Londonrake wrote:I read the article but as always found the comments more illuminating. I cant see it happening to be honest although I do recall reading a SF story way back about a guy that the system had registered as dead and he basically could do what the hell he wanted. People will always want some sort of means of person to person transacting. It will just go black on dollars or something. Somebody somewhere will make a fortune out of circumventing it. A monetary speakeasy I suppose.
There is a lot of misconception about money, its creation and the way banks operate, so many comments are distorted by mistaken beliefs. It is an involved subject but once you grasp the basic concept that privately owned, commercial banks really do create 98% of bank deposits out of debt and all of it is created out of thin air, the concept of a cashless society becomes more than just probable, it becomes a certainty! The banks have everything to gain .......... they create 98% now, so why not burn the paper money and make it all 100% electronic? If you are a banker it makes sense and solves an awful lot of problems and restrictions for the banks ............. but is going to cause real grief for the rest of us.
You say ... ‘
You can’t see it happening’? But it HAS happened already, it's now in the final stages of realisation! The process has been in motion for over a hundred years. The electronic era just accelerated the process. In the 50’s note and coin (
let’s call it money) represented around 50% of the money in circulation, the other 50% was just book keeping entries but most people then were paid in cash and spent in cash, there were no cards!
Today only 2% is money (
note/coin) and the other 98% has progressed from a clerk making book keeping entries to computers doing exactly the same thing only many millions of times faster. So now 98% of all money is book keeping entries (computers) and transactions all happen electronically, whether that is you writing a cheque, making a bank cash transfer or using a card ...... it’s ALL electronic.
I will give it around 15-20 years and there will be no high street banks, no ATM’s and even a box of matches you will buy using a card. The banks will have 100% control of the money supply.
I have no idea of your politics but consider what Corbyn is saying about his proposal for ‘
Peoples Quantitative Easing’ ? Search for an explanation of PQE or more correctly OMC (
Overt Money Creation) He is trying to get the supply of money carried out as it was before the modern banking system came into being, that is that it should be the State NOT private banks that create money. It is not a new idea; many US Presidents tried to do it and were unsuccessful because The Bankers are so powerful that they are now running the political system as well as the banking and financial system.
If you want to know how money is created ask The Bank of England! Banking sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry ...... but believe me, what most of us think we know about the origins of money and banking is wrong! Look into it and you will very soon realize what an absolute fraud the banking system is.
