What would be the consequences both locally and globally, if money were to become digital?

Question

I would just likes some views on this subject. thaughs feelings or websites and factual information x



could you imagine if you where never to use money again, adn if your eye was scanned or a chip implanted into ur finger would be the only way that you could pay for things?

remember the film minority report, what if that really happens int he future

do you want everything to be computer based, money abolished, and cameras recording outr every move?

: )

Answer 1

Potentially its a fantastic improvement. No cash to be mugged for, no ATM machines for the hoodies to hang around. Your wallet or purse would be lighter and may have only one universal card in it!

I love the idea that every expense, however small, would appear in an on-line statement, but I can imagine a lot of people would find that scary. Imagine how well you could plan your spending - or make savings. Most of us would be amazed at how much small change adds up to big bucks.

But, much more interestingly, a cashless society would soon become a bartering one once again. Without cash people need to find ways of avoiding the tax man. They'd do that by offering services in kind (e.g. you paint my house, I'll fix your plumbing) or they'd quietly trade in beads - so many beads to fix your car and so many beads to cut your hair. What the 'beads' are is irrelevant - some physical substitute for cash-in-hand would soon appear.

It seems your concern is about 'Big Brother'. I think the opposite would happen. In a cashless society you don't have to go to the ATM, so your movements and the amounts of cash you use are less traceable. You don't have to officially exchange anything (except a quiet promise in someone's ear that you'll do them a favour in return for the work they do for you). The black market would be more healthy and less subject to policing than now!

When you do make legitimate electronic trades you'd do it in many novel ways to get round the tracking factor - how about buying a car privately, but in 12 lots over 1 year. Both parties agree to identify the monthly trades as something else. The tax man never knows what the exchange was really all about. He knows with cash, because who'd trust you to make 11 more cash payments once the goods have been handed over - electronically you'd secure that in advance (you can see this opens the door to person-to-person hire purchase too - potentially risky, but also potentially very desirable).

In a cashless society there'd be an end to the tyranny of the tip. Either its stated on the bill or it cannot be handed over. Wonderful!

I could go on for hours, but I think you get the picture. One more advantage - less lumpy mattresses!

Answer 2

Good question, and you brought up the downside already. If money becomes completely digitalized, the government can track your every move.

Leaving that out, and it scares the hell out me, there probably is not much difference.

Digitalizing everything would have the advantage of stopping counterfeiting in its tracks. And it is not like paper money is worth anything anymore anyway. It is not pegged to anything in most countries. I mean you cannot trade it in for x amount of gold, silver, or anything else. Coins are made of base metals, and have been for a while.

We are getting real close to what you are asking about now. I get my pay deposited directly in my bank account. I never even see a check. Pay most of my bills on line. Send a wire transfer to my brokerage account, buy stocks and never see the certificates. The brokerage has them. Have them send my tax payments directly to the government.

If someone hacks the system, they could take the entire thing down, which is the other down side.

But I think we are closer to what you are asking than what you realize. About the only thing I use cash to pay for these days is delivery pizza.

Scary, isn't it?

Answer 3

Small business would suffer the most. Somebody has to pay for all this equipment right? No 'cash' deals could be done, you would have to account for gifts, loans from friends etc, this could all be monitored.

Also, technology is always open to corruption, just look at this new chip & pin system in the UK.

We use cash most of the time now, withdrawn over the bank counter whenever possible. We do not do online or telephone banking as we had our account emptied by an employee with our details. People in our local area have had money taken from their accounts from cashpoint scams,.

Cash has to stay. Also what happens when there is power cuts?????

Answer 4

infinite hyper inflation. if more physical money is produced than the value that it can actually buy in the market, there is too much money producing too little goods. inflation occurs, and the value of money goes down rapidly. with physical money, the government can control the production of bills and coins. with didgital, there will always be hackers and underground "mints" who will never think of the impact of what they're doing on the global economy: if you can produce your own money and be rich, why would you care about the global economy? the result will be disastrous. we might as well go back to barter trade.

so far, the possibility of a "minority report" future is quite minimal. thanks to public awareness, terrorism, political destabilization, technoligical limits, ethical challenges ("you have no right to mess with my home"), and alot more other stuffs.

In the situation you have given, there is one global order. everyone agrees with the control and the majority is for it, more like "going with the flow" because it is for the greater good. the closest example i can site for this kind of politics is singapore. the country im currently in, and one which lives under a rigid and strict control of its government. Here, you will hear alot of demands and complaints that the government is controlling too much of the lives of the citizen, but no one in his right mind would actually act on it. Why? because they know that in most cases the government is right and their decisions have been proven to produce good results for the public in the past. So they're complaining that they have too little freedom, and at the same they know that the govt is taking care of their lives well.

perhaps it is possible in the far future that there will be over control, but we need not worry about that. That necessary order to achieve that level of control is quite impossible to attain if the general public does not always agree, and whats more with the prescence of terrorism and international conflicts. We are not heading towards order. So far, the global pattern is that we're heading towards more chaos.

Answer 5

I like it. We'd know everywhere our congressmen go on 'fact finding trips'. The SEC could know when Enron's cooking the books. Business wouldn't be stuck with hot checks. Bankrupcy for individuals could become a thing of the past. Drug dealers couldn't sell without the police knowing everything about the deal. And credit card companies couldn't charge rediculous interests rates.

Bring it on.

Answer 6

The pursuits for the better and eventually perfect society? Well i don't agree with that, but unfortunately we all heading that way, slowly but surely. People are adoptable and will function no matter how or which way we are led by our leaders.

People use to function perfectly without money or any kind of technology.

P.S. Herd and survival instinct will be the only force driving us no matter how advanced we are.

Answer 7

I thought money pretty much was digital.

People use debit cards and credit cards more so than cash. We have bill paying on-line and direct deposit checks from work.

I know I hardly ever use hard cash anymore.

Answer 8

Fulfillment of the 666 prophecy, is that what you're asking? Won;t be able to buy or sell, etc...

It's going to happen

Answer 9

there would probably be a catch
because you would lose a lot of privacy probably because they could track your every move and then if you were accused of doing something illegal they could find you easier i think it would stink because they would know every thing you bought

Answer 10

WHAT IS A CREDIT CARD?