Where does this Slashdot obsession with a cashless/e-gold/alternative currency come from?
Money has been around for 3200 years [pbs.org]. Trade "I'll give you 2 sheep for one cow" has been around for thousands more.
I remember hearing these "cashless society" arguments in 1980. I look in my wallet 23 years later, and I still have a wad of cash in there, along with a credit card and ATM card. Sure, much of my purchasing is electronic, but it's far from cashless.
Now people are again saying "We'll be a cashless society in 25 years", and I still don't believe them. I've heard it before.
It reminds me of the "computers will solve all your paperwork problems. We will be a paperless society in 25 years." Cash is not going away anytime soon just because some money-geeks think they found an alternative.
As Ivanova from Babylon 5 said: "Every time somebody says we're coming into a paperless society, I get 10 more forms to fill out."
You are incorrect in associating paper with wealth. There is no connection. That dollar bill in your wallet is no more or less money than a digit in a Wells Fargo computer. Both represent a unit of confidence in the issuing body - the US government. That is all they represent. You cannot redeem that dollar bill for a fraction of preciou metal. You cannot redeem the bill for a piece of a brick of a government building. You are not assured of receiving a set unit of a foreign currency for it either. It is a fiat currency. It has no inherent value. The paper bill is simply a physical container for a fractional unit of confidence in the US government, nothing more or less.
It is a fiat currency. It has no inherent value.Exactly right.The paper bill is simply a physical container for a fractional unit of confidence in the US government, nothing more or less.This is a bit off target --- my belief in the value of U.S. currency has less to do with faith in the U.S. goverment than with my belief that other people will be willing to exchange goods for U.S. currency in the future. The only requirement for people be willing to hold a fiat currency is the belief that it can be exchanged for something else in the future. Where confidence in the U.S. government matters is in establishing price stability --- believing that the government will not dramatically increase the money supply in the future, creating inflation and lowering the value of the cash I am holding.
"--- my belief in the value of U.S. currency has less to do with faith in the U.S. goverment than with my belief that other people will be willing to exchange goods for U.S. currency in the future."
If the US government increased its budget to 7 trillion next year (creating massive deficit spending, resulting in hyperinflation), how long would your faith in that dollar last? Or if they reduced and balanced the budget, and the deflationary pressures that are currently in effect sent us into a depression... how long would you accept the dollar?
This [usagold.com] from the only senator in Washington I trust to give it to me striaght. He sits on the senate banking commitee and is a Libertarian dressed up as a Republican.
Very true, most of the libertarians I know are pretty liberal about life. They just wan't less big government in their business and taking their money. Libertarianism is really more republican than republicans are. Republican's in washington have no interest in moving power down to states anymore, which is/was the cornerstone of the party. They also are not fiscally conservative, as reflected in the massive debt spending. Under our money system central government will continue to grow, and they all know they can't stop it, so the just ride the gravy train.
The ./ obsession with a cashless society? (Score:5, Insightful)
Money has been around for 3200 years [pbs.org]. Trade "I'll give you 2 sheep for one cow" has been around for thousands more.
I remember hearing these "cashless society" arguments in 1980. I look in my wallet 23 years later, and I still have a wad of cash in there, along with a credit card and ATM card. Sure, much of my purchasing is electronic, but it's far from cashless.
Now people are again saying "We'll be a cashless society in 25 years", and I still don't believe them. I've heard it before.
It reminds me of the "computers will solve all your paperwork problems. We will be a paperless society in 25 years." Cash is not going away anytime soon just because some money-geeks think they found an alternative.
As Ivanova from Babylon 5 said:
"Every time somebody says we're coming into a paperless society, I get 10 more forms to fill out."
What is money? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What is money? (Score:2)
blog-O-rama [annmariabell.com]
Re:What is money? (Score:1)
If the US government increased its budget to 7 trillion next year (creating massive deficit spending, resulting in hyperinflation), how long would your faith in that dollar last? Or if they reduced and balanced the budget, and the deflationary pressures that are currently in effect sent us into a depression... how long would you accept the dollar?
This [usagold.com] from the only senator in Washington I trust to give it to me striaght. He sits on the senate banking commitee and is a Libertarian dressed up as a Republican.Re:What is money? (Score:1)
Re:What is money? (Score:1)
" Libertarians are Republicans who get high..."
Very true, most of the libertarians I know are pretty liberal about life. They just wan't less big government in their business and taking their money. Libertarianism is really more republican than republicans are. Republican's in washington have no interest in moving power down to states anymore, which is/was the cornerstone of the party. They also are not fiscally conservative, as reflected in the massive debt spending. Under our money system central government will continue to grow, and they all know they can't stop it, so the just ride the gravy train.