Most western nations will soon adopt digital currency. Already, more than 80% of day-to-day transactions in the First World are settled with debit cards, credit cards, PayPal, or checks. In Europe, the use of the EC card—a sort of interbank debit card—has become ubiquitous. Going “cashless” is the Big Trend.
With the now widespread use of smart phones, payment for many small transactions is as simple as just waving a phone at the checkout counter. (This is a so-called “contactless” or “mobile wallet” purchase.) Mobile wallets, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, are catching on rapidly. So rapidly, in fact, that some urbanites no longer carry any cash. At many stores, kiosks, and even restaurants this will likely become obligatory in the next few years. No smartphone? Sorry, “No soup for you!”
From Voluntary to Mandatory
Whether it takes five years or just a year, the end of cash—or at least cash as we know it–is coming. The transition from the convenience of electronic commerce to the requirement for electronic commerce will be a Sea Change event. For those of us who live in remote areas beyond cell phone coverage, this change will be a troublesome hindrance. Other than writing checks, how will we be able to buy and sell things, especially with other private parties?
But for all Americans, going cashless will remove the last bastion of our privacy. Paying in cash provides anonymity for purchases. Adopting electronic-only currency will be a big change. Every transaction will be positively tallied and tracked for both the seller and the buyer.
Ominously, the push for going digital is coming just as hacking and identity theft is reaching pandemic proportions. The prospect of being forced to put your liquid net worth into digital bucks and then seeing them wiped out is quite frightening.
The Digital Currency, Around the World
There is already a war on cash in progress. And this isn’t just something in the realm of foreign headlines. There is a war on cash here in the United States. And a rapidly-growing number of countries are nearly ready to switch to digital currencies. Here is a brief summary:
Sweden
Sweden is leading the way. It was recently reported that many churches in Sweden now use an “App” for accepting tithes and offerings instead of cash.
Norway
Norway is on a similar trajectory. In Norway, only about 5% of retail transactions are now paid for in cash. Some recent reports have mentioned that Norway may drop the use of folding money and coins as soon as 2019.
France
In France the cashless move has been slower than in Scandinavia but still relatively rapid. In addition to now widespread use of cash cards and debit cards, contactless devices and digital wallets (such as mPOS) are catching on.
Denmark
Almost one-third of Denmark’s populace uses the cellphone app MobilePay for their transactions. The Danish government has established the goal of going cashless no later than the year 2030.
Germany (Not!)
Of the western European nations, only Germany seem to be bucking the trend. There, cash is still king.
Japan
In Japan, like Germany, there is considerable resistance to going cashless. Those of the younger generation in the big cities are switching to cash cards and various contactless systems. But the majority of these systems are pre-paid.
Australia
In Australia’s major cities, digital wallets are now all the rage.
Citibank has announced that it was eliminating cash transactions at some of its Australian bank branches. There are already “no cash” bank branches in many U.S. cities, and I expect this trend to accelerate. High crime areas will probably be first.
The Indian Experience
India’s recent experience is particularly instructive. In 2016, the 500 and 1,000 Ruppee notes were demonetized. The stated reason was to stop counterfeiting, but the real goals were control and tax revenue. After the deadline, 500 and 1,000 Ruppee notes became worthless. Anyone holding them in effect got a 100% tax. This was a devastating bureaucratic blow, since 86% of India’s circulating currency was in those denominations. Not stopping there, the Indian government now plans to fully ban large transactions.
For some more detailed information about India’s war on cash, see the InfoGalactic article.
Welcome to the Cashless Fishbowl
The most dreaded implication of going cashless is transparency. There will no longer be any “private” transactions. We’ll all be swimming in the same fishbowl. This transparency is a tax collector’s dream come true. It could allow deeper and broader taxes. Simple set-rate sales taxes could become passé. Instead, taxing authorities could use variable transactional taxes levied as a tool of social engineering.
Specific “sin taxes” could be levied on everything from sugary drinks to alcohol, ammunition, and edged weapon purchases. It is noteworthy that point of purchases transactions are now largely keyed to Universal Product Codes (UPCs). The same cash register that itemizes your purchases also debits your payment card. So it is a fairly simple incremental step to pick out bureaucratically-perceived “sin” UPCs and tax them at various rates. The excuse given will of course be “societal costs”. (Such as higher cost for medical care.)
Grounds for Investigation
What else will the mandatory use of digital currency bring? Any controversial (but ostensibly legal) purchases might trigger investigations by law enforcement agencies. These “no-no” items could include: precursor chemicals, ANFO fertilizer, Tannerite (exploding rifle targets), greenhouse grow lights, hydroponics equipment, large inline fuel filters (which are dual use as “solvent traps”), radar detectors, voice scramblers, encryption software, bulk quantities of foods, controversial books, body armor, night vision equipment, fighting knives, pyrotechnics, some medical items, precious metals, colored gemstones, D-Con rat poison, colored contact lenses, and many other items. Just by living as a well-prepared individual, you would probably trigger multiple investigations at various levels of government. This will be a very uncomfortable fishbowl, indeed!
All of the requisite technologies for the digital currency transition are in place. Now it is just a matter of when individual nations (and blocs of nations) decide to make the switch. Again, smart phones are becoming ubiquitous. That is the key enabling technology. Vending machine makers have already produced a new generation of machines. They are already equipped with credit and debit card readers, eliminating the need for currency and coins. Keeping bank accounts with direct deposit are mandatory for military service members and virtually everyone on the Federal payroll. (That is a huge legion, just by itself.) So the question is no longer “if” but “when”.
Ready, Set, Barter!
It is high time to get ready for the transition to e-currency. Hedging into precious metals is an obvious choice. I posit that even if transactions with metals are outright banned, they will still be widespread. Why? The advent of transparent markets breeds opaque markets. Making transactions in silver and gold will probably become a misdemeanor crime. (And perhaps even a felony, depending on the amount transacted.) But if anything, this criminalization will make holding silver and gold coins more popular than ever.
Obviously, in order to be ready to transact in silver and gold you will need to have those coins (ideally, before the cashless transition). If you already hold some real money, then it is simply a matter of adjusting your holdings into small, barterable increments. So, for example, if you presently own some 1-ounce gold coins, then you should consider trading some of those into either silver coins or at least into 1/10th ounce gold coins. (Just be forewarned that the latter carry a substantial seller’s premium. You will probably not be “trading straight across”, ounce for ounce.)
Already Holding Silver?
But what if you already have some silver? If you have any large ingots (10-ounce, 100-ounce, or larger commercial ingots), then you should consider trading most or all of those into either 1-ounce silver rounds, or better yet into pre-1965 U.S. silver dimes or quarters. (Small increments make for smooth and easy transactions.)
It would also be wise to make any purchases of controversial or dual-use items before the advent of fully-tracked digital commerce. And now is the time to round out your personal library with books on arcane subjects that could raise eyebrows. It is also wise to put together a reference library to peg the relative value of coins, guns, pocket and wrist watches, and various collectibles. Knowledge is power!
Ballistic Wampum
Many years ago, Colonel Jeff Cooper coined the term Ballistic Wampum to describe the use of ammunition for barter. The suitability of common caliber ammunition in this role is self evident. Because it has most of the key attributes of a barter good, I consider ammo co-equal to silver coins. What are these attributes? Durability. Ease of Recognition. Fungibility. Divisibility. Practicality. Near Universal Appeal. Oh yes, and: Cool Factor. In a future barter economy, all the Cool Kids will be swapping Ballistic Wampum.
Gain Key Bartering Skills
This is also a good time to get accustomed to bartering. If you are inexperienced with barter, then be advised that there is a learning curve. Take the time to read this SurvivalBlog article: The Savvy Barterer–References, Skills, and Tools for TEOTWAWKI Barter.
Many communities host farmers markets, community garage sales, and flea markets. They are great places to learn how to barter. Also get accustomed to traveling to attend coin shows, gun shows, and Ham radio swap meets. The experience that you gain in bartering there will prove itself invaluable. (Once digital currency is instituted and a good portion of legitimate private commerce is driven underground, barter skills will be tremendously more important than they are today.)
Take the time to research and then join barter and/or local currency networks. To start, do your homework with web searches on phrases like these:
- “Alternative Currency”
- “Local Currency”
- “Ithaca Hours”
- “Barter Club”
- “Barter Network”
Long Term Risks of a Cashless Economy
The long term risks of a society under a digital currency regime are difficult to fully predict. There is, of course, the aforementioned loss of privacy– what I call “The Fishbowl Effect”. But just as scary is the recognition of the fact that a universal digital currency at the national or even multinational level opens the doors to monetary mischief. What is to stop a government from grossly inflating a digi-currency and then simply dropping a zero? That is something difficult to accomplish with paper currencies and coinage, but it could be done in the blink of an eye with an electronic currency.
There are probably many other risks that I haven’t considered. But suffice it to say, adopting digital currency will be like opening Pandora’s Box. Brace yourselves, folks, and hedge!
What About Bitcoin?
The topic of Bitcoin deserves an essay of its own. I’ll suffice here with a few notes:
- First, remember that just like any other currency its value is a perception. Whether you are looking at a Federal Reserve Note, a one-ounce silver trade dollar, or a Bitcoin, its value (purchasing power) must be agreed to by both the buyer and the seller. No agreement, no sale.
- In recent years, the value of Bitcoin in relation to paper currency has been all over the map, but the general trend is upward.
- Be sure to keep at least three copies of your Bitcoin “wallet” (wallet.dat) file, and hide them well in separate places.
- Your passphrase should be long, memorable, and unique.
Most of all, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. As I recently mentioned in a SurvivalBlog column, you should beware of putting too much of your wealth into Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. When times get hard, governments get grabby. And of course Bitcoins stored by third party exchange services are vulnerable to hacking. For more information on Bitcoin, see this over at Wired: Bitcoin Has Come Roaring Back—But So Have the Risks.
In closing, we should anticipate the advent of digital currency with a wary eye. Plan ahead, and you will be ready to cope and even profit. But if you simply go on with your day-to-day life and get caught unaware by the change, then it could be costly to both your net worth and to your personal freedom.
Because this has been just a brief summary, I look forward to the Reader Comments to this article. They should be quite illuminating! – JWR
Doesn’t a digital(cashless) system lend itself well to the end times/mark of the beast system? For that reason alone. it scares the heck out of me! Barter will be the name of the game, but how long such a system can make it is open to debate. And hoarding cash is not a viable option; at the stroke of a pen, a la India, the PTB can make certain denominations useless after a certain date and time! While I’m not terribly familiar with Bitcoin and other digital money systems, I shy away from them because of my need to physically hold my possessions. Such interesting and scary times we’re living in!
There is also a war on credit and debit cards. In the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia all of the local owned Non Franchised business’s have signs on the doors that state “cash only no debit or credit cards or checks”.
Another reason going cashless is the transaction fees that banks will collect. That’s why places will not take credit cards or charge extra for their use. It’s expensive if you do not have enough business to warrant them.
Credit and Debit cards are mostly VISA or AMEX, issued for banks. Banks are hostile to non-franchised businesses, so it’s reasonable to return the favor. I would rather do business with the owner of a shop, who knows the stock and can be a solution-vendor for me as well as a potential customer.
It matters what you’re planning for. If you want to carry a lot of money in a very small place, you can put digital currency(ies) on a thumb drive and GOOD with it in your pocket. It’s possible, though, that various governments (or international organizations like the IMF) will create their own digital currencies. It’s not clear what impact this would have on bitcoin and other digital currencies. I am unconvinced of the security of bitcoin as a long term store of value, and as an anonymous medium of exchange.
Bitcoin is not “anonymous”. Users can be and have been identified. All transactions are recorded in the blockchain, forever.
Bitcoin “could” be anonymous, if the user was careful. I don’t mind the recipient of my funds knowing (or suspecting) who I am, as long as the currency itself can’t remember me.
There is no anonymity with Bitcoin. Every transaction is being followed. I know this for a fact, I have seen the system that does it. No the big question is, are you a big enough fish for the TPTB to go looking for? It take resources to do this, so unless you are someone they want you are probably OK. There is a crypto currency that can be exchanged completely anonymous, it’s called ZCash or ZEC on the markets. It is easy to mine and still worth mining. Most miners use a T address which is public, but you and I can exchange via Z address with complete privacy. Price is volatile like all the other cryptos though.
Revelation13:
16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
Please go find the book “When your money fails” from the early 80s. This has been planned for a very long time.
The globalists will probably be successful in moving the world to digital currencies. The use of cash will probably not die off immediately but will tail off over a period long enough for those not over, say, 50 to die. Younger people will be much more receptive to the digital idea. So don’t get rid of all your cash just yet! Stay away from $100 bills, and maybe even $50’s. And yes, everyone needs enough cash for at least 3-6 months of basic necessities outside the banking system. In a financial crisis the banks will close, and the ATM’s and your credit cards won’t work. Assuming this won’t be the final crash, just the next one, you’ll need the cash to get by. One further comment — try to get “used” bills == you don’t want to be the one spending fresh new currency during a crisis — it will make people wonder how much more of it you have. Don’t ask your bank for it — when they give you new bills, exchange them at stores, yard sales, etc. OPSEC!
Silver dimes make the best change.
One of the upsides to living in a small rural environment is the prevalence of barter and barter goods. On my road, there are 8 families, all of whom garden extensively and several have livestock. Barter happens all the time, in many forms. For example, I raise pigs. Last year I traded two processed pigs for a side of beef. But the truth of the matter is, the most common type of bartering is for work. I’ll help hauling hay in exchange for help on a new barn construction. I’ll run the electrical on the neighbors shop for help felling trees and slashing brush. Barter is more than just tangibles, and is the most private of transactions.
Excellent article & advice. While this old lady has a credit card, and yes, I shop online using it and PayPal, I also pay CASH whenever I can. Am all set to barter, if need be! My Dad (born 1904, passed 1987) never owned a credit card. Paid CASH for our 144-acre farm at an auction. Saved, invested, raised five children, and always paid CASH for everything. He was the best man at “bargaining” I even met. Self-made man, ran his own business, then return to farming, and we learned well his lessons! He valued his privacy, and was really “old school”! I try to convince young relatives of using cash wherever and preparing for whatever. They hear me, however, I suspect they are NOT fully “listening”. Someday, the chickens will come home to roost, and just as I sometimes regret not following my parents’ advise, I suspect they will be saying, “Gee, if only we had LISTENED to our Aunt!” As Dad said, “You cannot put an old head on young shoulders.”
The reason this will happen is the banks earn [uncorroborated figure deleted] on every transaction. They already track the cash you receive when you cash out a check at your own bank. Just because you do not deposit a check does not mean they do not record the transaction. The only way to avoid that record is to cash a check on the bank where it is drawn if you do not bank there. The IRS mostly already has you. Trump does not love bankers so we will see. He also knows that when you stick it to the bankers there is a lot of splash back.
Most banks will not cash a check if you do not have a account there,even if it is their check,or they want to charge large fees. The bank made the person who wrote the check to me write one to cash and come in and cash it himself and give me the cash,when I was leaving the manager was trying to explain why the man shouldn’t close his multimillion dollar personal and business accounts. Going to stock up on liquor it has even wider appeal than ammo,laundry soap and “soups”(ramen)are common currency in the hood.
It is all a matter of priorities. If we approach the challenges of current events as “survivalists” rather than focusing how to remain effective in service to our King then we miss the point entirely. It would be profitable for us all to imitate the attitude of Paul as written in the first chapter of Philippians. There are many Scriptural reasons to prepare for the worst but implementing them without the confidence that “To live is Christ and to die is gain” makes it all for naught. Cashless will come. The mark will come. Persecution will come. May we each live so as to honor the One who grants us each breath and use our days to glorify Him as we are commanded to do.
Thank you. The best comment yet. Yes we are prepared in the worldly sense. But the battle has been raging around mankind for 1000’s of years. And as stated in Ecclesiastes there is “…nothing new under the sun” said by the wisest of men.
A cashless society may be the method for the Feds to get out from under the crushing (and growing) debt. Go cashless, and then tweak the value over time such that the debt disappears. Voilà!…
I don’t believe a cashless society will be good for the individual.
I believe that you are absolutely right.
I remember when we were forced at work to go to direct deposit. Never again to receive a physical check that could be turned into cash. In today’s society we seem to live on “credits”. I go to work and get paid so many credits for the amount of time I put in. I purchase gas in exchange for these credits without ever going into the store. If I need feed for livestock I purchase this with my credits I’ve earned by letting the feed store electronically debit my account. It is easy to move into this cashless society we’ve started heading towards or actually have both feet firmly planted in. Because of this, I created the habit a long time ago that every time I received a $100.00 bill I’d keep it. I call it collecting Bennies and I save them up for emergency needs. I got so good at it that I purchased the truck I drive today with a healthy handful of them. After reading some things on Survivalblog in the past I realized that I needed more “tradeable” cash so for the past year and a half now on every payday I extract a couple hundred dollars from an ATM that only provides $20.00 dollar bills. This is building my stash of green emergency currency I keep locked in a safe. I also like to turn my “credits earned” into silver be it junk silver (pre-65 coins) that I get at a local shop where they only accept cash transactions or I may buy ½ ounce or full one ounce rounds all for possible future trading needs. I do get some gold in small amounts, but I’ve really stocked up on the silver and especially the old coins. I love going to pick up a couple of roles of dimes to add to my stash. I don’t stop there either. Every chance I get I purchase ammo in common calibers that I have. For instance, there is no way I’ll personally shoot all the 22LR ammo (currently > 15K rounds) that I own, but it will certainly make great wampum when the time comes. I just don’t trust all my funds being electronic as I have had my card compromised at least three times where I’ve lost a few hundred dollars to thieves that worked the electronic system. It was like I got mugged without ever being touched.
I buy some silver rounds and junk silver too. But a really odd thing is when the price is low as it is today they don’t have any available. OK, I understand that but… how then does the price stay low? That is if they sell it as quick as they can get it and it is a sellers market why wouldn’t the price go up? My best guess is that someone is manipulating both the price and the availability of silver.
Same experience yesterday. Dealer that had “unlimited” silver at $18 and $20/oz has only a 5 oz bar and 5 random rounds for me at a 6-month low price. He still has a few ammo cans of 90%, though.
I believe your guess is correct. Please do your own research regarding 3 banks in London that set the gold & silver prices daily (I think they are all in London). There are member banks who rotate this responsibility of daily price fixing.
I used to have a large cash emergency fund, at least 6 months of expenses on a budget but as I reduced my debt and finally paid off my mortgage, I have slowly reduced the stash and replaced with some gold. Up until that point I only purchased silver as when the price moves silver will outperform gold as an investment, and if it comes to barter its silver every time. I’m also heavily invested in ammunition and reloading components.
Back to cash, so my emergency fund is down to ones, fives, and twenties but enough to last several months on a budget. IMO the $100 bill will be the first to go, and when they ban it, I expect they will be watching very carefully how many get turned in and by who.
Two things:
1) If cash is destroyed in favor of debit cards, then the government can threaten the existence of any citizen simply by turning off his debit card.
Click of the mouse and the citizen can no longer buy anything — food, water, shelter(motel, pay rent, pay mortgage), medical care, transport –NOTHING. De facto slavery. Worse actually — in the past, slaves could always flee and buy food on the road.
And the two-faced lying lawyers, politicans and judges will undermine any protest to this tyrannical cashless scheme by promising a “review by law” to “protect your rights.” The same toothless hypocrisy they promised to keep warrentless surveillance under control.
Anyone seen the Washington Post or the New York Times or MSNBC making loud outcries to warn the voters?
Me neither.
2) The second thing is that cash is already much less anonymous than people assume. I noticed when I pulled cash out of my bank’s ATM that all the twenty dollar bills have serial numbers in sequential order. I.e the bank probably has a record of the exact bills I am holding. Which may not matter if I spend them at the grocery store. But if I store them and try to use them in the future on a black market after SHTF then they point right back to me. We don’t just have registered guns now — we have registered cash.
Hiding like rats isn’t working — they are boarding up all the rat holes. You need to elect Members of Congress that will destroy this creeping tyranny. This unending “War on Terror”
that is really a cover for a War on liberty.
Have you taken a look lately at the cost of running for Congress? Not enough dead presidents to beat that system … I’ve run several times and refused to accept FRN for donations and the best part is that it really screws up the C-5 forms for the FEC. I came within 700 votes shy of winning once in a county race … that was a fluke but hey, its fun to get up & ask really tough questions about the Constitution and get the Republic-RATS and the Democ-RATS all twitterpated about real issues.
as long as the cotton rectangles still have the phrase “this bill is legal tender for all debts public and private” on them, cash will still be available. Quit fear mongering!
FRNs are as good as Janet Yellin says they are,must make you feel really secure
Hahaha, good one…Remember when the Social Security card was only to be used for Retirement?, and remember the privacy advocates saying it would morph into a tracking number and the naive Schmucks claiming it was ” fear mongering” to suggest that it would be used as an identifier?
I have a question. I’ve looked at buying some bitcoin, but I have to provide identification to purchase, so have not.what am I missing?
I can sell you bitcoins without needing id, but I only take greendot, gobank, or Walmart money card.
in response to justin time: If you look at older U.S.paper money it states payable in gold or payable in silver. Neither is true after the passing of new laws. The bills didn’t change. In fact by current law cash can be refused as payment. It doesn’t matter what it says on the bill.
Digital “money” might work well when everything is “normal”. What the heck happens not if but when there is a power failure? It might be a short failure or one of a longer duration. Without electricity and the associated internet we become DEAD in the water. (Sorry about the pun) As everyone has said, it is all about control.
Hmmm. Lots of $100 bills in circulation, for some reason.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/coin_data.htm
Federal reserve says a maority of US currency in circulation is outside the USA.
Interesting article from Reuters on how people in India responded to the government calling in large Rupee notes — i.e, government required large rupees be deposited in banks before a certain date, after which they became worthless. With a tax of 200 percent on large deposits if the owner couldn’t explain where his cash came from. heh heh
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-modi-corruption-taxes-idUSKBN1360UO
I was surprised that Reuters didn’t mention the obvious approach — use of foreigners. I would have thought the big money would simply have given the large Rupees to an offshore bank –at a significant discount admittedly — in exchange for US dollars, swiss frans, euros,etc.
Before the deadline, The offshore bank could then exchange the expatriated cash back for dollars from the Bank of India as part of the usual international banking transactions. Straightforward money laundering that is the whole purpose of the offshore banks.
Of course, the government of India has debased its currency for the long term. No one — native or foreign — is going to store wealth denominated in India rupees going forward. Including in electronic accounts. I suspect that is going to damage India’s economy.
The majority of the Rupees were held by the poor who have no access to the banking system, no id to open a account at the bank that is a 20 mile walk in the sun to be mistreated by someone that doesn’t want you in the building much less your small account. You are looking at a third world problem from a first world perspective. I have a hard time understanding why there wasn’t a widespread revolt,many,many families were wiped out by this.
PS This points up an interesting thing. Washington can’t destroy US currency without coordination with other major nations –G7 or maybe G20.
For one thing, US citizens could simply swap US dollars for foreign currency (euros, Chinese or Japanese currency,etc) before the deadline.
Foreign currency is an option in addition to gold/silver and is more portable.
The second reason is that much of the US currency is held by foreigners. That would be the foreigners who currently hold $8 TRILLION in US assets — Treasury securities, corporate stocks and bonds, etc.
Washington can borrow at low interest rates because foreigners are willing to accept dollars at low interest in exchange for the safety — nuclear power, protected by two large oceans, world’s most powerful Navy, etc. That could change if Washington made the value of the dollar wobbly the way India has done to the rupee.
A dollar was only worth 55 rupees in 2013 , for example. Today it is worth 65 rupees and was close to 70 rupees as the Indian Government’s deadline approached. I.e Rupee has lost about 20 percent of its real value from the call in of the large Rupees.
You live in your well-protected retreat. No electricity or Internet, but you have a good spring, a good crosscut saw, and you ‘taters did so well you will have more than enough to last ’til next harvest. A feller shows up who wants some taters. Offers you payment in Bitcoin. Will you accept? Would you have a way to do so if you wanted to? Could you spend it again if you did? Me neither.
Would someone please show me the amendment to the Constitution of the united States of America wherein article One,section 10, mandates gold or silver coin as a tender for the payment of debt. I cannot seem to find it and for many years I have asked every elected representative from the White House to the dog housze where this amendment is …no body seems to know, most don’t care; a few elected members of the congress became very agitated when asked … just saying …
Section 1 article 8:
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
This was to prevent the separate states from minting their own coins and provide a uniform system of exchange. I’m not really sure that this actually prevents the US government from printing paper money.
LT Mike’s point was that Section 1 article 10 –repeat 10 — states:
“No State shall .. coin Money;..emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts;..”
So states apparently can make laws that gold and silver coins are legal tender but can not?? coin the silver or gold themselves. But this doesn’t preclude coins from foreign countries, US Mint, private mints,etc being declared legal tender for debts incurred within the state.
I suppose Congress could ban the future import of foreign gold coins and maybe ban private minting of gold coins (given how the supine Supreme Court let Congress stretch the interstate commerce power to ridiculous lengths.)
But existing gold and silver coins appear protected — unless Congress wants to buy them up in which case it would have to pay the full market value per the Fifth Amendment clause on taking of private property.
I also wonder if States can prescribe the exchange rate for gold oz vs US dollar in the case of debt denominated in dollars (which most are.)
Oops. I was wrong. The two-faced sophistry of the Supreme Court knows no bounds.
Re the 1935 case Perry vs United States in which the Court urinated upon the Fifth Amendment by claiming Congress’s right to coin money gives it the right to give you a $1 dollar bill as full payment of a $16,000 obligation.
In other words, 5 crooked lawyers can destroy contracts and property.
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/294/330/case.html
Note the dissent of the 4 conservative judges. Recall Roosevelt’s threat to pack the Court with many more judges –as many as needed to enforce his will.
So much for checks and balances. So much for the Bill of Rights.
Confiscate gold like Roosevelt did? Has anyone ever been able to force a state to abide by the Constitution and pay in gold or silver?
For Crpytos also look at Ethereum. That’s the hot new one. The blockchain behind it is more versatile so it’s more than just a currency like bitcoin is. I encourage people to read up on it. This one could be a game changer in how the block chain operates. Worth putting some money in that. Also recently threw some “gambling money” at a lesser known one called Bytecoin. $119 got me 50,000 of them. If it goes to zero oh well. If it goes up to even $1 then thats a nice return. YouTube is your friend and research Ethereum.
When I get long green from the bank teller and ask for 5 and 10s they were giving me mostly bills which were pretty worn and already had small tears started. I asked pretty please for better condition bills “because the badly worn ones won’t work in the gas pump slots or other bill changers”. I also apologize for taking so much of their time but could they please put those paper wraparound tapes from their drawer labeled “$100” on them for me. I am grateful for their help and use exactly those words with them.
With 15 to 20 security cameras on us from parking lot to the tellers counter there is no avoiding recording, so I make sure I am the nice undemanding person who cordially thanks them using the name on their workspace or shirt. You never know but they may be a future friend when you need one, and Apostles Peter and James were very clear in the instructions on how we are to treat people.
Just to let you know. Those who live within the US are under currency control now. You will experience difficulty should you wish to take any larger amount of money outside of the pen. Sitting ducks.
But, you can get out if you have good shoes and can sleep on the ground. There are lots of spots to walk across the Northern border. Make more money when you get there.
Digital currency is all about control. The hardest person to control lives a debt free lifestyle, has a full pantry and owns a small business, even if it is just a part time on. There is nothing wrong with silver or ballistic wampum, but it does you little good if you have no room to maneuver.
I can attest to banks “watching your every move”.
I had saved a lot of cash and deposited it into the bank for a real estate purchase. I did this over several weeks, everything well under 10k. I received a letter from my bank informing me they were closing my account. Apparently I triggered an algorithm that indicated I was a drug dealer or money launderer… No courtesy call, no opportunity to find out why they fired me…
Everything I did was both moral and legal.
Big Brother and his bankers are watching our every move.
What became of your money? I told my spouse of your example and we both wondered if you got your cash back. I’ve always thought to not leave much in the bank but your story worries me. What is a person to do? I don’t purchase precious metals currently.
@LSM – We closed the account, deposited every last cent at another bank and never looked back. They never did anything to the cash only wanted to get rid of us as customers. We still keep a small amount of cash in the safe for emergencies. We don’t keep much in the banks just enough to pay our monthly bills and mortgage.
We have started paying ahead on some bills, Electric, water, gas, etc. This keeps us from having to pay those bills each month. When they get low we just add more funds. Banks don’t pay interest so nothing lost there.
Good advice regarding prepaying the utilities. Thank you for answering. I appreciate it.
Greg,
If you made multiple deposits under $10,000 over a short period of time in which the aggregate is over $10,000, it could be viewed as “structuring” which is illegal.
No one seems to be thinking about allowances for your kids, paying a neighbor kid to mow your grass or shovel your driveway, babysitter etc. Premiums for fair ribbons. Buying stuff from the Boy and Girl Scouts. How is a kid supposed to earn some spending cash? Next will be 5 year old kids filing tax returns!
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/01/alabama-town-requires-teens-purchase-business-license-mow-lawns/
That’s easy – kids will expect you to pay him/her using Venmo – peer to peer money transactions. That’s how kids transfer money between themselves. Very few people above age 30 have heard of, or use Venmo.
Perhaps I’m seeing things that don’t exist but I wonder if the powers that be understand the fiscal house of cards we have been building for the last century is approaching unavoidable collapse.
At first banks that failed were allowed to collapse. Then government ‘insurance’ was added to protect the depositors. But still the bank and its owners took the hit.
The last couple crisis the government bailed out the banks. Now they are seeing the next event will be too big for even a government to fund.
The law has been changed from bail-out to bail-in. The depositors will all be clipped some fraction of their deposits.
Obviously, people will start avoiding large balances on deposit when the banks get shaky again. But if there is no cash, and transactions are all electronic, it’s impossible to not keep your entire liquid wealth in a bank or something very similar.
Another point. Fiat money always collapses and when it does it’s replaced with a new ‘better’ currency. Won’t it be nice when the conversion just means the banks move the decimal one place in your balance?
The icing on the cake, almost a secondary thing, is the government gets to track its sheeples and commerce gets to profile you for sales approaches.
You are not completely correct. When it comes to bail-ins, only uninsured deposits as well as bondholders could suffer a loss and only for those deposits that are in banks determined to be systematically important. Insured depositors are exempt from any bail-ins. And bail-outs are still possible.
I predict citizens will revolt nearly to the point of a revolution or states will use the loss of the right to use cash as an excuse for succession. Texas may be seeing the writing on the wall because they are about to build their own gold and silver depository. If big brother gets too pushy, well it may be a possibility that they could also create their own currency. That may sound a bit far fetched but just the thought of doing away with cash is pretty far fetched too yet here we are talking about it.
As a Texan I am intrigued by the possible outcome.
This scares me to death. When my cousin’s bank was closed last week, due to a computer virus, she called me. “My bank can’t give me any cash! I always carry $150+ in cash, and my bank card won’t work!”. Her solution was to open another bank account with another bank (yes, she’s wealthy), so she would always have access to get cash. Wait a minute……I explained to her that a virus can affect any/all/only some of banks, you never know which, so start keeping cash in her house in a safe. She was gobsmacked that more than one bank could go down at a time!! I wish folks would understand that taking control of your spending is about the government and not about you. Once you canNOT keep transactions private, it is nelly bar the door in taxes, fees, control, etc. I refuse to use auto tellers, auto check out, or use cards when I can use cash. I do not want or need my life tracked. Apple Pay, et al, is just another reason to get your phone stolen. I remember my relatives talking about the crash of ’29, and how all of the banks were closed. When they opened, my wealthy grandparents were poor; getting 10 cents on every dollar. My grandmother had jewelry in a safe deposit box. She also had a friend who worked in the bank, and thus was able to keep her jewelry. The friend took the pieces out of the deposit box and saved them at her home for my grandmother to pick up. Other people were not so lucky. Never ever believe that the powers that be are working for your future-it really is all about them!
As a small merchant that accepts credit cards, I can assure you that Visa, MasterCard, Amex and Discover do not currently get sent a list of what you buy. All the card processor sees is the amount due, card info, and store ID. Large merchants, on the other hand, do build customer profiles, often using info from their frequent shopper cards. So if you buy ammo at Walmart, Walmart will know you buy ammo, but Visa probably will not. The real question is does the NSA or some other agency access that data or will they do so in the cashless future?
We still accept cash in our store and I don’t see that changing, but retailers who move away from cash do not have to take the time to give change, count and verify the cash drawer(s), or run to the bank to make a deposit, and they no longer need to ensure they have enough small bills and change on hand. It is also harder for employees to slip money into their pocket instead of the drawer and if they are robbed there is nothing in the till to be stolen. For a retail establishment, especially one trying to quickly move people through a line, it comes down to speed and ease of use and using electronic payment methods comes out ahead of cash. My point is that retailers may move this direction, regardless of government mandate, especially in upscale urban settings.
1. You can have multiple bitcoin wallets too.
2. There’s also etherium, litecoin, and others.
3. They are require grid-up and connectivity.
I’m more worried about “soft” requirement to go cashless. When you can’t buy groceries or gas at your local store, but I expect WalMart to do that first. Can you even use cash to pay for anything at Amazon?
And the erosion of local stores in many places. Can you even get supplies? Even some farm/ranch stores are going “big box”.
https://pando.com/2014/09/09/the-hypocrisy-of-bitcoin-owners-and-reddit-users-who-value-their-own-privacy-and-no-one-elses/
I can’t believe anyone falls for Bitcoin.
Think about it: When you get a discount at, say, Safeway, for using their “membership card” it’s because that information is literally worth the $7 or $2 or $23 they discounted you.
Let that sink in.
There’s pretty good evidence the NSA created Bitcoin (Pando.com has several articles on this) and it’s a surveillance outfit’s wet dream. Imagine every dollar you spend keeps a record of every pair of hands it passed through and everywhere it was spent, and probably on what.
A silver dime will never sell you out.
This may give the Russians too tempting a opportunity for them too pass up,if they take down the global system(they and the Iranians and North Koreans are not on the system) and destroy the economies of the ones who have been messing with them for decades(sanctions)it would make Putin even more popular at home and it could be done with deniability,just like the CIA/NSA malware has been used in the last several weeks.
You are 100% correct ! No one want to think about this, or publish anything about it.
Add to your concerns a once per century solar storm, or a nuke above the atmosphere to set up an EMP ( pulse ) and any electronic crypto-currency seems unsafe.
And as for those that say it can’t be hacked, I’ll say this — it can’t be hacked UNTIL IT IS HACKED. Add to that a HUGE D.O.S. ( denial of service ) attack that sends trillions of bitcoin blockchain “events” over the net, and whaddya got ? Bitcoin soup is what you got.
Silver dimes don’t tattle, and are not subject to MASSIVE D.O.S. attacks and whatnot.
What we will see is a government-blessed FEDCoin, enriched with all sorts of police-state tracking goodness.
First, it will be introduced as a kool, hip replacement for cash with a list of actors and mouthpieces the length of a plumber’s crack. Cash will be demonized at the same time as currency for terrorists and drug dealers. That theme worked into popular movies and TV shows (which already has begun).
Then it will be the preferred currency for the largest retailers, like Walmart, and eventually the only currency they will accept.
After that comes an outright ban of cash – any type of physical currency or bartering.
The final stage is tyrannical. After everyone is on the FEDCoin reservation, expect the data mining, the data suspects, the arrests – need I go on?
Indeed, your very right to buy and sell will be at grave risk.
Plan what the future will likely look like. Buy those controversial items NOW with cash and store away.
1) A cashless society of 320+ million people dependent upon debit cards for life support essentials — and a North Korea with EMP-producing ICBMs. What could possibly go wrong?
Here’s acouple of You Tube links about a reputable Texas based physical gold trading company offering a new gold backed token or cryptocurrency on the ethereum blockchain.
The Bloodless Cryptocurrency Revolution & Gold On The Blockchain With Anthem Blanchard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0SGHJkJv6U
On The Record #1 – Anthem Gold & AGLD Tokens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEynpkftbDg
Anthem Gold
https://www.anthemgold.com
Anthem Vault
https://www.anthemvault.com
These links and other related crypto posts also appear on;
Hardened Structures Twitter
https://twitter.com/HardStructures
I agree with Don . Beyond the invasion of our privacy my greatest concern is all that money that’s supposed to be in your account could just disappear and how do you prove it’s suppose to be there ? I had a friend who’s house payment was supposed to be automatically withdrawn. Someone ?? didn’t do their job and it took months and a lot of expensive overdraft fees to finally get it paid. So what if you end up on the wrong side of someone in power of your account ?
I once had a contractor who worked for me who would come to my house to pick up his check. Then he would go to the bank and ask for cash. He would count the cash and then hand it back to the bank employee for deposit in his bank account.
Why ask for cash and then count it and then deposit it in the bank? It serves no purpose.
Larry Burkett posited this very scenario in his novel THE ILLUMINATI, about 20 years ago.
I pay cash as often as possible, debt-free, have paid up utilities, etc., in advance, and only use $20 bills, putting the “change” ($1,$5,$10, and loose change) in a safe place at home. My bank has informed me that they are going to online transactions only.I find this very disconcerting as I simply don’t trust the banks or the government. I’m 70, and am wondering when it will be “hitting the fan”. I have 21 acres that I live on, orchard, garden, food preservation, poultry, etc. My kids/grandkids seem to have absolutely no interest in this place or learning how to be self-sufficient. Sad, sad, sad!