If Sweden becomes the first cashless society, could the UK be next?

I'm hearing a lot of talk about the dollar being replaced by bitcoin and other electronic currencies, I hope not that would be disastrous for most everyone. A few experiments were done with foreign communities in the 80's but I don't know where, somewhere in singapore I think. I for one don't welcome it.

“The declining use of cash in Sweden means that this is more of a burning issue for us than for most other central banks,” said Cecilia Skingsley, deputy governor of the Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank. The amount of notes and coins in circulation in Sweden has fallen by 40 per cent since 2009, driven in part by the decision to eliminate the country’s largest denomination bill. Rather than complaining, Swedes started using less of the second largest bill, the 500-krona note.

Now, by some estimates, only a fifth of Swedish retail transactions are conducted in cash. Buses, trains, bars and restaurants all refuse it. Many of the country’s bank branches don’t allow withdrawals or deposits of the hard stuff. Even in Sweden, scrapping cash is not quite as easy as it sounds. The Riksbank is clear that any digital currency would be introduced alongside cash at first. “Although it may appear simple at first glance to issue e-krona, this is something entirely new for a central bank and there is no precedent to follow,“ said Skingsley.

Even if the Bank of England finds a solution, it might face backlash from the public. Anyone who remembers the public outcry that followed the central bank decision to stop dealing in cheques – and subsequent U-turn – a few years ago will know that the British can be stubborn.

God bless the British for their stubborness!


www.independent.co.uk...

a reply to: Blender5L

I don't see the UK becoming a cashless society anytime soon or in the foreseeable future , as a nation we like having readies in our pockets and have a long standing tradition of cash in hand payments to circumvent tax.

Digital payment and cash can live side by side as both have their benefits but removing the Pound from our pockets would be a step no government would dare try , it would be met with protest and be doomed to fail.

God bless the British for their stubborness!

Thank you , we pride ourselves on it.

a reply to: gortex

You just made my day thanks gortex, I love the British! There's no way I would ever give up cash, I use it for everything. I'm not into the cashless theme at all, but if it happened some day in my future, i'd end up moving to a mountain living off the land like grizzly adams or something.

a reply to: gortex

have a long standing tradition of cash in hand payments to circumvent tax.

Explain.

a reply to: gortex

Exactly! They can work together.

The financial markets would much prefer money to stay within the electronic system instead of our purses and wallets. It's in their interests and they want us to see it their way. They'd have larger funds to move across markets and they aren't earning interest or hedging assets with cash in our pockets.

All this cashless technology is great and I'm enjoying contactless a lot - so easy. We're on the crest of the technological wave in the UK. It doesn't mean we want to abandon our own cash. It'll be a very tragic day when we have to notify banks every time we want to spend our own money. God, we'd be tracked and assessed and every detail sold on to marketing corps and 'think tanks.' A cashless society will probably be a soulless and a more exploitative society.

a reply to: Kandinsky

The future is starting to look like Nanny Central.

a reply to: Domo1

If you have a small job you want doing and a local tradesman offers to do it off the books for cash payment than it avoids having to pay Value Added Tax , for example I could "hypothetically" buy a new set of tyres from a local garage and pay cash in hand which would save me a decent amount of money , the government take enough tax off me as it is so little victories like that make cash king.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: Blender5L

I don't see the UK becoming a cashless society anytime soon or in the foreseeable future , as a nation we like having readies in our pockets and have a long standing tradition of cash in hand payments to circumvent tax.

Digital payment and cash can live side by side as both have their benefits but removing the Pound from our pockets would be a step no government would dare try , it would be met with protest and be doomed to fail.

God bless the British for their stubborness!

Thank you , we pride ourselves on it.

You mention all the right reasons why those mf-ers want a cashless society. They want to know how much toiletpaper you buy and where..

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: Domo1

If you have a small job you want doing and a local tradesman offers to do it off the books for cash payment than it avoids having to pay Value Added Tax , for example I could "hypothetically" buy a new set of tyres from a local garage and pay cash in hand which would save me a decent amount of money , the government take enough tax off me as it is so little victories like that make cash king.

And the tradesman doesn't have to declare the money as income so saves about 40% in taxes.

So if you need a dent banging out on your van, you can pay 150 through the books or pay 100 cash.

You save, he saves and the government has to look elsewhere for the money to buy a ten grand desk for some fat cats office.

a reply to: gortex

I've thought about this a few times.

All the cash in hand could be the reason some taxes are so high. Like the black market tobacco industry... OK bad example but I'm sure I can think of some.

Illegal trade becomes more difficult without cash, but then it'll force people to use cryptocurrency which is already a beast as it stands...

So much uncertainty. When you consider the uncertainty of national currencies too, it makes you scratch your head when looking to the future.

Bubbles, bit coins and currency wars.

Fully digitising a national currency might just be the future, or the biggest a mistake nation could do. My mystic ball is still cloudy on this one.

We'll be tracked either way, RFID chipped bank notes anyone?

With out cash how would I pay my bookie. bootlegger, supplier, or that working girl down the street? Oh, I see where this is going.

a reply to: RAY1990

I think taxes are high through incompetent governance of finances , corruption and greed , vanity projects like HS2 , Trident and other government projects that always run way over budget and prove to be of little or no benefit to us the tax payer.
Money from the black economy always finds its way back into the economy because it's money in our pockets not in a corporate bank accounts.

We'll be tracked either way, RFID chipped bank notes anyone?

That's what it's about , isn't it ?
Every transaction we make will be logged and accounted for and kept in some database somewhere , they will know exactly what you bought and where and when you bought it , it's all about control and keeping us tagged.

I am not a free man I am a number.

a reply to: gortex

I am not a free man I am a number.

That my friend you can bank on.

a reply to: gortex

I'd be dumbfounded to find out that some massive study of the human isn't being done in regards to spending, in fact I know it's being done.

It's all about the triggers.

Tbh I wouldn't be surprised if they can predict detailed aspects of your life just via spending habits as it stands, algorithms and data.

Probably makes MK Ultra look like a mad scientist poking a bear with a stick in comparison with the things they can do now.

30 billion on a railway that's part of the "Northern powehouse" but it barely enters the north... Lol, yeah as a northerner I've seen too much of governmental waste. Spending millions on arty farty bridges and special projects whilst public transport and such literally collapse around me.

Sickening really.

I honestly feel more devolution of power to regions would help, but that's for another thread.

its pretty much a cashless society now, everyone pays by card, some dimwitted types get to jump up and down angrily before they go down asda and use their contactless card.

So if it is a cashless society and the power goes out for any reason... then what?

Whats a person to do if they need to buy food or bottled water, if you have the little chip in your hand the reader will need power, credit card readers need power.

we still on a fairly regular basis in the first world areas have sections that go stretches with the power knocked out, till they can figure that out they can stuff their cashless society ideas.

a reply to: Blender5L

A cashless society... the dream of every dictatorship!

You left a comment on ATS that critized the rulers?
Let´s have a look how long you will critize when your bankster-account is locked!

I don´t get it, there are really people out there that would prefer a cashless society. For me a cashless society is a castrated society, citizens open to be blackmailed by the rulers. I can´t understand why the swedes have to play the role model for such things like cashless society, chipped citizens etc. Two days ago i saw a documentary of how proud young swedes areabout becoming chipped. For example in a Club, so that the chipped guests don´t have to wait for entrance or that the barkeeper knows what your favourite drink is... That´s what mankind waited millions of years for...

They don´t care about their own (data)security. When they were asked about that security issues, some of them even admitted that know about the risks but had a "why should it hit exactly me" and a "i don´t have anything to hide" mentality. I don´t know if that were propaganda documentaries, but i remember that Sweden fights for a cashless society since years. It could be that the opinion of the interviewed people in the documentaries really the opinion of the majority of the swedes is. Many of them seem to think:
Nice, i can change security and a piece of independence for senseless "comfort", why shouldn´t i do it?
At least do the consumers of these documentaries think it would be like this in whole sweden.

I remember that ABBA singer Björn Ulvaeus called for a ban of cash, fights for a cashless society since many years.
One Swede Will Kill Cash Forever—Unless His Foe Saves It From Extinction

Björn Ulvaeus at the heart of the cashless society debate in Sweden

Sweden leads the race to become cashless society
etc.

What a future...
You did a (thought-)crime(not ruler conform opinion), your credits account will be closed and you can pay for nothing anymore, like rent, food, etc. Or, you want to buy something unhealthy, like... let´s say sugar, a chocolate bar, the next day your insurance premium increaes by 25%... Who will ever again say what he really thinks, do what he really wants?

Those that want to abolish the cash want to know everything about you. Take that in addition to the people that voluntarily put spying devices, spyPhones, "smart"phones(smart for the observers!) into their pockets(who needs chips?), put spying devices in their homes, like cameras, "smart"whatevers, Alexas and all that stuff.

A dream for every GeStaPo/StaSi/worse than 1984 dictatorship disguised as democracy...

a reply to: growler

I used my card exclusively on a night out once.

It was liberating tbh not going home in the early hours of the morning with pockets full of shrapnel and crumpled fivers.

I spent more though, much more. I have much more control when I wobble and give that long stare into my wallet then realise I've only got a tenna left and should probably slow down.

Ahh shrapnel it weighs me down when I'm drunk and stops me rolling off the sofa.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
So if it is a cashless society and the power goes out for any reason... then what?

Whats a person to do if they need to buy food or bottled water, if you have the little chip in your hand the reader will need power, credit card readers need power.

we still on a fairly regular basis in the first world areas have sections that go stretches with the power knocked out, till they can figure that out they can stuff their cashless society ideas.

Then they just record your bank account number, name and signature from the card, then bill you when the power comes back on. Otherwise, the bank gets the debt collection agency people after you.

When I stayed in Norway, I never used cash. Everything was digital; shopping for groceries, clothes, even buying items at a restaurant or bar. Waitresses would come around with those mobile card readers. If items were put on the tab, the payee would be presented with a receipt about 15 meters long. The only people to use were pensioners who had a purse for every denomination of currency. So having to pay less that 20NOK, they would fiddle around pockets for about 10 minutes getting every coin out. Meanwhile there is a queue building up behind them.

I've actually gone back to using cash - take £100 out of a cash machine and use that for the whole week. Mainly because there are so few reliable cash machines between where I live, the taxi ranks and my work place.