The War On Cash Poses An Existential Threat To Our Financial Independence
The War On Cash Poses An Existential Threat To Our Financial Independence
Allister Heath Wed, May 3, 2023
Shops that refuse cash? Councils that require maddening parking apps? Tradesmen who demand bank transfers? I’m part of the problem, dear reader. The virtual penny finally dropped when I flew to the Middle East recently without first bothering to visit a bureau de change, or even to withdraw local currency from an ATM. Every shop, taxi and restaurant accepted contactless payments; there was no need to fumble through my wallet trying to decipher unfamiliar notes. My smartphone’s mobile payment service was sufficient, a physical credit card largely unnecessary.
Next time, I will also make sure to take foreign currency. The global war on cash made my life easier on this occasion, but far from paving the way towards the liberating, borderless techno-utopia portrayed by a naive, self-interested alliance of Silicon Valley and Wall Street types, it is fast turning into the stuff of nightmares.
A cashless society is discriminatory, facilitates crime and hands dangerous powers to busybody officials, technocrats and woke pseudo-capitalists. Rishi Sunak is cracking down on fraud, launching a new squad with 500 prosecutors, but this will achieve little unless the Government finally grasps the need to protect cash from extinction.
A cashless economy compels everyone to carry a smartphone all the time, and to have access to at least one payment card. It requires the use of multiple apps, and substantial levels of technological literacy. This discriminates against the elderly, and anybody who finds technology difficult. It is a disaster for those on the margins of society, without a bank account or who lack a good credit score.
Many older voters are incensed at the way their choices have been curtailed. The hit is often two-fold. Take the compulsory shift towards electric cars: it is controversial in and of itself, and of course charge points, unlike petrol stations, don’t accept cash.
One of the great selling points of the cashless world was that it would reduce robberies and cut tax evasion. It has achieved the latter, as evidenced by a surprisingly large rise in the tax to GDP ratio, but it has also triggered an epidemic of fraud, with one in 15 people victimised annually by scams such as phishing or dodgy emails.
Many of us now log into bank accounts by showing our faces, presenting our fingerprints or through voice recognition. But impersonation is getting easier: artificial intelligence (AI) can clone our appearance and produce deepfakes – videos that look and sound exactly like us – to fool automated, or even human, identification protocols. Digitisation can be greatly fragilising.
Imagine the power of a hacker, turbocharged by AI, sponsored by a crime syndicate, a hostile state or terrorist organisation who was able to delete bank account records, rub out transactions or plant incriminating, fake records of payments? Our society is a mere step away from chaos.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/war-cash-poses-existential-threat-200000224.html