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In praise of cash

aeon.co

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Re: In praise of cash

#71

Post by treyfitty »

seppin wrote: post #57
sparrish wrote: post #13

After having my card skimmed for the 4th time (at a gas station pump, at checkout at grocery store, etc), I decided to pay for everything with cash. It's not worth the hours it takes to clear up things with the bank and I get a better understanding of where my money is being spent when my wallet gets light.

Only use a card with a chip. Problem solved

Chip transactions aren't processed in most gas terminals. It's not mandatory for gas terminals until 2020.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/emv-credit-card...

Re: In praise of cash

#72

Post by nowarninglabel »

RugnirViking wrote: post #58
PaulAJ wrote: post #39

The thing about the cashless surveillance panopticon is that it still can't stop illegal drugs. Every prison is exactly that kind of surveillance society, and in every prison drugs are readily available. HSBC is one of the principle members of this privatised money system. It was found to be laundering money for international drug dealers, and got off with a slap on the wrist. Nobody working at the bank has been pros…

I don't mean to be pedantic, but that statement would definitely be improved with a link to a source

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/outrageous-hsbc-se...

(which is a nice narrative account linking off to further sources)

Re: In praise of cash

#73

Post by wyldfire »

schoen wrote: post #52
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must admit that I don't understand the details of bitcoin. But if I understand correctly, can't a majority of owners block your transaction?

It's very complicated to articulate exactly who can block Bitcoin transactions. The traditional simple answer is that "a majority of mining power" can block an individual transaction by refusing to include it in blocks. However, they have to be pretty committed to this, because if someone outside of the group does eventually mine a block that contains the censored transaction, the group members also have to be willin…

I think it's great to think about weaknesses and corner cases, but you're being too generous/imaginative here.

A pithier version would be: it's infeasible to censor transactions and if a nation state spent enough to try it, it would indeed be noticed and the community would fork.

Re: In praise of cash

#74

Post by galago »

nunez wrote: post #2

While I agree that cash is extremely convenient and largely anonymous, it is still much more of a hassle to manage than credit or debit cards are. I lived in NYC for a bunch of years and the one thing that I absolutely do not miss is paying for >$100 dinners, entirely in cash, because the restaurant was "too cheap" to handle processing and transaction fees.

Its probably both the fees and the taxes. They want to be able to choose what business activity to report.

Re: In praise of cash

#75

Post by jk563 »

sotojuan wrote: post #62
nunez wrote: post #2

While I agree that cash is extremely convenient and largely anonymous, it is still much more of a hassle to manage than credit or debit cards are. I lived in NYC for a bunch of years and the one thing that I absolutely do not miss is paying for >$100 dinners, entirely in cash, because the restaurant was "too cheap" to handle processing and transaction fees.

Heh, where I live in Brooklyn there are no places that take card for less than $20 (sometimes $10). It definitely required some adjusting.

And yet I'm living in a village outside Leicester in the UK and I've paid <£0.50 on a card/using Android Pay on multiple occasions.

Re: In praise of cash

#76

Post by [deleted] »

sotojuan wrote: post #62
nunez wrote: post #2

While I agree that cash is extremely convenient and largely anonymous, it is still much more of a hassle to manage than credit or debit cards are. I lived in NYC for a bunch of years and the one thing that I absolutely do not miss is paying for >$100 dinners, entirely in cash, because the restaurant was "too cheap" to handle processing and transaction fees.

Heh, where I live in Brooklyn there are no places that take card for less than $20 (sometimes $10). It definitely required some adjusting.

[deleted]

Re: In praise of cash

#77

Post by ownagefool »

RugnirViking wrote: post #58
PaulAJ wrote: post #39

The thing about the cashless surveillance panopticon is that it still can't stop illegal drugs. Every prison is exactly that kind of surveillance society, and in every prison drugs are readily available. HSBC is one of the principle members of this privatised money system. It was found to be laundering money for international drug dealers, and got off with a slap on the wrist. Nobody working at the bank has been pros…

I don't mean to be pedantic, but that statement would definitely be improved with a link to a source

Not the OP but one wonders how much they've made verses how big of a fine they'll have paid and who'll have went to prison when all said and done.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/11/hsbc-us-mon...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/02/21/hsbc-profits-...

http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN1685ON

Re: In praise of cash

#78

Post by M_Grey »

CPLX wrote: post #9

The core concept to remember I think is that there are two ways to pay for things: * Ways that involve cash or cash equivalents * Ways where a purchase requires the permission of someone else Just think of the word authorization, which is a required element of essentially all non-cash transactions. It has the word authority embedded right in it. If you're OK with that concept, you are necessarily OK with the idea tha…

A cashless society would be an attempt to create a society that lacks basic economic freedom, but it would also fail. People will simply return to barter, and the use of whatever precious metals/stones/etc are hot that year.

Re: In praise of cash

#79

Post by matthewmacleod »

seibelj wrote: post #11

I would never support getting rid of cash, it's a basic right to spend money without being tracked.

it's a basic right to spend money without being tracked.

No it's not. I very much want there to be a way to spend money anonymously, but I can't frame that as a 'basic right'.

Re: In praise of cash

#80

Post by jk563 »

eric_the_read wrote: post #66
mrec wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it is still much more of a hassle to manage than credit or debit cards are I don't really get this. I use credit cards (almost entirely online), but I've never used a debit card. Not out of any deep-seated aversion, I just don't see the point.

The appeal is largely that credit cards let you spend money you don't have, and debit cards, by definition, don't. For people who have a hard time operating within their budget with credit cards, this is a huge difference.

Worth pointing out that this can be fuzzy, I have a £1600 overdraft facility that I can use with my debit card (I don't use it though).
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