“Cash Is Coined Freedom”: War on Cash Becomes Official in Germany, Reaches G-7, Draws Withering Fire
It came from a voice that has, by law, the ear of the German government. Peter Bofinger is a member of the German Council of Economic Experts – the “Five Sages on the Economy” – which in its official function advises the government and parliament on economic policy issues. These folks are taken seriously.
So Bofinger told the German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview (full interview behind paywall) that cash should be done away with.
In Denmark, a new law was proposed that would allow shops to refuse cash payments. Officially, it’s to reduce the “administrative and financial burdens” of handling cash. Since it’s up to the shop to decide, the law sounds innocuous. But it would be another step to making money a purely electronic entity that can be seamlessly tracked anywhere. It would also be another step in granting the central bank the absolute power to inflict confiscatory monetary policies on any entity or person with money in the bank.
This law would come in handy. Danmarks Nationalbank has imposed a negative deposit rate of -0.75%, with the intent of flogging savers and confiscating their money until their mood improves and limiting the appreciation of the krone against the sagging euro. But to evade the wrath of negative deposit rates, savers can pull cash out of the bank and store it under their mattress. And this must be stopped – by making cash useless.
So, Der Spiegel asked, was this law in Denmark “a good idea?”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
