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In praise of cash

aeon.co

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Re: In praise of cash

#271

Post by vkou »

lucio wrote: post #262
vkou wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, the US Government does not accept tax payments in turnips, emeralds, pirate treasure, moonshine, or Eth. Until that changes, you will need to interface with the USD economy. The US government also expects your tax payment on an annual basis.

But, if you fully trade using any of those examples as money, you're actually invisible to the tax collector...

My landlord doesn't accept turnips either. And he needs to pay property taxes regardless of whether or not I'm renting.

Re: In praise of cash

#272

Post by vkou »

M_Grey wrote: post #250
vkou wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, the US Government does not accept tax payments in turnips, emeralds, pirate treasure, moonshine, or Eth. Until that changes, you will need to interface with the USD economy. The US government also expects your tax payment on an annual basis.

You can't pay in Bitcoin or gold either, yet both are incredibly popular.

What is the annual volume of gold transactions, compared to the annual number of USD transactions? Hundreds of thousands, versus trillions? Is there anyplace in the country where I can pay my green-grocer with gold?

Describing gold as an incredibly popular currency makes alternative-facts look honest.

Re: In praise of cash

#273

Post by uiri »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #251
jdeibele wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife had her wallet stolen in Florence while we were traveling. It turned out that some banks will give different numbers to each card and other banks (Bank of America) will give the same number. We had to cancel the BofA card that I had. Fortunately our CapitalOne card used different numbers and we were able to keep traveling without a lot of hassle. For our next trip, we're going to make sure there's no number o…

There's card numbers, and then there's card numbers. That is: My wife and I have cards that have the same number on the front. On the back, though, the three-digit... I forget what it's called, but there's this additional number that is not embossed into the face of the card. Her card has a different one of those than mine does. And the bank can tell the difference, can tell which card made the purchase, and can shut…

The numbers on the back - the CVV code - is essentially a cryptographic hash of the information on the front of the card: expiration date, name, card number, whatever else is on there. So each physical card should have a different CVV if the card number is the same. Given 3-4 digits and millions of issued cards, there will of course be collisions among cards with different numbers.

I think every card issued by Visa, Mastercard and American Express (at the very least) in the US has these extra numbers.

Re: In praise of cash

#274

Post by M_Grey »

vkou wrote: post #272
M_Grey wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't pay in Bitcoin or gold either, yet both are incredibly popular.

What is the annual volume of gold transactions, compared to the annual number of USD transactions? Hundreds of thousands, versus trillions? Is there anyplace in the country where I can pay my green-grocer with gold? Describing gold as an incredibly popular currency makes alternative-facts look honest.

We're talking about a hypothetical cashless future, and your argument is that right now, this isn't the case.

...

Re: In praise of cash

#275

Post by M_Grey »

vkou wrote: post #271
lucio wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But, if you fully trade using any of those examples as money, you're actually invisible to the tax collector...

My landlord doesn't accept turnips either. And he needs to pay property taxes regardless of whether or not I'm renting.

Do you live in a cashless society?

Re: In praise of cash

#276

Post by nullc »

whispered wrote: post #48
nannal wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a bitcoin supporter (and user) for this among many other reasons.

I'm a Monero supporter (and owner and future user once more widely adopted) because like cash, no one can tell how much money you have in your wallet or who you're buying things from. With Bitcoin, neither of those is true.

> With Bitcoin, neither of those is true.

How much money is in my Bitcoin wallet?

Re: In praise of cash

#277

Post by [deleted] »

whispered wrote: post #48
nannal wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a bitcoin supporter (and user) for this among many other reasons.

I'm a Monero supporter (and owner and future user once more widely adopted) because like cash, no one can tell how much money you have in your wallet or who you're buying things from. With Bitcoin, neither of those is true.

[deleted]

Re: In praise of cash

#278

Post by a_t48 »

icantdrive55 wrote: post #148
huffmsa wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paper trail? What are you hiding citizen? Nothing to hide, nothing to fear.

He buys a pack of cigarettes for someone else, and happens to rack up a huge medical bill. The Insurance company might have a reason to disavow him? (Trump and disavow?) He buys a 12 pack, and his kid steals it, and gets into an accident causing front page news. His kid lies, and says dad gave me the beer. (He is screwed.) He goes onto physical therapy office. One of the legitimate places that, but sounds weird--like…

The person who you replied to was speaking satirically.

Re: In praise of cash

#279

Post by nickpsecurity »

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…

Ive never seen it stated better. Im probably gonna use that explanation in future if you dont mind.

Re: In praise of cash

#280

Post by nickpsecurity »

gpawl wrote: post #265
wolfgke wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Don't we all hate Paypal? Also don't forget that Peter Thiel got really rich by selling Paypal to eBay in 2002. After that in 2003 he founded Palantir Technologies - a company that produces surveillance software for the three letter agencies. I often like to say that getting lots of money does not make you a bad person, but brings your true character traits to light.

Palantir is a data analysis system, not a data collection system.

A data analysis system primarily used by cops and spies that's also integrated with the spies' collection system.
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