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5% of the US population is unbanked. A "cashless" society would shut out a massive number of poor, undocumented, homeless, etc and make life even more difficult

5% of the US population is unbanked. A "cashless" society would shut out a massive number of poor, undocumented, homeless, etc and make life even more difficult for them. It would also cause skyrocketing issues with burglary, mugging, etc. Many porn actors have been blacklisted from the US banking system. Conservatives got tired of losing US supreme court cases over censorship laws and regulations and shifted to enforcing their morals via the private banking system. Ever notice that there's no law or regulation requiring banks provide even basic checking service to anyone who can establish a valid identity? Going cashless cannot happen unless either the government starts providing essential (checking, savings, credit card, and home/personal/auto financing) services they are mandated to provide to everyone (which will never happen because the banking industry would lose a ton of control) or banks must be mandated to provide non-lending services to anyone and provide lending on an identity-blind basis (ie, only metrics may be used, none which identify the type of banking or business or employment or spending you do.)

TimJRobinson 3y ago
Your assumption is that only Government and Banks can process payments, which is not true. You must think outside that overton window to realize there are ways of paying people that don't require either.
whimsicalism 3y ago
My guess is most of the % that is unbanked is either undocumented, has a history of bank/credit fraud, or has some alternative bank-like structure they are relying on (when I attended an inner city black high school, a lot of (largely black) people used cashapp seemingly in place of having a bank)
paulddraper 3y ago
> Conservatives got tired of losing US supreme court cases over censorship laws and regulations and shifted to enforcing their morals via the private banking system. The same thing has happened to conservatives. [1] [2] [3] It's more of an establishment/anti-establishment phenomenon than a left/right phenomenon. [1] https://nypost.com/2019/05/25/jpmorgan-chase-accused-of-purging-accounts-of-conservative-activists/ https://nypost.com/2019/05/25/jpmorgan-chase-accused-of-purg... [2] https://www.newsweek.com/pnc-bank-trump-mxm-news-account-1785290 https://www.newsweek.com/pnc-bank-trump-mxm-news-account-178... [3] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gofundme-freedom-convoy-under-investigation-for-blocking-donations-canadian-truckers/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gofundme-freedom-convoy-under-i...
mym1990 3y ago
A side effect of this for the unbanked is probably that a new currency emerges that is used among those without access to banks. That could be just regular goods, or some other form of fiat money.

TimJRobinson 3y ago

Your assumption is that only Government and Banks can process payments, which is not true. You must think outside that overton window to realize there are ways of paying people that don't require either.

whimsicalism 3y ago

My guess is most of the % that is unbanked is either undocumented, has a history of bank/credit fraud, or has some alternative bank-like structure they are relying on (when I attended an inner city black high school, a lot of (largely black) people used cashapp seemingly in place of having a bank)

paulddraper 3y ago

> Conservatives got tired of losing US supreme court cases over censorship laws and regulations and shifted to enforcing their morals via the private banking system. The same thing has happened to conservatives. [1] [2] [3] It's more of an establishment/anti-establishment phenomenon than a left/right phenomenon. [1] https://nypost.com/2019/05/25/jpmorgan-chase-accused-of-purging-accounts-of-conservative-activists/ https://nypost.com/2019/05/25/jpmorgan-chase-accused-of-purg... [2] https://www.newsweek.com/pnc-bank-trump-mxm-news-account-1785290 https://www.newsweek.com/pnc-bank-trump-mxm-news-account-178... [3] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gofundme-freedom-convoy-under-investigation-for-blocking-donations-canadian-truckers/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gofundme-freedom-convoy-under-i...

mym1990 3y ago

A side effect of this for the unbanked is probably that a new currency emerges that is used among those without access to banks. That could be just regular goods, or some other form of fiat money.