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Sweden leads the race to become cashless society

theguardian.com

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Re: Sweden leads the race to become cashless society

#51

Post by sheraz »

a-saleh wrote: post #49
sheraz wrote: post #24

House of cards. Cashless societies mean: the unbanked are further isolated and prevented from engaging in commerce. Older generations are left behind. Just trying to switch bankid login from old phone to new phone is a PITA, and I'm tech savvy. Lack of anonymous transactions means that my banks know about my vices such as gambling, porn, or strippers. Cascading failures - payment network crashes means no one can auth…

A.f.a.i.k. even if everything fails, you can still use the embossing on your card and your non-electronic signature. I have used in car-rental recently. Not sure if my grocery store would accept this sort of payment though :-/

I'm almost certain that none of the businesses in Sweden have the machine to make impression / carbons like in the 80s

Re: Sweden leads the race to become cashless society

#52

Post by polotics »

This is obviously all wonderfully modern and the wave of the future and all that. Yeah Sweden!!! Totally lagom :-)

What the article fails to mention is that the swedish central bank has been able to implement an extremely aggressive negative interest rates policy thanks to The Cashless.

So if you like your savings eaten away by government mandated fiat (see what I just did there?) then of course be all plasticky and virtual.

This ends in hyperinflation as well as taxation cat-and-mouse games between governments and alternative currencies.

Re: Sweden leads the race to become cashless society

#54

Post by CuriousSkeptic »

gremlinsinc wrote: post #44

What happens when power grids fail, or if war ever breaks out in Europe and internet banking fails as a result? --- At least with cash you can still get the staples at the store.

I guess what would happen is that people will invent new cash as needed. Cigarettes being the classic example.

Re: Sweden leads the race to become cashless society

#55

Post by CuriousSkeptic »

brainpool wrote: post #27

I live in Sweden and have not visited an ATM for months. Even public toilets have a card reader attached. I would like to have a way to easily display the balance of the card though, or just the last few expenses, preferably on the card it self.

Not affiliated, by I liked this https://plastc.com/

Re: Sweden leads the race to become cashless society

#56

Post by [deleted] »

mrec wrote: post #22
atlih wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's something to be worried about. But I'm more worried about banks having the power to issue unlimited currency which is a default in a cashless society

Well, cash hasn't exactly stopped them either. I don't know what the figures are elsewhere, but in the UK around 97% of money is created by private banks making loans, not by the central bank printing notes.

[deleted]

Re: Sweden leads the race to become cashless society

#57

Post by polotics »

mrec wrote: post #22
atlih wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's something to be worried about. But I'm more worried about banks having the power to issue unlimited currency which is a default in a cashless society

Well, cash hasn't exactly stopped them either. I don't know what the figures are elsewhere, but in the UK around 97% of money is created by private banks making loans, not by the central bank printing notes.

Oh please learn some economics. Bank loans are not new money. Some TBTF banks have a problem of under-capitalization and may be bailed out with new money, but banks are government's strawmen on this racket.

Re: Sweden leads the race to become cashless society

#58

Post by atlih »

polotics wrote: post #57
mrec wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, cash hasn't exactly stopped them either. I don't know what the figures are elsewhere, but in the UK around 97% of money is created by private banks making loans, not by the central bank printing notes.

Oh please learn some economics. Bank loans are not new money. Some TBTF banks have a problem of under-capitalization and may be bailed out with new money, but banks are government's strawmen on this racket.

Bank loans are new money according to The Bank of England http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarte... The reason banks get into trouble is because they cannot meet even their tiniest obligations in actual currency. In a cashless society this will not be a problem, just unlimited digital money creation.

Re: Sweden leads the race to become cashless society

#59

Post by colejohnson66 »

cft wrote: post #39
colejohnson66 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, there is one way to be anonymous in a cashless society: purchase prepaid debit cards. One would think prepaid debit cards can be linked to the purchase, but no (at least where's I work). We had a problem a few months ago where a guy bought over $5000 with a fradulant credit card. However, because the prepaids can't be linked to the purchase, the cards can't be disabled; they are treated the same as cash. N…

Will you purchase those cards with cash in the cashless society?

No. Normally, you'd just use your card to buy prepaids, but I mentioned if you were paranoid enough, bitcoin and bitcoin tumblers are an option.
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