Financial Times calls for abolishing cash in order to "to give more power to central banks"

Paul Joseph Watson
Global Research /
With comments by sott.net

The Financial Times has published an anonymous article which calls for the abolition of cash in order to give central banks and governments more power.

Entitled The case for retiring another 'barbarous relic', the article laments the fact that people are stockpiling cash in anticipation of another economic collapse, a factor which is causing, "a lot of distortion to the economic system."

Comment: People should be stockpiling cash, precious metals and all sorts of supplies in anticipation of a probable economic collapse. The only "distortion to the economic system" will be in the distorted minds of individuals who experience a sense of loss of control over individuals who would seek to protect themselves and persevere through the turmoil to come.

"The existence of cash — a bearer instrument with a zero interest rate — limits central banks' ability to stimulate a depressed economy. The worry is that people will change their deposits for cash if a central bank moves rates into negative territory," states the article.

Complaining that cash cannot be tracked and traced, the writer argues that its abolition would, "make life easier for a government set on squeezing the informal economy out of existence."

Comment: What about the government making life easier for the people that they are supposed to serve? But that doesn't quite enter the equation does it? 'Informal' economies, or black markets as they are sometimes called, are the only way the vast majority of normal people can make it through the really tough times.

Have a listen to Dmitry Orlov a Russian engineer who's lived through Soviet Russia's collapse in the early 90's:

SOTT Talk Radio #66 - Lessons from collapse of USSR for USA: Interview with Dmitry Orlov
and read: Dmitry Orlov interview: Are Americans prepared for a Soviet style collapse?

Abolishing cash would also give governments more power to lift taxes directly from people's bank accounts, the author argues, noting how "Value added tax, for example, could be automatically levied — and reimbursed — in real time on transactions between liable bank accounts."

The writer also calls for punishing people who use cash by making users "pay for the privilege of anonymity" so they will, "remain affected by monetary policy." Dated bank notes would lose their value over time, while people would also be charged by banks for swapping electronic reserves for physical cash and vice versa.   

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