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Austrian leader proposes enshrining the use of cash in country's constitution

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Re: Austrian leader proposes enshrining the use of cash in country's constitution

#41

Post by seanmcdirmid »

gottorf wrote: post #7
DarkNova6 wrote: post #2

[flagged]

> it is a little surprising to see such political news on HN In my experience, currencies have been of consistent interest in HN. At least, if you consider cryptocurrencies as such ;-) > But this is a none-issue > is meant to be a step against organised crime Perhaps recent developments around the world would change your mind? The Canadian trucker protests of 2022 saw political protestors get bank accounts frozen, an…

> The Canadian trucker protests of 2022 saw political protestors get bank accounts frozen

I get it, but given that the protest was funded by right-wing groups in the USA, is it really valid to call it just a Canadian trucker protest? I thought the reason for freezing the accounts was that Canada had laws against undeclared foreign funded political activities (like the USA does as well)?

And if it was cash, most countries already require you to declare, at the border, if you have more than $10k in cash (or untracked instruments of trade) when you pass through customs. I don't see a "right to cash" changing that, and the Canadian truck protest still wouldn't have been able to be funded by the Americans even if cash was used.

Re: Austrian leader proposes enshrining the use of cash in country's constitution

#42

Post by TekMol »

throwaway60707 wrote: post #14
TekMol wrote: post #8

What makes cash special is that compared to other assets, it puts a bit more power into the hands of the individual and a bit less power in the hands of the government. To count or seize the individuals cash, the government has to make some fuzz. Aka send men with guns. There seems to be some divide in our world between people who consider individual power a good thing and people who consider it unnecessary. Here in…

> Here in Europe, I have the feeling the vast majority of people consider it unnecessary. The vibe I get is "The system works, so why not let the government handle and control everything.". > I wouldn't be surprised if that is a golbal phenomena and holds steady throughout time. Come to the east of EU/Europe and you'll see a completely opposite vibe. No wonder, people in their 40s still remember communism. And the ol…

Which country for example?

Re: Austrian leader proposes enshrining the use of cash in country's constitution

#43

Post by culi »

thestevesie wrote: post #24
throwawa14223 wrote: post #6

Surprised to see someone I associate with the right wing standing up for privacy, but a win is a win.

Me too, those large Tech companies in California harvesting all of your data are known for their support and donations to Right Wing candidates

You're being sarcastic, but I think you have a pretty warped perception here. Take a look at OpenSecrets' data on Google Inc in 2012 or 2014[0] for example. (hint: They have pretty graphs if you scroll down a bit). Notice that it's pretty much neck and neck for total contributions to dems/republican candidates? Facebook, who set a lobbyist spending record, has historically donated more to Republicans than democrats[1]

[0] https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/google-inc/summary?id=D0000...

[1] https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs...

Re: Austrian leader proposes enshrining the use of cash in country's constitution

#44

Post by TrainedMonkey »

throwaway60707 wrote: post #14
TekMol wrote: post #8

What makes cash special is that compared to other assets, it puts a bit more power into the hands of the individual and a bit less power in the hands of the government. To count or seize the individuals cash, the government has to make some fuzz. Aka send men with guns. There seems to be some divide in our world between people who consider individual power a good thing and people who consider it unnecessary. Here in…

> Here in Europe, I have the feeling the vast majority of people consider it unnecessary. The vibe I get is "The system works, so why not let the government handle and control everything.". > I wouldn't be surprised if that is a golbal phenomena and holds steady throughout time. Come to the east of EU/Europe and you'll see a completely opposite vibe. No wonder, people in their 40s still remember communism. And the ol…

I've seen that vibe. In my experience, communism-was-better generally crystalizes out to two things:

* Good old times / not remembering the bad parts.

* Having your path in life mapped out, i.e. not dealing with uncertainty.

Re: Austrian leader proposes enshrining the use of cash in country's constitution

#45

Post by motohagiography »

This cash provision in the constitution is a nice alternative to the US 2nd amendment about firearms, where you want something that will serve as a check on the state exigencies of the day for the forseeable future. You don't need to arm everyone, but guaranteeing the freedom to associate and transact with each other in an unmediated way is pretty close.

Re: Austrian leader proposes enshrining the use of cash in country's constitution

#46

Post by axus »

While at the grocery store this week, they happily announced that the credit-card processing system had just come back online. It had been down for a few hours for the entire store. Having the option to pay in cash was important even if it meant a trip to the ATM.

Re: Austrian leader proposes enshrining the use of cash in country's constitution

#47

Post by pdq »

TekMol wrote: post #42
throwaway60707 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Here in Europe, I have the feeling the vast majority of people consider it unnecessary. The vibe I get is "The system works, so why not let the government handle and control everything.". > I wouldn't be surprised if that is a golbal phenomena and holds steady throughout time. Come to the east of EU/Europe and you'll see a completely opposite vibe. No wonder, people in their 40s still remember communism. And the ol…

Which country for example?

I'd suggest watching the 1420 channel, where they interview Russians on the street. Many of the older generation have a nostalgia of life under communism, whereas the younger generation is more skeptical.

Here's one of the interviews:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjI8jwn0Upo

Re: Austrian leader proposes enshrining the use of cash in country's constitution

#48

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

throwaway60707 wrote: post #14
TekMol wrote: post #8

What makes cash special is that compared to other assets, it puts a bit more power into the hands of the individual and a bit less power in the hands of the government. To count or seize the individuals cash, the government has to make some fuzz. Aka send men with guns. There seems to be some divide in our world between people who consider individual power a good thing and people who consider it unnecessary. Here in…

> Here in Europe, I have the feeling the vast majority of people consider it unnecessary. The vibe I get is "The system works, so why not let the government handle and control everything.". > I wouldn't be surprised if that is a golbal phenomena and holds steady throughout time. Come to the east of EU/Europe and you'll see a completely opposite vibe. No wonder, people in their 40s still remember communism. And the ol…

This dichotomy was made extremely apparent to me during the pandemic. In the US, not saying all opinions were homogenous but most of my liberal friends supported government actions during the pandemic (e.g. closures originally, then mask mandates, vaccine mandates, etc.) I'm friends with a number of folks from Eastern Europe, a couple of whom spent their early childhood under Ceausescu, and the difference couldn't have been more stark. While these friends generally agree with things like union support, worker protections, environmental action, LGBT rights, etc., their opinions were pretty much lockstep with the US right in terms of the pandemic, and it was clear this was due to ingrained government distrust. The sad thing to me is that while I could clearly understand and wholeheartedly agree with some of their positions, it got to the point where it often veered off into "crazytown" in my opinion ("You're not going to inject Bill Gates' mind control poison, are you?")

Re: Austrian leader proposes enshrining the use of cash in country's constitution

#50

Post by mdp2021 »

kavalg wrote: post #3
DarkNova6 wrote: post #2

[flagged]

Do you have a source for the 50.000 € limit? At least where I live, even as of now it is more 5000 € for a single deal/sale. If the sale amount is above that, it must go through a cashless payment.

> 50.000 € limit

That is meant to be a roof for all ("No country shall exceed etc.") - a roof for further decision national administrations may make.

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