Monday, May 9, 2016

THE WAR ON CASH: Larry Summers Calls for the Ban on All Notes Above $50

The war on cash continues. Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, who appears to be leading the global ground attack on cash, is out with an op-ed in the Financial Times commending the EU for their move to halt the production of 500EU notes. He is now calling for Switzerland to stop production of the 1,000 Swiss franc note:
Most of the time I use this column to recommend policy changes that I believe would make the world a better place. This time I am saluting a policy change I believe will have significant benefits — one that carries with it important lessons.
The decision of the European Central Bank last week to stop producing €500 notes permanently is a triumph of reasonable judgment over shameless fearmongering....High quality global journalism requires investment. 
First, the world should demand that Switzerland stops issuing SFr1,000 franc notes. After Europe’s bold step, these notes will stand out as the hard-currency world’s highest denomination note by a wide margin. Switzerland has a long and unfortunate history with illicit finance. It would be tragic if it were to profit from criminal currency substitution.
Second, the question of the facilitation of criminal activity should be placed prominently on the agenda of the Group of 20 leading nations.
  It gets worse:
There would be a strong case for stopping the production of notes with value greater than, perhaps, $50...
The political criminal states that his reason for calling for the elimination of high denomination notes is to prevent non-political crime and, well. no one needs to use large amounts of cash anyway:
There is little if any legitimate use for €500 notes. Carrying out a transaction with 20 €50 notes hardly seems burdensome — and this would represent more than $1,000 in purchasing power. Meanwhile, 20 €200 notes would represent close to $5,000 in purchasing power.
Who in today’s world needs cash for a legitimate $5,000 transaction?...
By contrast with normal commerce, €500 notes have an important role facilitating illicit activity...
A cashless society is a very bad idea. It would mean a society where the government would be able to track all our transactions---and thus control activities,

Summers' aggressive advocacy that is moving the world toward a cashless society makes him one of the most evil economists living today.

  -RW

9 comments:

  1. Guess it depends on what your definition of "legitimate" is, Larry.

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  2. Screw you Summers. Abolish the FED. Not cash.

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  3. Abolish the FED FIRST then lets see about digitizing all of our currency.

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  4. Many like to use cash. Too many problems with electronic credit and identity theft. It appears more simple at first but quickly becomes unbearable once its integrity becomes breached. We will never really know who has access to our own funds.

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  5. There is only one note above $50, dumb ass.

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  6. WELL AMERICA,I hope you know the DAYS coming when the rest of the world will CHOP OFF YOUR BIG FAT NOSE,seems americans just can't let the rest of the world alone,EVEN WHEN THEY TELL AMERICA.."MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS"leave us alone and go home,HERES to the world,AMERICA will bribe and black mail your leaders till they do what the criminals in america want,and americans WILL NOT STOP TILL THEIR DEAD...........

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  7. This is a worrisome trend. Most Americans are blissfully unaware both of how far the government has already gone in sticking its fat nose into everything we do, and also of how much farther it can go if cash is done away with. Free individuals can and will find ways to get around the lack of official cash, but it will be difficult and likely subject to criminal penalties whenever someone is caught. Poor America, how low you have fallen!

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  8. This is all about taxing every last bit of income they can possibly find. As I've said many times, the Sixteenth Amendment effectively nullified the Thirteenth.

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  9. CASH MONEY IS THE ONLY SAFETY THAT PEOPLE HAVE. The fed, bankers, governments, CIA and any other acronyms, the top 1% are the biggest thieves and a hazard to humanity; they don't worry about cash, legalities or criminal prosecution.

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