Everyone knows Cash is King but what happens when the Man comes around and bans it? So what, you say, gleefully tapping your cheery little plastic digital id on the nearest Starbucks payment scanner. So what? So a lot.
Say, by way of wild conjecture, that you're a Canadian trucker who protests against the government in Ottawa, which is a kind of town in Ontario. The government doesn't like this and tells your bank to freeze your account. Hey presto, all of a sudden that happy little card doesn't work any more and guess what, you can't buy anything. No, don't even think of cashing your paycheck because you can't, there is no cash. Look at you, unperson.
Again, try to imagine a scenario in which you're a political figure in England, say, Nigel Farage, and you're saying things against the ruling political class, let's call it the Uniparty. How very brave. Sorry, buddy, Coutts & Co. have debanked you and good luck paying for anything with all the paper you've hidden under the mattress, traitor.
You get the point, whether you agree with the truckers, Farage or anyone else, and the point is this: A cashless society opens the way to tyranny and it's just a step away from CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) in which all your spending is under government scrutiny. Of course we all know that'll be utterly benign.
On point, I was shocked last time I was in London (UK, not Ontario) to see how hard it was to purchase anything with cash. Notable exceptions were Cordings in Piccadilly, who loved it, and a coffee stand outside Embankment station, Blues and Royals, I think. More shocking still was the reaction of some of my friends, erstwhile and present anarchists no less, they didn't seem to see the issue. Scotland was better, but still.
I tell you, we're sleepwalking into something bad here, a tyrannous digital cattle pen. Perhaps Texas needs to issue its own gold backed currency by way of leading the world to freedom and fiscal sanity?
Just a thought,
LSP