16 Comments

This series of articles should be required reading for everyone. This faster world though leaves us less and less time to pause and reflect. Tech is a tool which those with power seek to further enrich themselves only to find (too late) that they themselves have become enslaved. Is the cost of our time to be the depletion of resources and just as serious our connection with each other?

Expand full comment

Thanks Richard. You point out a deep problem - the more immersed we get the harder we find it to reflect

Expand full comment

Thank you for these essays. Every time I read one I am inspired to head to the ATM and reach for bills rather than the card. But it's so easy...

Expand full comment

Just make it a regular thing, it will soon become a habit again🙂 Also, if places (usually restaurants) ask me "you'll be paying by card surely?" I make sure to let them (and other diners) know that I will pay in cash, and would not come again if at some point that were no longer possible... hoping to encourage others who may have the same feeling/conviction but may not have felt able to voice it yet

Expand full comment

Yep, it's crucial to reduce the *shame* people are being pushed to feel when using cash. That's one of the biggest reasons they stop - they sense that they will be socially judged if they pull out cash in a place with low cash usage. To reverse that shame is hard, but it has to start with people taking individual stands

Expand full comment

Given what we are seeing on campuses and in gaza, things like this should become even more important

Expand full comment

Absolutely

Expand full comment

Apparently it turns out that the Swedes are starting to reverse their fancy story of a cashless economy. I read somewhere that this is because without cash, the guest worker system in Sweden is affected and even the Riksbank is sounding the alarm because of it. This is also because it has apparently noticed that the declining use of cash could endanger its position in the financial system.

This corresponds to my assessment that without cash a central bank is no longer able to pay because the only medium that enables final payments no longer exists. The result is that you no longer need a central bank - which is probably the real reason behind the campaign to abolish cash anyway.

https://www.riksbank.se/en-gb/press-and-published/notices-and-press-releases/press-releases/2023/political-decisions-needed-urgently--so-that-everyone-can-pay/

(Link adjusted...)

Expand full comment

Also, another reason the Swedish authorities have started to promote cash is geopolitical - they've expressed concern about Russian aggression, and the need for cash as a backup in times of crisis

Expand full comment

This is very interesting, thanks for sharing. The link does not work for me though - does it word for you?

Expand full comment

Thank you for the hint with the corrupted link. Now it is working!

Expand full comment

Love this piece. Wonderfully clear set of arguments against the Fintech ‘modernity’ guilt trip. 👏👏👏

Expand full comment

Glad you like it Howard!

Expand full comment

Thanks for the deep dive into the propaganda and problem. An honest and simple question: what is your practical and viable solution to it all?

Expand full comment

Glad you like it Frank. Well, there are many pro-cash policies and actions that can be taken, from promoting legislation that requires cash acceptance and guarantees cash access, through to cultural movements that promote pride in cash usage. I'll have to do a separate piece some time on these though

Expand full comment

I remember when the ATMs were introduced. Banks couched their conscience and the lowering or removal of bank fees due to lessum wages labor requirements on labor costs. Ie tellers. Like Walmart's big press sound hog they would be raising the minimum wages of their entire body of "associates" to $11.50. We know what happened in both scenarios, after the initial press hype and journalist moved on to the next bleeder. Bank fees shot up. Walmart reduced associates weekly hours. Next!

Expand full comment