I was standing in line at the supermarket, about a week ago, waiting to pay for my groceries. There were five people in front of me in the line up, when suddenly the system went down.

 I live in a small town, about 20 minutes from a bigger city, and that's nice. It gives me a transition from the hustle and bustle to a more tranquil environment.

 Anyway, as I was saying, people were standing in line, waiting for the system to reboot. The clerk was standing there, looking rather uncomfortable, and after about 10 minutes apologized for the inconvenience. By then, as you can imagine, the line up had grown substantially. Then one guy in front of me asked the clerk what were the options if the system didn't come back on line. The clerk shrugged his shoulders and said he can still take cash, otherwise you'll have to wait or return the goods and come back later. Fortunately for me and one other person who had cash on them, we were able to pay for our groceries and leave. Everyone else seemed more like a deer in the headlights, slightly confused by the situation.

 It got me thinking. Who on earth would want a cashless society? Of course; the banks, the governments, the control system. Think about it, and imagine living in a world where every transaction you made would be monitored. How easy to profile a person. No more lemonade stands, garage sales, 50/50 draws, or anything of the kind could take place where cash was used as the transaction. No, if indeed we still had the opportunity to hold these events, it would only be with the knowledge of Big Brother. Would you need a licence? How much would it cost?

 Something else to consider, you would not be able to withdraw your money out of the bank,because of negative interest rates, or concern over bank bail ins. Remember this legislation concerning bank bail-ins already exists in most of the western countries, and it wasn't put there just for fun. You do know that you are no longer a depositor, don't you? No, you are now a shareholder, so when you deposit money in the bank it becomes their money. And if the bank fails, then take a number. And you can forget about the insurance covered by the FDIC (US) or CDIC (Canada) they only have pennies on the dollar to cover your losses.

 So ask yourself again, the question why? Why implement this policy? Is it because the banks fear they may have a serious financial problem in the future, and want your savings to cover their losses? Let me think about that one. 

 Here's something else to consider. If you needed a card (or chip) to purchase everything, from buying food to paying your bills, what implications could that have for you? What if the government didn't like your politics, or decided to call you a domestic terrorist. Perhaps you wrote a blog calling them what they are, criminals. Well, they just turn you off, and goodbye dissident. 

 Of all the people who were in the supermarket that day, I wonder how many of them will ever consider the implications of a cashless society?


Eddie Carrigan 

www.eddiecarrigan.com