I can go weeks without touching cash these days. Nonetheless, I find the idea that I could be prevented from making a person-to-person financial transaction for even a modest amount without a paper trail pretty unsettling.
Many ATMs already have the hardware. To improve counterfeit recognition, most ATMs which accept cash now take a high-resolution image of both sides of the bill and do considerable processing on it. It just takes a software upgrade.
Some bank counting machines also have this feature. Cummings markets their cash counter to law enforcement, so they can capture all the serial numbers from a drug bust and track them.[4]
[1] http://www.grgbanking.cn/en/chinaATMs/images/H68NL.pdf [2] http://hkmb.hktdc.com/en/1X09V6YK/hktdc-research/ATMs-to-pro... [3] http://en.yibada.com/articles/35951/20150601/china-worlds-fi... [4] http://www.cumminsallison.com/us/en/products/currency-handli...
If five of the twenty bills you withdrew at 9 am were deposited by Seven-Eleven at 7 pm, I can guess that you went shopping at Seven-Eleven... And more likely then not, I'll be right.
A particular bill does not change hands very frequently between ending up at a bank. If anything, a bill that you withdrew not ending up back in circulation is suspicious.
Right. At one time the US Fed estimated that the average number of transactions for cash outside a bank was two. That's an old number, measured years ago to plan bill replacement. (One of the Federal Reserve's functions is paper bill replacement. Banks pull worn bills and send them to the Fed, which tallies them, shreds them, and replaces them with new bills from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Dollar bills last about 18-22 months.)
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/credit-cards-ma...
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/your-money/credit-cards-e...
Merchants prefer cash as card costs them money.
Usually works with dry cleaners, cafes, etc. Big businesses generally say no.
I'm not sure if this is more prevalent in certain regions, because I never noticed it until I drove west from the east coast. First I was confused when I stopped at the cheapest gas station I saw somewhere in Nevada, only to discover it was cash/debit ONLY, and I think there was a 35-cent charge for using debit. After that, in California, I started noticing how easy it is to see the cash price when driving by, but you often have to look closely for the credit price.
It seems some states still ban it by law, though.
What are you hiding citizen? Nothing to hide, nothing to fear.
* Your government won't adequately protect collected information from your stalker
* Your stalker has friends who work for the government
* Your stalker works for the government
* You're gay, and live in the UAE, where your outing may result in your death
* You're gay, and live in the USA, where your outing may result in your death
* Your government has too many laws to count - nevermind read - and can find a violation of them for anyone, given enough time
* Your government won't adequately protect collected information from other governments
* Your government won't adequately protect collected information from your competitors
* Your government won't adequately protect collected information from identity thieves
So yes, for this any many other reasons, it's good to keep secrets from the government.
By the way, pot is just an example, you can literally dig millions of unjust laws up if you looked, we're all just conditioned to OBEY.
It's not like we need more people running around with impaired decision making ability.
The government is not perfect. It's made of people. People who may be racist, sexist, homophobic, desperate for money, greedy, or corrupt.
- Someone's ex burned them, now they hate everyone of __ gender and go out of their way to dig through information of those people and get them in trouble.
- Someone is anti-LGBTQ+ and uses information to hunt people down and get them killed.
- A racist particularly hates a certain race, and now goes after them in particular for small law breaking things -- jaywalking when no cars are coming, not using their blinker, not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. And while those are all crimes, now people of that race are being punished disproportionately.
- Businesses with their hands in the government now have information to use against their competitors and create monopolies
- Limits free speech - can't even discuss things privately.
- Further removal of all freedoms because now you can't get away with anything even if it's a controversial thing such as drugs, sexuality, art/music, and protest.
etc.
I certainly do not want my bank passwords to be with the government. My bank accounts can be wiped out. Hence I do not like my communication recorded at all for this reason.
Governments are not permanent. Significant changes in government can occur through democratic election, revolution, invasion (Ukraine?). Such changes can happen very rapidly. Records can not always be easily purged.
If the incoming government is ideologically opposed to something that you are or you declare (race, religion, political views) and they have a lot of information about you collected by the previous government - then you could very well be in mortal danger.
There are many examples of this in history.
So benign governments should aim to collect the minimum of information required to deliver good service to its citizens. Neither you nor your hopefully benign current government can trust the governments that are to come.
He buys a 12 pack, and his kid steals it, and gets into an accident causing front page news. His kid lies, and says dad gave me the beer. (He is screwed.)
He goes onto physical therapy office. One of the legitimate places that, but sounds weird--like the power of hands--whatever. The wife sees the bill and it always stays in the back of her mind forever.
He buys a pressure cooker, and is suddenly profiled?
He pays out of packet for a CAT scan because he's a hypochondriac, and things he has a brain tumor. He is forced to claim he did have a CAT scan on all those pesky insurance forms. (Happened to me.)
Yea some of these are far fetched, but not being able to buy groceries last nights wasen't. My slick new chipped bank card was not recognized by the machine. I usually carry a c-note, but used it the following week because of bank card problems.
I guess the McCarty Era is not taught in school anymore?
So no--I don't want a paper trail either. Hell Safeway knows my diet better than me. (Yes--different card.)
Luckily I can still go weeks without touching my EC card these days.