We have been dancing around this subject for about ten months now on Unchainedpreppers so I thought it deserved its own topic.
In short, the EU is moving towards a cashless society replaced with debt cards and other forms of electronic currency.
Using France as an example; you can not pay a bill over €70 using cash. You must use a check, credit card or debit card. Other countries are exploring this option too. Here is an example of a test in the UK I read in
Zerohedge this morning written by
George Washington:
...There have been test runs of this Rogoff-Buiter Economic Totalitarianism to see if the idea works. I reported on June 21, 2014 that Britain was doing a test run. A shopping street in Manchester banned cash as part of an experiment to see if Brits would accept a cashless society. London buses ended accepting cash payments from July 2014. Meanwhile, Currency Exchange dealers began offering debt cards instead of cash that they market as being safer to travel with. The Chorlton, South Manchester experiment was touted to test customers and business reaction to the idea for physical currency will disappear inside 20 years...
The reasons given are:
> Reduced "bank-runs". Although I have not heard of any runs of late,
> The ability to view customers purchasing habits, e.g. Maybe, the French Government would have been able to
stop the Charlie Hebdo massacre before it happened by tracing firearm and ammo purchases,
> Greatly reduce the underground labor market. No more picking up a few laborers outside your local Home
Depot or Lowes anymore. Increased labor tax revenues to the Government, and
> Reduced cash management expenses, e.g. printing, travel, tellers, etc.
Anyhow, lets keep an eye on this movement to see what happens in the EU as this may be coming across the Pond to a bank near you.
