This breakdown is brillant! The informal economy angle is something most cashless advocates totally gloss over. I've seen street vendors and small businessses in my neighborhood struggle when forced to go digital, and the fees/barriers really do hurt the little guy. The parallels you draw between payment surveillance and broader social control are spot-on.
That's a big question Johan, but basically on a policy level it involves 1) protecting cash access 2) enforcing cash acceptance and 3) insisting on banks maintaining their cash deposit facilities - precisely because a negative feedback loop kicks in when banks start refusing to take cash in, and start shutting down their ATMs. The ATM shut-down lowers cash access, and the deposit-facility shutdown lowers cash depositability, which pushes shops towards refusing cash, which lowers cash acceptance
Just as important though is promoting a positive cultural value around cash - right now the digital payments industry (and digital tech industry more generally) has managed to instill the idea that cash is 'old-fashioned' and 'inconvenient', which means that even when people do have cash access they are increasingly feeling ashamed when they use it, so they in turn increasingly 'choose' to not use it. A big fight then, is to recast cash as something that is resilient, and inclusive, and tough and reliable and forward-facing in a world that's increasingly subject to digital failures
This latter point is important because I think it's crucial to attack the fight for cash to the broader fight for non-corporate, non-digital, non-automated systems, and I think this could prove to actually be culturally very popular in future - right now the digital industries think they are on top of the world, and that they will be for the rest of time, but already people (including younger people) are getting deeply disillusioned (even disgusted) by digital hype
Thank you for your answer Brett, but my question was on a more personal / practical level. I use my IBAN to keep track of my spendings. If I were to use banknotes and coins, I would lose that, right?
This is really helpful analysis. But it's also important to take the problems with cash seriously. It can be really dangerous to use in many places, for many people.
A lot of schools have gone cashless because it makes children and staff safer. As a woman especially, I've often felt really unsafe drawing and carrying cash. And sometimes you need it unexpectedly, but there's no ATM nearby, or no safe one. I also have ADHD, and used to have endless problems with forgetting to get enough cash every time I needed it. And that's not even mentioning the elderly, disabled, chronically ill, or people in rural or under-served areas without easy ATM access.
I think it's worth thinking about the serious problems with cash, so your important points aren't dismissed as irrelevant or unrealistic.
I’ve campaigned on cash for over 10 years so I’m well aware of the various ambiguous dynamics of cash, and not all of that is going to be captured in a 20 minute video.
The main thing I’d say in return is this: it’s obvious that digital payments are now far more powerful than cash, so the fight right now is not ‘are we going to have digital or not’, but rather ‘are we going to be allowed to not use digital’. People, like yourself, who don’t want to use cash don’t have to, but people who don’t want to use digital are increasingly being forced to
Bear in mind that all the tech lords like Musk and banking giants like Bank of America that are currently force-feeding us digital really couldn’t care less about those concerns that you have (e.g. about ADHD, and safety etc), and what they really care about is business domination and expansion, but they will weaponise your concerns for their own profit motive (i.e. they will paste your story about making children safer to further their reach and domination (and I personally don’t think that actually really makes the world safer).
Secondly, while it’s true that there are - in certain circumstances - negative elements to the cash system, the digital system does not get rid of them
for example, losing your entire digital savings to cybercrime is becoming a far bigger issue than losing your wallet e.g. the stories of elderly people being rinsed by fraudsters who are able to phone them up and get them to hand over bank details (which in turn enables banks to say that those people don’t deserve compensation)
another example when it comes to disability is that sight-impaired people often value the tactile nature of cash when compared to the glossy surface of a smartphone
So, I accept that there are downsides and sometimes dangers to the cash system, but those exist too in digital systems. Incidentally, it’s often in low socio-economic strata that cash is most popular, despite the fact that those areas can have higher levels of poverty-related crime, precisely because there’s more going on here than immediate safety, and people simply do not trust Big Tech / Big Finance in such strata. Furthermore, I’ve seen bouji restaurants in very safe neighbourhoods justify ‘going cashless’ by invoking that point about crime, despite the fact that their actual reason for doing it is to optimise profits by getting rid of their cash handling facilities
Thanks for your detailed answer. I completely agree that digital alternatives aren't always safer, and overall pose enormous dangers, especially in terms of unaccountable surveillance and control in serve of profit.
I know you're not saying we shouldn't have cashless options, but saying cash isn't really inconvenient or difficult could make people who do experience it that way sceptical of this critique generally.
This breakdown is brillant! The informal economy angle is something most cashless advocates totally gloss over. I've seen street vendors and small businessses in my neighborhood struggle when forced to go digital, and the fees/barriers really do hurt the little guy. The parallels you draw between payment surveillance and broader social control are spot-on.
Glad you like it! Thanks for the support
I have watched it a few weeks ago and it's great!
Do you have any suggestions on returning to use physical money?
I have some banknotes and coins in my wallet, but I rarely use them...
That's a big question Johan, but basically on a policy level it involves 1) protecting cash access 2) enforcing cash acceptance and 3) insisting on banks maintaining their cash deposit facilities - precisely because a negative feedback loop kicks in when banks start refusing to take cash in, and start shutting down their ATMs. The ATM shut-down lowers cash access, and the deposit-facility shutdown lowers cash depositability, which pushes shops towards refusing cash, which lowers cash acceptance
Just as important though is promoting a positive cultural value around cash - right now the digital payments industry (and digital tech industry more generally) has managed to instill the idea that cash is 'old-fashioned' and 'inconvenient', which means that even when people do have cash access they are increasingly feeling ashamed when they use it, so they in turn increasingly 'choose' to not use it. A big fight then, is to recast cash as something that is resilient, and inclusive, and tough and reliable and forward-facing in a world that's increasingly subject to digital failures
This latter point is important because I think it's crucial to attack the fight for cash to the broader fight for non-corporate, non-digital, non-automated systems, and I think this could prove to actually be culturally very popular in future - right now the digital industries think they are on top of the world, and that they will be for the rest of time, but already people (including younger people) are getting deeply disillusioned (even disgusted) by digital hype
Thank you for your answer Brett, but my question was on a more personal / practical level. I use my IBAN to keep track of my spendings. If I were to use banknotes and coins, I would lose that, right?
This is really helpful analysis. But it's also important to take the problems with cash seriously. It can be really dangerous to use in many places, for many people.
A lot of schools have gone cashless because it makes children and staff safer. As a woman especially, I've often felt really unsafe drawing and carrying cash. And sometimes you need it unexpectedly, but there's no ATM nearby, or no safe one. I also have ADHD, and used to have endless problems with forgetting to get enough cash every time I needed it. And that's not even mentioning the elderly, disabled, chronically ill, or people in rural or under-served areas without easy ATM access.
I think it's worth thinking about the serious problems with cash, so your important points aren't dismissed as irrelevant or unrealistic.
Hi, thanks for the comment. Much appreciated
I’ve campaigned on cash for over 10 years so I’m well aware of the various ambiguous dynamics of cash, and not all of that is going to be captured in a 20 minute video.
The main thing I’d say in return is this: it’s obvious that digital payments are now far more powerful than cash, so the fight right now is not ‘are we going to have digital or not’, but rather ‘are we going to be allowed to not use digital’. People, like yourself, who don’t want to use cash don’t have to, but people who don’t want to use digital are increasingly being forced to
Bear in mind that all the tech lords like Musk and banking giants like Bank of America that are currently force-feeding us digital really couldn’t care less about those concerns that you have (e.g. about ADHD, and safety etc), and what they really care about is business domination and expansion, but they will weaponise your concerns for their own profit motive (i.e. they will paste your story about making children safer to further their reach and domination (and I personally don’t think that actually really makes the world safer).
Secondly, while it’s true that there are - in certain circumstances - negative elements to the cash system, the digital system does not get rid of them
for example, losing your entire digital savings to cybercrime is becoming a far bigger issue than losing your wallet e.g. the stories of elderly people being rinsed by fraudsters who are able to phone them up and get them to hand over bank details (which in turn enables banks to say that those people don’t deserve compensation)
another example when it comes to disability is that sight-impaired people often value the tactile nature of cash when compared to the glossy surface of a smartphone
So, I accept that there are downsides and sometimes dangers to the cash system, but those exist too in digital systems. Incidentally, it’s often in low socio-economic strata that cash is most popular, despite the fact that those areas can have higher levels of poverty-related crime, precisely because there’s more going on here than immediate safety, and people simply do not trust Big Tech / Big Finance in such strata. Furthermore, I’ve seen bouji restaurants in very safe neighbourhoods justify ‘going cashless’ by invoking that point about crime, despite the fact that their actual reason for doing it is to optimise profits by getting rid of their cash handling facilities
Thanks for your detailed answer. I completely agree that digital alternatives aren't always safer, and overall pose enormous dangers, especially in terms of unaccountable surveillance and control in serve of profit.
I know you're not saying we shouldn't have cashless options, but saying cash isn't really inconvenient or difficult could make people who do experience it that way sceptical of this critique generally.