Originally published May 21 2015
Push to criminalize cash so that banks can manipulate digital money accelerates
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) There is an echo chamber of economic elitists, corporatists and officials forming to eliminate physical money in favor of creating a digital means of engaging in commerce that governments would control.
One of the latest examples is Jim Leaviss, head of retail fixed interest at M&G Investments, who wrote recently in Britain's Telegraph newspaper that a proposed new Denmark law should be viewed as a first step -- a model, if you will -- of abolishing "physical currency" and "normal bank accounts," all to give "governments futuristic new tools to fight the cycle of 'boom and bust.'"
Leaviss says the Danish proposal "sounds innocuous enough on the surface"; it would give local businesses and shops the right to refuse cash payments and instead insist that customers use "contactless debit cards" or another means of electronic payment.
He continues:
Officially, the aim is to ease "administrative and financial burdens," such as the cost of hiring a security service to send cash to the bank, and is part of a program of reforms aimed at boosting growth - there is evidence that high cash usage in an economy acts as a drag.
They will tell you when to spend and how much
Does this mean that governments should take control of all money so that banks can get rid of armored car companies?
Leaviss says the move in Denmark could be the first round in the creation of true "cashless societies." Once all money only exists electronically in bank accounts where it can be monitored or controlled by the government, the authorities will have a means of encouraging society's plebes (that's you and me) "to spend more when the economy slows, or spend less when it is overheating."
Ostensibly, under this proposal, you would get training or an education to get a job, you would earn a salary, but some faceless, nameless, unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats hunkering in some office somewhere would have the power to tell you how and when to spend your money.
Of course, it wouldn't really be your money any more, would it?
"This may all sound far-fetched, but the idea has been developed in some detail by a Norwegian academic, Trond Andresen," writes Leaviss in reference to Andresen's work, "Improved macroeconomic control with electronic money and modern monetary theory".
It's about the ultimate control
In this world, Leaviss says, all payments would be made by a card, apps on a mobile phone or other electronic means (such as Paypal, Google Wallet, etc.), while all physical coins and bank notes (paper money) would vanish. It appears that physical money would be banned outright; it is not clear whether physical gold and silver would be permitted.
"Your current account will no longer be held with a bank, but with the government or the central bank. Banks still exist, and still lend money, but they get their funds from the central bank, not from depositors," said Leaviss.
When all accounts are centralized into a single, government-controlled monetary institution, it would then give government officials power to influence spending, depending on the economic situation. In order to get people to spend more, the banks would impose what is essentially a tax on savings; faced with the prospect of their money being taken away in increments, depositors would become "more likely to spend it on goods and services." So much for the concept of saving for a rainy day; what happens when the car breaks or the refrigerator goes out, but you don't have enough money left in your account because you were forced to spend it on things you didn't need or want?
This unnecessary but forced profligate spending is supposed to prop up the ailing economy, or so the thinking goes.
This notion of a "cashless society" clearly is being pushed by "academics" and "scholars" and big government advocates whose real goal is not "economic stability" but control, pure and simple.
As such, this crazy scheme ought to be opposed at every step and never supported.
Sources:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
http://www.paecon.net
http://www.washingtonsblog.com
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