I seen a guy on TV from one of the credit card companies saying he is even surprised how fast we are moving to a cashless society. Thanks to the pandemic the amount of people using electronic payments has skyrocketed in the last few years. Faster than he even imagined. Well I know why - thanks to inflation you just can't carry enough cash anymore to go to the store. I was at Costco today. Got behind a young lady whose cart was full. I didn't see any electronics, or expensive bottles of wine, liquor in her cart. It just looked like food. Now her cart was crammed full and Costco has big carts - her bill was $637 and some change. WTF??? I was just glad she paid with a card. I would still be there if she paid with $1 bills and had to count all that out. Hell even if she paid with $20s - she would have had to count out 32 of those, and they would have had to check each one with their counterfeit detection pens. Could you imagine if everybody went into a store like Walmart and just paid with cash one day? They would have to have a pickup truck just to empty the cash registers at shift change. So thanks Joe.
The government wants everyone to go cashless. That way they will know what, where and how much money you earn and spend. This way there will be no way of not paying taxes they think they should be gtting. Private sales are being charges sales tax now as well as some sites sending a 1099 to sellers if they sell more than 600.00/yr.. You will have to pay income tax on your old items you sell if you make money on them.
I'm fine with cashless so long as we're talking about debit cards and not credit cards. I understand credit cards come in real handy for a large purchase that has to be made in an emergency, but other than that, I hate them. I may be a millennial, but I am very old school in that I believe if I don't have enough money in my account for something, I don't buy it. I am not gonna be paying 15% for the rest of my life over the nerdy things I normally buy. Cashless also comes in handy when people try to steal from you. Last year I had almost $1,000 stolen from me and all it took was a call to my bank and in less than an hour I had a new card on the way and I had a temporary credit made to my account to cover the cost until the investigation was over and it was permanently refunded. If that was cash stolen from me, I never would've seen it again.
If we went cashless it would take a real bite Into criminal activity. Imagine a crook trying to rob a business all he can get is receipts, image street hookers using a credit card portable scanner, and the real industry that will take a big hit is illegal drugs- I've seen a pallet of $100.00 bills that was stacked 4' high confiscated from a drug trafficker. also, illegals pay the coyotes with cash--cash drives the cartels
Hooker and drug dealers would have to claim all their income (no way to hide it) and the Gov. would love tax it and laugh all the way to the bank.
another couple of aspects would be you would be paid via gov't debit card, this would put illegals out of the "LEGAL" work force, also if you are still paying with cash, you are missing out of a lot of cash back benefits from credit card issuers, its great we get a couple of thousand $ back each year, and we have an auto pay set to make sure we never pay any interest on our cards
A lot of the bars and restaurants around here are giving a 5% discount if you pay with cash. I can't ever remember using a card inside a bar/restaurant. I guess I'm old fashion I just use cash. I do use a credit card at the pump so I don't have to go inside to prepay for gas. Basically only use a credit card to pay for gas, or on line purchases, will use it at grocery store if the self check out machine only accepts cards. I've never used a card to pay for beer, ammo, targets, options, guns, etc... Too easy to overspend with a card and plus I don't want anyone being able to track or see what I spent. I don't trust the government, any government. My reason - the 20th Century. A minimum of probably 100,000,000 people were murdered by their own government. Not killed in wars but murdered by their OWN government. Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot, etal. Yeah I may be paranoid but to paraphrase someone - "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you". When they come knocking on your door wanting to collect guns someday and you turn em all in but that one 45 you want to keep. Excuse me sir we see you haven't turned in that 45ACP you purchased on 2/11/2021 that you purchased at XYZ sporting goods for $575, we'll need that plus the boxes of Hollow points that you purchased too. The sad fact is the cashless economy is coming and it is being expedited by this out of control inflation - you just simply can't carry enough cash with you anymore, unless you want to carry it in a duffle bag.
I only use credit cards @ a gas station by going inside the office and charge it to the pump I'm on, too many card skimmers in gas pumps. also I get 3-5% off @ restaurants- we always eat @ the bar this way we can see the card's journey to the charge machine-
No more under the table cash work done by anyone or hiding income and outgo. No more buying things from friends with no paper trail. this is what the government wants. tax every cent that comes in and every cent you spend. If you bought an item cheap using a CC and sell it for a big profit you will be taxed on the income.
Besides the credit card rewards, benefits, extended warranties on purchases, having a great credit score for a low-interest mortgage, etc., I find credit cards biggest perks due to protection against theft. Some banks do have protection against theft, but not as much as Capital One, Citi, American Express, etc.
NEVER I repeat NEVER use a debit card. Remember the guy who impersonated multiple individuals- think airline pilot, attorney, etc - that the they made a movie about his life ? He said NEVER use a debit card ! !
So says Frank Abagnale. The thief, check kiter, forger, con man, liar, and convict. And it was Spielberg using Decaprio in the movie. Saw it I also saw that old clip about him not using a debit card and never never never letting his three sons ever use a debit card. On a side note, I wonder if his sons are proud of their good old dad. The problem with taking advice from a con man and liar is you are taking advice from a con man and a liar. It all looked pretty cool in the movie huh? That bathtub full of airline decals to put on all those checks he forged? In truth it was 8 checks in 5 states that totaled $1,500. Yeah, $1,500, NOT thousands or millions, 15 hundred. Most of the claims Abagnale made about being the international criminal Dicaprio portrayed were highly exaggerated or completely made up. After researchers said that most of he stories were HIGHLY exaggerated or complete fiction he did admit in one of his many interviews that he had indeed “Exaggerated” some of his daring feats. Some? LOL From a convicted LIAR and con artist. The media ate it up and he duped them too. The next time I need some advice on any medication I might need I’ll just drive down to Center Ave. in the “Hill District” here in PGH. and ask one of the dealers standing on the corner what I should take. I wonder if the Millions and Millions and Millions an Millions of people that use their debit cards EVERY DAY watched that snake oil salesman tell that story. From the number of worldwide transaction done every minute using a debit card I doubt it. Take the advice of a convict? I might just as well take advice from people on here saying to never never do something.
I’d like to say, respectfully, you’re wrong. I saw Abagnale speak in person. He outlined his life, explained what he did and why he did it. Spent years in prison in Europe. Only came back to the US after he had served his sentence. Fully admitted what he did was wrong and was very contrite. Was approached by the FBI to work for them and has done so teaching them about how to solve white collar crime. You may think Abagnale was a crook - and he was. After listening to him speak I believe he truly regrets his former life. He said he did not find happiness until he found a woman who loved him and to whom he has been married for many years. Lastly, what he says about not using a debit card is spot on. Get all your bank account balances cleaned out just once and then talk to me after using your debit card. Anyone who doesn’t use a credit card that provides rewards of a given type is an idiot. I have a Capital One card that provides a cash reward for every purchase, Cabelas awards Cabela points, etc. Charge everything on a credit card and pay it off each month is a better way to go.
