{"id":29450,"date":"2018-01-06T08:39:06","date_gmt":"2018-01-06T13:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=29450"},"modified":"2018-01-06T08:39:39","modified_gmt":"2018-01-06T13:39:39","slug":"corporate-coercion-and-the-drive-to-eliminate-buying-with-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=29450","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Coercion and the Drive to Eliminate Buying with Cash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Corporate Coercion and the Drive to Eliminate Buying with Cash<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

\u201cSorry we\u2019re not taking cash or checks,\u201d said the clerk at the Fed Ex counter over a decade ago to an intern. \u201cOnly credit cards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, the relentless intensification of coercive commercialism has been moving toward a cashless economy, when all consumers are incarcerated within a prison of corporate payment systems from your credit\/debit cards to your mobile phone and very soon facial recognition.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerrific!\u201d say those consumers for whom convenience and velocity of transactions are irresistible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is nuts!\u201d say a shrinking number of free-thinking consumers who are unwilling to be dragooned down the road to corporate captivity and coercion.\u00a0 These people treasure their privacy. They understand that it\u2019s none of any conglomerate\u2019s business \u2013 whether VISA, Facebook, Amazon or Google \u2013 what, where, when and how consumers purchase goods and services. Or where and when they travel, receive healthcare, or the most intimate relationships they maintain. Not to mention consumers\u2019 personal information can be sent to or hacked around the globe.<\/p>\n

Cash-consumers are not alone in their opposition to a cashless economy. \u00a0When they are in a cab and ask the driver how they prefer to be paid, the answer is near-unanimous. \u201cCash, cash, cash,\u201d reply the cab drivers in cities around the country. They get paid immediately and without having to have a company deduct a commission.<\/p>\n

Back some 25 years ago, Consumers Union considered backing consumer groups to sign up Main Street, USA merchants who agreed to discount their wares if people paid in cash. For the same reason \u2013 merchants get to keep all the money on sales made with cash or check. Unfortunately, the idea never materialized. It is, however, still a good idea. Today, payments systems are much more comprehensively coercive.<\/p>\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Corporate Coercion and the Drive to Eliminate Buying with Cash \u201cSorry we\u2019re not taking cash or checks,\u201d said the clerk at the Fed Ex counter over a decade ago to an intern. \u201cOnly credit cards.\u201d Since then, the relentless intensification of coercive commercialism has been moving toward a cashless economy, when all consumers are incarcerated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[1035,5493,175,5627,652,9581,4927],"class_list":["post-29450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-liberty","tag-cash","tag-counterpunch","tag-credit","tag-credit-cards","tag-privacy","tag-ralph-nader","tag-war-on-cash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29451,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29450\/revisions\/29451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}