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> After all cash physically allows money laundering, should we ban cash? Yes, we probably should, now that better alternatives exist. We should have public po

> After all cash physically allows money laundering, should we ban cash? Yes, we probably should, now that better alternatives exist. We should have public postal banking, so no one is unbanked. And then we should stop issuing cash.

wilg 7y ago
What better alternatives exist?
- jlmorton 7y ago
  Preferably low-cost digital payments, such as debit cards, mobile payments, or whatever else, perhaps including cryptocurrencies like Libra. I understand many of these methods as they exist in the US come with significant fees, although debit cards have improved significantly since Dodd-Frank. Sweden will stop accepting cash payments in 2023, and already nearly 90% of transactions are completed without it. There's not a one-size solution, but 98% of Swedes have a bank card, and 60% have used mobile payment app Swish over the past year.
  - drivingmenuts 7y ago
    Electronic payments completely exclude the unbanked and cost proportionally far more for low-income brackets. Cash is the only near-zero or zero cost transaction method available.
    - jlmorton 7y ago
      Fixing that would be a prerequisite. Public/postal banking is one way to accomplish that. Regulation is another. I actually disagree that cash is currently near-zero cost, though. The current situation is that credit cards charge large interchange fees, and their agreements with most merchants prohibit them from passing those fees to their customer. The result is that most of the fees are added to prices for all customers. Unless you're paying with cash at a cash-only business, you're using one of the most expensive payment methods. The closest you can come to a low-cost payment method is a rewards credit card that provides some of those interchange fees back in the form of cash bonuses, points, or whatever, and then paying off the balance each month.
  - wtmt 7y ago
    Debit cards and mobile payments are not low cost in many places. They may seem to be no cost to consumers, but the costs are added in every product or service that's being sold because every player and "middleperson" in the payment chain takes a fat enough cut. This affects the poorer people disproportionately, and they end up subsidizing the costlier digital payment modes used by the relatively richer people.
  - gjs278 7y ago
    credit card companies charge swipe fees which isn’t fair to every business doing low cost transactiona

wilg 7y ago

What better alternatives exist?

jlmorton 7y ago
Preferably low-cost digital payments, such as debit cards, mobile payments, or whatever else, perhaps including cryptocurrencies like Libra. I understand many of these methods as they exist in the US come with significant fees, although debit cards have improved significantly since Dodd-Frank. Sweden will stop accepting cash payments in 2023, and already nearly 90% of transactions are completed without it. There's not a one-size solution, but 98% of Swedes have a bank card, and 60% have used mobile payment app Swish over the past year.
- drivingmenuts 7y ago
  Electronic payments completely exclude the unbanked and cost proportionally far more for low-income brackets. Cash is the only near-zero or zero cost transaction method available.
  - jlmorton 7y ago
    Fixing that would be a prerequisite. Public/postal banking is one way to accomplish that. Regulation is another. I actually disagree that cash is currently near-zero cost, though. The current situation is that credit cards charge large interchange fees, and their agreements with most merchants prohibit them from passing those fees to their customer. The result is that most of the fees are added to prices for all customers. Unless you're paying with cash at a cash-only business, you're using one of the most expensive payment methods. The closest you can come to a low-cost payment method is a rewards credit card that provides some of those interchange fees back in the form of cash bonuses, points, or whatever, and then paying off the balance each month.
- wtmt 7y ago
  Debit cards and mobile payments are not low cost in many places. They may seem to be no cost to consumers, but the costs are added in every product or service that's being sold because every player and "middleperson" in the payment chain takes a fat enough cut. This affects the poorer people disproportionately, and they end up subsidizing the costlier digital payment modes used by the relatively richer people.
- gjs278 7y ago
  credit card companies charge swipe fees which isn’t fair to every business doing low cost transactiona