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I think this is reasonable for the government to enforce until there is some 100% publicly accessible banking system that provides a medium of digital payments.
by lykr0n 8y ago
I think this is reasonable for the government to enforce until there is some 100% publicly accessible banking system that provides a medium of digital payments. As it stands, there are people who are shut-out of parts of the economy for one reason or another.
The dangers we will face (and why some people like the idea of bitcoin) is that we're developing dependence on a financial system entirely controlled by private entities. Your bank that holds your money, to the many companies digital payments flow through, to the bank where your money is going. You are controlled by scores you can't directly influence, and can't challenge. If you're Chex score is too low, banks will refuse to let you hold a bank account with them.
I think accepting cash should be required until we have a system like this in place (I'm US focused, but its the same for other countries): The USPS/Federal Reserve buys/launches a Visa/Mastercard like transaction network and at the same time providing a universal bank that any citizen could use without charge. This would make sure that there is no such thing as "un-banked" people, and would provide a world where we could realistically go "cashless."
- Gaelan 8y agoThis still means that the government could track/freeze your transactions. While it’s better than the status quo of electronic payments (where the government can, and so can private companies), depending on your threat model it may not be a replacement for cash.
- lykr0n 8y agoThe IRS (in the US) does not give out information. At. All. Even to other agencies. The USPS as well. Isolation can be done. It's not perfect, but we can have stronger protection than any private bank can give us.
- selimthegrim 8y agoUh, Medicaid and healthcare.gov beg to differ
- lykr0n 8y agoOk. Most every other agency runs a fairly tight ship. I'd take that any-day over the patchwork of different, and unaccountable, entities that I both know and don't know that hold my PII
- codyb 8y agoIf this is true that's certainly pretty neat. I thought the USPS mail scanner information was used by others but maybe I'm wrong? Or maybe I'm thinking of those USPS detectives who investigate mail fraud?
- imhoguy 8y agoCash has great properties of being truly distributed, not discriminating people and offline. In case of any electricity or network instability you can still buy an apple from elder causal gardener at his driveway market stall.
- jliptzin 8y agoI hope we never go cashless.
- ahje 8y agoHere in Finland, the government is playing around with the idea of demanding that the banks' financial systems should be able to operate independently from the international systems in the event of a global crisis. The banks obviously refused as their entire business model is built on international cooperation re. transfers. As long as banks can't crack that nut, I don't think cash is going anywhere...
- klondike_ 8y agoThis isn't a new idea and has worked well in the past https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_savings_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_savings_system