There is a war on for the extermination of cash.

It is the ultimate monopoly game, but there are those who are willing to put up a fight to keep cash in the game.

The powers that be on Wall Street and in the central banks are aiming to eliminate paper money in large part to continue “sustaining and even intensifying the central banks’ nightmarish experiment with negative interest rates” – a doubly dangerous effort for economic

And banks stand to have all the control as digital transactions flow through their institutions, closely monitored and accumulating fees, penalties and charges that enrich the banks and hold customers hostage.

As Europe moves to take the 500 Euro note out of circulation, former Treasury Secretary and enabler of past crises, has called for an end to the Benjamins – the celebrated $100 note of outlaws, gangsters and all those who would oppose the new world economic order.

As Wolf Street notes:

Those motives include sustaining and even intensifying the central banks’ nightmarish experiment with negative interest rates, increasing public dependence on big banks, destroying the last vestiges of personal financial freedom and anonymity, expanding government surveillance of and control over the economy, and in the case of credit card companies and fintech firms, doing away with their biggest competitor, physical currency.

The powers that want to kill off cash already have vital technological and generational trends firmly on their side, as a result of which cash’s days as a commonly used payment method may well be numbered anyway. They also have the added bonus of widespread public ignorance, apathy, and disinterest.

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“It would be fatal if citizens got the impression that cash is gradually taken away from them”: Bundesbank President Weidman.

As Don Quijones argues – the countries that have been quickest to adopt cashless societies in Scandanavia tend to be very well adjusted and relatively trusting of their governments.

By contrast, Americans, developing countries, and even Germany and Japan have less trust in their government, and will likely put up a fight against attempt to disarm cash:

All too often we hear about the countries in Europe and elsewhere that are furthest along the path toward a completely cashless existence — countries with high levels of public trust in public institutions such as Denmark, Sweden, Australia and Singapore. By contrast, we hardly ever hear about countries where public trust is low in government and financial institutions and physical cash is still revered. They include many of the nations of the Global South as well as two of the world’s biggest, most advanced economies, Germany and Japan.

[…]

“Cash allows us to remain anonymous during day-to-day transactions. In a constitutional democracy, that is a freedom that has to be defended,” tweeted the Green MP Konstantin von Notz. Even the head of the Bunderbank, Jens Weidmann, criticized the government’s proposals, telling Bild (emphasis added): “It would be fatal if citizens got the impression that cash is being gradually taken away from them.”

The right to a free exchange medium has been understated in Constitutional debates, as well as outlook to the global future, though gold and silver is mentioned in Article I Section 10.

But the going rate towards the use of credit/debit, phone apps and other digital payments strips away the fundamental free exchange of currency that historically come with physical currency.

Instead, it grants something pretty close to a monopoly for the handful of banks and online entities like PayPal who will operate the systems, decide the fees and surcharges, and freeze accounts for behaviors that could include things like trying to sell a firearm on a platform that has a policy against it.

Cash transactions (as well as those made with gold and silver or historically utilized mediums) are practically anonymous, rather than scrutinized and available as evidence to creditors, competitors, prosecutors or those with an agenda.

It will also make it harder for small businesses, who stand to be forced out of cash-only operations and onto the reservation of digital payments, where they will have to comply and qualify for status.

If cash dies, they will control authorization, they will hold nearly all the power.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com