New York is proposing the creation of a 'public Venmo'

Post by moralsupply » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 7:16 PM UTC

throwGuardian wrote: post #5

brenden2 wrote: post #4

Generally seems like a good idea, minus the part about it being state owned and operated. If it's operated by the state, it will probably be a disaster. Many governments can barely keep their Windows machines up to date, leading to ransomware attacks. It would be a shame if people's money were held hostage for ransom.

On the contrary, payments is critical infrastructure, like roads or social security, that needs to be publicly owned and operated, immune to the rise of cancel culture, and other whims of the techno-elites. No one should be denied their right to basic economics because someone in power at a private company disagrees with their politics

Post by brenden2 » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 7:18 PM UTC

xtian wrote: post #10

brenden2 wrote: post #4

Generally seems like a good idea, minus the part about it being state owned and operated. If it's operated by the state, it will probably be a disaster. Many governments can barely keep their Windows machines up to date, leading to ransomware attacks. It would be a shame if people's money were held hostage for ransom.

The largest private companies in the world (e.g., Yahoo, Facebook, Equifax, Target) can barely keep user data private, leading to massive data breaches. It would be a shame if people's private information were to be compromised with essentially zero recourse.

Post by Denvercoder9 » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 7:22 PM UTC

codersarepeople wrote: post #9

This is aimed at solving one of several problems people without bank accounts have. So let's just figure out why people don't have bank accounts and account for that: > People who are unbanked often cite distrust of the banking system, lack of access to government-issued ID, or inability to maintain a minimum balance as reasons they don’t have bank accounts. Seems easy enough to me. Make government-issued IDs free, m…

Post by xwdv » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 7:27 PM UTC

supernova87a wrote: post #3

The piecemeal attempts to create a rational payments system are getting to the point where the Fed just needs to acknowledge the need for a free/secure/unified infrastructure run and regulated by the government. They are starting to do this (Fed real time payment + settlement system) but not fast enough. Other countries laugh at us when we talk about the checks we have to write, the scams we endure with mistaken paym…

Post by bobthepanda » Tue, Jan 07, 2020, 7:29 PM UTC

Denvercoder9 wrote: post #15

codersarepeople wrote: post #9

This is aimed at solving one of several problems people without bank accounts have. So let's just figure out why people don't have bank accounts and account for that: > People who are unbanked often cite distrust of the banking system, lack of access to government-issued ID, or inability to maintain a minimum balance as reasons they don’t have bank accounts. Seems easy enough to me. Make government-issued IDs free, m…

> if you don't trust banks, you have nobody to blame but yourself Well, the banks made a pretty good case for why they can't be trusted in 2008. That doesn't mean I don't use a bank. It's just not practical to go without one, and I trust the government-backed insurance of my funds for when the bank fails, but I don't trust the banks themselves one single bit.