Chief Citigroup Economist Proposes Abolishing Cash to Save World Economy

Which presumes it's worthy of saving, but I digress...

Bloomberg Business (yikes!)

The world's central banks have a problem.

When economic conditions worsen, they react by reducing interest rates in order to stimulate the economy. But, as has happened across the world in recent years, there comes a point where those central banks run out of room to cut — they can bring interest rates to zero, but reducing them further below that is fraught with problems, the biggest of which is cash in the economy.

In a new piece, Citi's Willem Buiter looks at this problem, which is known as the effective lower bound (ELB) on nominal interest rates.

It's filled with a lot of economist jargon, but basically what the guy is saying is that for their little shell game to continue, they have to remove cash from the system or de-incentivize its use (or both).

Creating a cashless society is one goal of the world's elite-of-the-elite that we've been talking about here for quite some time, and of course received our fair share of ridicule for it.

Nonetheless, a "credentialed" top economist at one of the world's leading financial institutions is now openly proposing it (albeit not the first). He acknowledges the fact that such a policy would encounter heavy resistance, but of course dismisses such concerns outright.

Then the article, of course, suggests that there's really "nothing to see here":

Whatever the strength of the arguments, the chances of an administration taking the decision to abolish cash seem vanishingly small.

Not gonna happen, right?

Right.

Bilderberg 2015 is in a few weeks, if I'm not mistaken. Will this be an agenda Action Item?

Fundamentally, the ELB problem comes down to cash. According to Buiter, the ELB only exists at all due to the existence of cash, which is a bearer instrument that pays zero nominal rates. Why have your money on deposit at a negative rate that reduces your wealth when you can have it in cash and suffer no reduction?

Cash therefore gives people an easy and effective way of avoiding negative nominal rates.

Buiter's note suggests three ways to address this problem:

Abolish currency.

Tax currency.

Remove the fixed exchange rate between currency and central bank reserves/deposits.

Is this a preview of what's inevitably coming down the pike?

Good luck to them on that one .. how will all the politicians in the world get their bribes in a cashless society ? Politicians dont work well without getting briefcases full of untraceable cash .. or do they get special cards to recieve their coffee money on ?


Will stick with barter or cash only .. havent used bank in decades ..

I am all for removing cash.


When you cashless, I assume you mean no monetary system.

However, that is not what is meant I am sure

So cashless, well a lot of places in Europe already don't use cash for the majority of transactions.

Let's see - when they reduce interest rates to zero, there's no incentive for anyone to keep their money in the bank, they might as well spend it before it gets devalued by inflation. If interest rates go below zero or if the banks start charging fees for people to keep their "money" in the magic memory vault (of course, it all electronic money, which doesn't exist physically until converted into cash), then that only strengthens the black economy and encourages people to hide their physical cash under the mattress.

And they think if they ban currency, everyone is going to keep their money in the bank. Which won't happen since the punters will find ways of investing in things that will retain their value over time; antiques, property, electronic commodities like memory chips, CPU's, GPU's and smartphones. Not only money but property would also have to be banned.

Since banks make money every time a person spend money with a card, I can see why they want all transactions.

Just another step in the plan.

Too many things to change, like laundromats, all vending machines, purchases under $5 (these cost the store if cash isn't used).
I hardly use cash for other things these days, paycheque direct deposit, online bill paying, email transfers when my son borrows (?) money, debit card purchases for anything over $5.
My veterinarian only takes cash or VISA (I don't have a VISA), coins to purchase bulk water, and we just bought a puppy (delivery next week).
Email transfers take about a half hour or so to go through, that needs to be instant to work with strangers.

When we go to a cashless society, buy K-Y Jelly by the quart. There will be unrestrained convert sodomy on a biblical scale. The Banksters, The Wall St. crowd with the master degrees in Financial Engineering with be taking BUNCO to new heights. The Catholic Church will canonize St. Ponzi whilst legions of red and black clad clergy slink about Vatican catacombs in nocturnal predation. Pedophilia and hideous perversion Bercome the new vocation. What a wretched world it will be. I'll switch specialties and become a Proctologist and tend to the masses of victimized a$$holes.

How can anyone with a critically thinking mind see good in any of this?

It also give financial institutions the power to say where, when and how much money a person spends.

And if the card terminals don't work then no purchase.

originally posted by: HUMBLEONE
How can anyone with a critically thinking mind see good in any of this?

I don't see more positive then negative. But then I am not a banker.

a reply to: NthOther

Is this a preview of what's inevitably coming down the pike?

Yes.
And no.

Currency cant be eliminated altogehter because even if they abolish currency, transactions can still be had in "specie", i.e., gold and silver. What's really being discussed is the abolition of "currency" as a debt issuance item of transaction use. Problem there as well because the "Petro Dollar" is sacrosanct as the world reserve currency which must be maintained to facilitate capital transfers. They can eliminate "paper" currency used in consumer transactions, but they'll still have to maintain the digital petro dollar for some time as the currency of choice for foriegn capital transaction.

The real problem the elites are addressing is savings. They need to end the hoarding of cash reserves by the consumer public in order to maintain their monopoly on capital.

At the end of the day, none of this really matters because we're all dead people walking and none of us can take it with us.

originally posted by: roadgravel

And if the card terminals don't work then no purchase.

^that is something I ran into once. Half hour from home and the Internet went down. All the interac machines wouldn't work, the stores at least took cheques, but the only gas station had their pumps connected too, I guess because of the pay at pump thing, not sure.
I got stuck in town most of the day with absolutely nothing to do, couldn't drive around - needed gas.
At least when that happens in a smallish type town, they're fixing it as fast as they can

On a smaller scale I noticed all the things listed above that absolutely requires cash don't have receipts. The last time I got motivated and washed every single item from linens to shower curtains at the laundry mat no joke it was over $50.

When you add this "unaccountable " money to your budget, I feel this is just a way to be certain the people aren't buying drugs or girl scout cookies.

Never trust a banker.

There...how hard is that to remember?

originally posted by: Iamthatbish

When you add this "unaccountable " money to your budget, I feel this is just a way to be certain the people aren't buying drugs or girl scout cookies.

Nothing that isn't child-safe, FDA-tested and Truth Czar-approved.

People will always barter among themselves, even if they make that illegal too. But bartering with the Safeway cashier when their debit machine goes down will get you nowhere. Haggling is unfortunately a lost art in the modern consumer marketplace. If the cash goes away, so does any semblance of "free commerce". The banks and the corporations, if they didn't have us by the balls already, will make their final terrifying squeeze.

a reply to: NthOther

For one they are facing from competition from the far East and their bank that most of the rest of the world seems to be joining. Also many Americans and the rest of the world are waking up to the debt/money scam that the FED and the banking industry has been pulling for well over a century.

I think moving away from cash also allows them to monitor all transactions, something that obviously can't happen with cash.

We've been slowly moving towards a cashless society for years now.

How many more years it will take to get there is yet to be seen, but yes TPTB want a 100% cashless society.

So long as there is paper/coin currency, they can't track our every move quite as easily.

What is the point of a government if absolute control over our daily lives is controlled by a system of private banks?

A cashless system would be a gift. A few clicks of the mouse and financial crisis' can be averted. IF such a power was in the hands of trustworthy directors - might I suggest - a democratically elected government and not a bunch of sleazy, lazy, unimaginative banker clones that are holding back the advancement of our civilization.

Imagine an unlimited amount of pay cheques going out to researchers in the space industry. Unlimited pay cheques to the medical industry. No targets for "shareholders" other than do your best, do it right, and lets see what we can do.

a reply to: NthOther

We must be getting pretty close to the coming crash with talk like this from the elitist scum bags. They want paperless currency for many reasons......They can outright control things and take whenever they want for any reason.



To bad for them the common man is waking up faster than they can keep up with. Even non conspiracy minded people are seeing the cold hard truth this time around. When they do crash the system court trials and jail time will be what is coming for the bankers the next time around.

originally posted by: MALBOSIA

What is the point of a government if absolute control over our daily lives is controlled by a system of private banks?

The government is simply the front operation. It facilitates the illusion of legitimacy.