applied directly to the skin of an animal or a human. These "RFID tattoos" are applied in about 10 seconds using micro-needles and a reusable applicator, and they can be read by an RFID reader from up to four feet away.
Would you get an "RFID tattoo" if the government or your bank asked you to?
Some people out there are actually quite excited about these new technologies.
For example, a columnist named Don Tennant wrote an article entitled "Chip Me – Please!" in which he expressed his unbridled enthusiasm for an implantable microchip which would contain all of his medical information….
"All I can say is I’d be the first person in line for an implant."
But are there real dangers to going to a system that is entirely digital?
For example, what if a devastating EMP attack wiped out our electrical grid and most of our computers from coast to coast?
How would we continue to function?
Sadly, most people don’t think about things like that.
Our world is changing more rapidly than ever before, and we should be mindful of where these changes are taking us.
Just because our technology is advancing does not mean that our world is becoming a better place.
There are millions of Americans that want absolutely nothing to do with biometric identity systems or RFID implants.
But the mainstream media continues to declare that nothing can stop the changes that are coming. A recent CBS News article made the following statement….
"Most agree a cashless society is not only inevitable, for most of us, it’s already here."
Yes, a cashless society is coming.
Are you ready for it?
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/arch … to-imagine
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Thu Mar 29, 2012 7:43 pm
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Police State • Cashless Sweden + No ATM Fees = Total Loss of Freedom
March 25, 2012
Cashless Sweden + No ATM Fees = Total Loss of Freedom
Greg D. Franks
I, like many, have been perplexed over the past few years at the left’s constant barrage of "No ATM Fees" and why it seems to be an issue that won’t go away. Every few years it seems to return to the front burner when it comes to Democrats and the left presumably fighting for the little guy.
Sure, for consumers who use digital payment for most everything, it seems like a great "populist" idea. Who wants to pay fees every time he pulls his own money out of his own account? Really, who has time to go to the bank to get cash? Furthermore, who needs cash, period? That is why I thought of this as a political issue and why the Democrats used it as a way of getting votes.
I, like most capitalists, realize that there is a cost of doing business and that banks must be able to assess some fees for the use of an ATM card. But it wasn’t until Sweden announced this week that they were going "cashless" that I started adding up the cost of such an action.
At first look, going cashless seems to be a progression to ultimate freedom. There will be no need to get cash from the bank. When you get paid, the money is immediately deposited into your account. There is no need to enter checks and balance your checkbook. And there will no longer be a need for the coin jar sitting in the corner, slowly filling up to allow for buying something frivolous every year. We can just sit around downloading ABBA and have the funds digitally removed from our accounts without even getting out of our beanbags.
This all sounds great — why would anyone object to such a natural progression? Maybe the problem arose when Gen. Petraeus disclosed that the CIA has the ability to monitor us through our TV, dishwasher, and refrigerator. Or maybe it is the recent article in Wired that says that by September 2013, the NSA will have complete and total access to all things digital. Or maybe it’s the fact that the Fed has been so devaluing the dollar that if (more likely when)the dollar collapses, the Fed will have us deposit all of our cash into an account and issue us a card with everything we own and move the decimal point over a couple of digits.
But most importantly, the problem with going cashless is the total loss of liberty required. A cashless society gives the government absolute access into our lives, without anywhere to hide; indeed, it grants government total control of our finances and way of life.
Until recently, all this seemed far-fetched and conspiratorial. But I contend that the only thing stopping this from taking place is the ATM fee. Because once that is removed, there will be no reason to stop everyone from going as calm as Hindu cows when it comes to giving the government total control of our lives.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/201 … z1q6mIaekB
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:43 am
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