control

  I read a short article about Six Flags amusement park. They will no longer accept cash, only cards. If you don't have a card they will load one for you at the main entrance. There was no specific reason given but you can assume it is to reduce any chance of theft or fraud. I don't have an issue with that, it's their business and I won't be going there anyway. But, I do see it as another move toward a cashless society and that does concern me. It concerns me for the same reason it was of concern to people in the early part of the twentieth century. People had deposited their cash in the banks for safe keeping but there was no FDIC to insure those funds. That didn't come along until 1933, after the stock market crashed and people had lost all their money. Checking accounts, saving accounts, and all accounts out of cash! And that was just too bad. If we go to a cashless system that could happen all over again, the loss of your money I mean. It wouldn't take a stock market crash either, just the click of a button. If the government wants to control your money, the government will control your money.

 I don't know the law that well but it does say this "bill" is legal tender for all debts public and private on our money doesn't it? I'll have to go look now, I'm not certain about that, I still remember getting silver certificates. I looked and they do say that. But I guess Six Flags doesn't have to accept that if they don't want to or they are skirting that by converting your cash to a card thereby "accepting" the legal tender. There's always some way around everything. Like I said though, their business.

  You could say the conversion has already begun. All my retirement funds are transmitted electronically. If the internet doesn't work, I don't get my money. Should anything disrupt that process most of us wouldn't get paid in fact. I can remember when I worked and received my pay, in cash, in an envelope on payday. Then when I was in the Navy we got a paycheck. On paydays the disbursing office was open for check cashing. We all stood in line and filled out a "chit" in the amount of money we wanted, up to the amount of the check. If you didn't want to take it all the balance would be carried over to the next payday. In that way you didn't have to store a bunch of excess cash in your locker! Yes, theft was a possibility. At some point the Navy did away with all that. They went to direct deposit. You were then required to have a checking or savings account. If you did not one would be opened for you and your funds deposited there. Every ship had an ATM machine. You would be given a card and a pin number. That card and pin would only work on that ship! Yeah, not very convenient at all. It was a wise sailor that opened an account with a major bank, you really had little choice. Of course those banks then began collecting "fees" so it was a win for them. I suspect it was quite the windfall if you consider every person in the service had to participate. I retired from the Navy in 1993 and have never seen a check or cash from an employer since. Nobody uses checks anymore. Well checks aren't very useful now that they can be verified like a debit card. No checks made of rubber anymore. Only us old timers would remember that trick. The money will be there before the check hits the bank, most of the time anyway. Post dated checks would work too if the cashier wasn't paying attention. 

 I can see us going back to the barter system in the future. We'll be meeting in back alleys exchanging goods. It is going to make it difficult for drug dealers and the like. Those cash only businesses will have to figure out another way. Uncle Sam will be monitoring closely what goes in or out of your account. We've already heard about changing "reporting" requirements. The majority of us didn't know about that requirement as it exists right now. Ten thousand or more must be reported to the feds. Also anytime your banker feels like there is anything suspicious going on. They are required by law to report any of that. Now they would like to change that to six hundred dollars! So, every time I fill up my gas tank! 

 Well its' nothing I really need to be overly concerned with given my financial standing. If I win the lottery or somehow come into a lot of money, I'm stashing the cash! I do believe in keeping some cold hard cash on hand for emergencies. Ever had your atm card break or get scratched? Then it doesn't work and you have to wait till Monday when the bank opens to get another one. Yes, I have checks just in case. If you write one now those young cashiers look at you like, wow Gramps, is that from Wells Fargo? People in line behind you are fidgeting and mumbling. Then the manager has to be called because that young person isn't sure what they even have. And what annoys me is when I hand the cashier cash they hold it up to the light to check it like a surgeon checking an x-ray! Hey if I was going to pass counterfeit money it ain't ones or fives! Remember when they used to swipe it with those pens? Now they just hold it up to the light! I haven't had it happen yet but what if I give them a real twenty that doesn't have that stripe in it? I remember when they didn't. Guess it would freak them kids out. Oh, and I guess those check cashing places are out of business now. I remember seeing them around usually associated with a liquor store or next to a Dollar General store. I think they charged 10% or more to cash them. Well I remember when a dime got you a phone call, local anyway. How long before we do away with change? A cashless society? It's coming, no doubt about that. Control the cash, control the people.