RE: If Society Goes Cashless, Panhandlers Will Need to Adapt
You know, I'm not sure of the age of the poster of this piece but my guess is the person is between 20 and 35 or so. The reason I say that is I've noticed because younger people have grown up around high tech and the internet they are much more inclined to accept something like "a cashless society" without giving the ramifications of that a second thought. I've got news for all of you out there that are itching to live in a world where cash is no longer used . . . that world is essentially going to be a total control police state. Cash (and precious metals) are anonymous methods of payment - unlike electronic payments using debit cards, credit cards and yes, even Bitcoin (your Bitcoin transactions are extremely easy to track). I for one don't want to live in a world where TPTB can track every purchase I make and potentially block my ability to pay just with a click of a mouse.
The poster, @etcmike, is well into his 50's. I am certainly not looking forward to a cashless society, but that is the direction TPTB seem to pushing society. Besides the impacts you mention, the point of my post is how the less fortunate may need to adapt to a cashless society. TPTB decisions, no matter how noble, always seem to impact the less fortunate the most. To me it seems that actions not thought through are likely to have unintended consequences.
Another example of how a cashless, digital society will affect a segment of society is coin collecting. I am a coin collector. In a cashless, digital society will the US mint still produce coins? They may simply for commemorative purposes or bullion coins. I don't know. But a cashless, digital society will impact coin collecting. It may make a coin collector's collection more valuable.
A cashless, digital society is bound to impact different segments of society differently. Now is the time to consider those impacts and decide if that is the direction we want to go as a society. Who knows, we may have no choice but to accept a cashless, digital society. In which case, we must look at how we need to adapt.
Thanks for your feedback,
Steem on,
Mike