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Denmark law proposes making cash transactions illegal

Daily Telegraph

A proposed new law in Denmark could be the first step towards an economic revolution that sees physical currencies and normal bank accounts abolished... The Danish proposal sounds innocuous enough on the surface – it would simply allow shops to refuse payments in cash and insist that customers use contactless debit cards or some other means of electronic payment.

The author of the article seems to think this is a good idea, because it would eventually lead to a "cashless society" where all money exists only in electronic bank accounts and be subject to government control.

Darleen at Protein Wisdom points out that people who don't own the fruits of their labor are called slaves.

But there's more wrong with the idea than just that.

Daily Telegraph

But if notes and coins were abolished and the only way to hold money was through a government-controlled bank, there would be no escape.

There is always an escape. The concept of money has existed for millenia because it is simple, effective, and it works. The moment the government's "money" system becomes more annoying to use than some other system, people will switch. And there are thousands of alternatives, whether you prefer alternative electronic systems like BitCoin, or running your black market economy on imported paper dollars from the US, or coming up with a new currency from scratch.

Believing that this proposal could actually eliminate the concept of cash is insane. ("Sharply reduce the use of" is a different question).

This entry was published Wed Jun 24 09:03:45 CDT 2015 by TriggerFinger and last updated 2015-06-24 09:03:45.0. [Tweet]

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