Cash, at least in europe. In my opinion that decision would mark one of the most epic political fails in recent history but I fear, that’s what’s going to happen.
I just hope that something like GNU Taler (which keeps buyers’ privacy and forces sellers to report their earnings properly) becomes the norm, as opposed to the proprietary plastic card transactions we have now. I myself am guilty of switching to that system because cash is just insanely inconvenient, but I also recognize it’s pretty bad.
There are a few countries like Sweden and India that are pushing more and more towards all digital payments and slowly trying to wean off cash. I think this is terrible for a number of reasons.
The big one is I work on the side as an electrician from my day job. I get paid in cash (it’s usually only like 5-10 hours a week). I save up that money and have been paying my plumber or tile guy for work that I don’t want to tackle on my own at my house. There’s a whole undercurrent of labor and an economy that gets paid in cash that does not need uncle Sam’s prying eyes. I imagine it will be a long time before banks would stop taking cash in countries pushing for everything to be digital, but who knows.
The other reason is the more vulnerable people in society. You can’t tell me that making everything cashless and only payable via smart phone doesn’t massively screw someone over who’s homeless. A lot of people only get by via panhandling and if suddenly they can’t buy food or ride public transit without a phone that is connected to cell service, that is a massive barrier.
Lastly, all cash restaurants and bars. They’re still common in my area. Things are usually a little cheaper there and I like paying cash for a few drinks. Or like the one bar I go to is still kinda lawless haha, a PBR is $2.
Regarding 2 and 3, theres a qualitative difference between the chinese government mandating corporations respect privacy and not retain or use biometric data and the US doing so (with the EU somewhere in the middle, usually), and what they have historically used that data for.
Regarding 1, in the event of a total societal collapse where not even phone towers are running, I’m not sure how much utility money would have.
Because iso/power failures, lost/broken devices, let alone the government doesn’t need to know every transaction, the inability to gift a displaced person $20, or money in a birthday card.
Wechat and Alipay do all that except the not keeping a record of transactions. There’s tons of food places where the entire payment system is just a printed QR code and they just tell you how much to pay so there’s nothing that can go down except the phone network and wifi.
You can also just give people money, which seems like it shouldn’t work with a credit card because it’s technically a cash advance. There’s been a dozen times where a store that requires everything go through an app so they can make you click through 3 menus advertising discounts if you buy more items wouldn’t work because I didn’t have a Chinese number or something, and the employee would put in the order, then I’d give their personal account the money.
Cash, at least in europe. In my opinion that decision would mark one of the most epic political fails in recent history but I fear, that’s what’s going to happen.
I just hope that something like GNU Taler (which keeps buyers’ privacy and forces sellers to report their earnings properly) becomes the norm, as opposed to the proprietary plastic card transactions we have now. I myself am guilty of switching to that system because cash is just insanely inconvenient, but I also recognize it’s pretty bad.
Why would it be a failure? I loved never having to carry anything but a phone in China.
There are a few countries like Sweden and India that are pushing more and more towards all digital payments and slowly trying to wean off cash. I think this is terrible for a number of reasons.
The big one is I work on the side as an electrician from my day job. I get paid in cash (it’s usually only like 5-10 hours a week). I save up that money and have been paying my plumber or tile guy for work that I don’t want to tackle on my own at my house. There’s a whole undercurrent of labor and an economy that gets paid in cash that does not need uncle Sam’s prying eyes. I imagine it will be a long time before banks would stop taking cash in countries pushing for everything to be digital, but who knows.
The other reason is the more vulnerable people in society. You can’t tell me that making everything cashless and only payable via smart phone doesn’t massively screw someone over who’s homeless. A lot of people only get by via panhandling and if suddenly they can’t buy food or ride public transit without a phone that is connected to cell service, that is a massive barrier.
Lastly, all cash restaurants and bars. They’re still common in my area. Things are usually a little cheaper there and I like paying cash for a few drinks. Or like the one bar I go to is still kinda lawless haha, a PBR is $2.
Yeah those are all pretty valid. Going cashless requires a lot more from society than just giving everyone an app.
lmao you should see how cheap liquor is in asia.
Regarding 2 and 3, theres a qualitative difference between the chinese government mandating corporations respect privacy and not retain or use biometric data and the US doing so (with the EU somewhere in the middle, usually), and what they have historically used that data for.
Regarding 1, in the event of a total societal collapse where not even phone towers are running, I’m not sure how much utility money would have.
Because iso/power failures, lost/broken devices, let alone the government doesn’t need to know every transaction, the inability to gift a displaced person $20, or money in a birthday card.
Wechat and Alipay do all that except the not keeping a record of transactions. There’s tons of food places where the entire payment system is just a printed QR code and they just tell you how much to pay so there’s nothing that can go down except the phone network and wifi.
You can also just give people money, which seems like it shouldn’t work with a credit card because it’s technically a cash advance. There’s been a dozen times where a store that requires everything go through an app so they can make you click through 3 menus advertising discounts if you buy more items wouldn’t work because I didn’t have a Chinese number or something, and the employee would put in the order, then I’d give their personal account the money.
I don’t have access to those. I’m in the Evil Empire.