Do we still need currency

Inspired by the poll on the usefulness of the penny.

I consider the men in charge of this government "foreign" to everything in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.

Choices look pretty slim, how about changing that last one to we don't want people to be able to track our every move, lifestyle, and buying habit with a simple look at a computer? Privacy? Somehow the idea of a foreign power doesn't seem as realistic, but I picked that over the mattress given the choices :shrug:

Are none of the gummint's damn business.

Did you know that at one time you could get $500, $1000, $5000, $10,000 bills? Nixon outlawed them in 1969. The reason of course was to ensure that the government would know if you spent any significant sums.

http://www.answers.com/topic/united-states-one-thousand-dollar-bill

The argument for getting rid of it is what, the only use is criminal so if you aren't guilty don't worry? Wasn't that the same excuse offered for watching our email, tracking our phone calls, and all of that other stuff?

If you aren't guilty don't worry about it. Well, I like my privacy and I don't see a reason to give up an inch of it. We've lost enough already without giving them total control of our lives.

Just a quick what if, have we ever considered what happens if we did get rid of currency? A computer glitch, an improper death notice that confused you with someone of a similar name, you piss off someone like a Bush, next thing you know you're a non-person and can't even buy food. All it would take is a computer command to close or freeze everything you have, by accident or by intent.

Do we really think this is a good idea, to give people that kind of power and control over you?

...that have nothing to do with takeovers by foreign powers or hoarding by the paranoid. For one, the gray economy would collapse without hard currency, and the gray economy is an important, if iffy, area that enables much economic activity that benefits us all.

amusedly,
Bright

For 1 second, we make the China yuan 799,640,000.0000 to US dollar.
During that second, we pay them a dollar.
We can make up for years of a falsely low yuan lickety quick.

people.

We have a 'soft' currency, the value of which is backe by "the full faith and credit" of the government.

It should be carefully noted that such a currency is a built-in protection of the existing regime against revolution/overthrow. Every piece of currency in our billfolds is another 'reason' people "go along to get along." This is, after all, why many folks didn't want the government printing money at the outset ... and part of why some people supported a gold standard.

There are many people who deal on a cash only, or cash and barter system, and I have a lot of sympathy for them.

No more credit cards and no more bank accounts. :shrug:

I don't think that's a bad idea.

I'm not a big fan of credit cards, but I do bank in order to pay bills online. I wish I weren't such a fan of convenience, but I'm American and a love for convenience may be part of my character. :thumbsdown:

We will have to barter.

You might check how your choices are worded.

I see nobody so far in the thread that sees a foreign power as even a realistic possibility but a few with privacy concerns. You might want to try again with options that people are actually concerned about instead of a real concern and two rather odd ones. I've seen plenty of privacy concerns with stuff like this but never anyone who says we need it in case of a foreign power.

#2 was closest for me, except I don't mind keeping my money in a bank, but I do object to how necessary credit cards have become. Try renting a car without one, for instance. And there are even places that won't accept the currency of the nation -- only credit cards. These should be outlawed, along with the notion that any company can ask you for a credit card number as ID if you're not actually making a purchase with the card. Violators should be jailed.

Not that I have one. Not that I've ever had one. Not that I even want one. And you know why? Because the rest of the world tells me I must have one in order to function fully in society. Well, who the fuck is the rest of the world to tell me what to do? So I refuse to play along. Next thing you know, they'll want to implant some chip. Thanks, but no thanks.

Let's make sure that EVERY monetary transaction is recorded so the government knows who pays whom for what and when.

"In George We Trust" :puke:

And it would be our nightmare. Think ID theft is a plague now, wait until we're all in a cashless society. Think that bank's charge ticky tacky BS fees now, wait until they have a captive audience they can gouge. And do you really want to have a record of every purchase you make? Datamining heaven! And those quaint little tax free exchanges that we all do, garage sales, bake sales, paying Johhny down the street to mow the yard. Every single penny will be taxed, and you will have a service charge for the machine to register such sales.

In addition, putting the nation onto a cashless basis would, at least temporarily, wipe out the country's black market. While most people would say that this is a good thing, keep in mind two things. First, the US black market makes up at least ten percent of this country's GDP, and possibly as much as fifteen percent. Yank those kind of numbers out of our economy and it will immediately collapse. Secondly, while such a move would hurt those responsible for the black market for awhile, they would adapt and recover, our economy very well might not.

A cashless society, while a nice pipe dream, would be a disaster for our country.

For starters, I like cash because I never have to worry about interest or pay-by dates when I use it.

There are lots of poor people and people in financial trouble who can't use anything other than cash.

But of course, the real reason cash isn't going anywhere is that there are a large number of people making a large number of transactions that they would rather keep anonymous. As long as we have that, we will always have cash.