© Corbett Report
What was the last thing you bought? A stick of gum at the convenience store? A meal out at your favourite steakhouse? A new vacuum cleaner from the department store? A new car?
And how did you pay for that purchase? If you're like the majority of people, chances are you paid for it with a card or some form of electronic payment. Consumer
card transactions surpassed cash payments for the first time in 2016 and — now that Apple Pay, Venmo and other forms of electronic payment are being used in more and more places —
electronic payments are only becoming more and more common. It's not hard to understand why. Cards and electronic payments are convenient, easy to use, relatively quick, and — according to a concerted propaganda campaign that's been underway for years now — a lot cleaner than that filthy, grubby, virus-laden cash.
If cash seems outdated and unnecessary to you, then you're in luck! The governments in country after country around the world agrees with you, and they're gradually removing cash from circulation and even outlawing certain types of cash transactions.
In 2016, Indian authorities
demonetized all the 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in the country in an effort to get citizens to hand over their "black money," the term for undeclared cash that the Indian version of Uncle Sam (Uncle Samiti?) can't get his tax-seeking mitts on. The move was a smashing success for the
likes of Bill Gates, who seeks to promote electronic payments in the "world's most cash-strapped nation." After the demonetization, mobile payment firms took off as Indians plugged in to the conventional banking system.
In 2019, the Australian government proposed a Currency Bill that would have banned cash transactions of over $10,000 and imposed a two-year jail sentence on anyone daring to engage in such a transaction. This crackdown, too, was proposed in the name of cracking down on tax evaders. It was only dropped after widespread public backlash . . . though at the time Aussies were warned: "don't be surprised if it's revived."
The European Union has been looking to clamp down on cash for years, with prominent EU politicians arguing for the end of the 500 euro banknote since at least 2016. They got their wish in 2019 when production of new 500 notes ended. But that's not enough for the
EUreaucrats who are now seeking to criminalize all cash transactions over 5000 euros throughout the union.