<story><title>The War on Cash</title><url>http://thelongandshort.org/society/war-on-cash</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ffggvv</author><text>Isn&amp;#x27;t tracking a good thing? This way the government can fight tax-evasion and the black market...</text></item><item><author>StanislavPetrov</author><text>Banning cash is such a monumentally bad idea its a miracle of modern propaganda that a single person is willing to even consider it.  From negative interest rates to ubiquitous tracking of your every move and purchase (by stores, banks, governments, and whoever else they choose to share the information with), to the total paralysis society would face from any sort of blackout or network disruption, to limitless technical vulnerability by hackers, eliminating cash is truly one of the worst ideas ever conceived.  Its bad enough that the government enforces a legal monopoly on currency.  Extending that monopoly to digital-only currency is a huge step in the wrong direction for business, commerce, and freedom.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ptero</author><text>In addition to other bad things already mentioned, any government enforcement usually comes with &amp;quot;prosecutorial discretion&amp;quot; -- freedom to choose whom to prosecute and whom to ignore.&lt;p&gt;Tracking all money spent would give a huge additional opportunity to many government agencies to harass those they find obnoxious. I have little doubt it would get misused very soon.</text></comment>
<story><title>The War on Cash</title><url>http://thelongandshort.org/society/war-on-cash</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ffggvv</author><text>Isn&amp;#x27;t tracking a good thing? This way the government can fight tax-evasion and the black market...</text></item><item><author>StanislavPetrov</author><text>Banning cash is such a monumentally bad idea its a miracle of modern propaganda that a single person is willing to even consider it.  From negative interest rates to ubiquitous tracking of your every move and purchase (by stores, banks, governments, and whoever else they choose to share the information with), to the total paralysis society would face from any sort of blackout or network disruption, to limitless technical vulnerability by hackers, eliminating cash is truly one of the worst ideas ever conceived.  Its bad enough that the government enforces a legal monopoly on currency.  Extending that monopoly to digital-only currency is a huge step in the wrong direction for business, commerce, and freedom.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tl</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s a wonderful way to fight things governments don&amp;#x27;t approve of. For example, generating a list of every person who bought food &amp;#x2F; water &amp;#x2F; whatever at a protest.</text></comment>