A Cashless Society

[jasonbigley]

Over the years, there has been talk of our government moving towards a cashless society. Paper money and coins would no longer hold any value. Each of us will have a card that contains "virtual money", our SSN, our DOB, and other important information about us. I watched a news clip where this woman was shopping at a grocery store in Chicago. She had this microchip on her finger. When she paid for the groceries, all she had to do was swipe her finger across this machine and all her groceries were paid for. No money involved. Anyways, what are your thoughts about this?

[robyrob]

well, I live in a cashless society, mostly because my wife takes all my money.

...seriously though, i never carry cash, its more convenient to use the debit card.

I don't like the "chip-finger" idea, mostly because muggers will need to chop off your finger to do their job.

[oz615]

It scares the **** out of me,all i can say

[Wreckless]

Well Rob, unless you are in favor of muggers lol then that would be harder then to rob somebody, getting to them to cut off their finger. But I agree, I don't like that idea either.

[tv star collector]

Not to sound like one of those doomsday prophets, but to me it sounds like a
fulfillment of biblical prophecy. I'm no theology expert, but doesn't the book
of Revelation speak of a time when people would have to have a mark on the
forehead in order to buy goods? Are we actually heading in that direction?

[Zoneboy]

This idea makes no sense at all, Anything coin-operated or uses bills would become obsolete or would have to be converted to accept this new method of paying.

[Hollow]

that's just bound for problem after problem. no matter how good of a job they do with making the technology, there's no way in hell it will suffice. and what about borrowing money? it shouldn't have to involve borrowing a finger.

[Wreckless]

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

This idea makes no sense at all, Anything coin-operated or uses bills would become obsolete or would have to be converted to accept this new method of paying.

That would be society right there too.

[*Pleasant Tomorrow*]

I don't know, I think in the future it's just going to become more convenient and will eventually take hold. The whole...chip in your finger thing is odd to me because I don't want anything on my frikkin body to pay for things, but a universal card might not be that bad. I don't doubt it'll happen eventually, though maybe not anytime soon.

[InspectorExstead]

i don't like it. the whole idea of the chip in the finger is weird and scary. i generally use my debit or credit card more often, but i carry money around with me as well. and it's a lot easier to deal with money compared to credit/debit cards. with credit cards, you need to worry about interest rates and paying the bills on time and then with debit cards, you need to make sure you don't overdraft. so, the whole cashless society sounds weird and foreign but i think at the same time it would bring about a lot of problems.

[Jude The Obscure]

Everytime the computers go down (and that happens more often than one admits), your credit/debit cards are useless. We have had this happen at my store and when it does, we have to tell customers--"Cash or check please". That's why I still carry my checkbook--you never know when the computers will crash!

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by tv star collector

Not to sound like one of those doomsday prophets, but to me it sounds like a
fulfillment of biblical prophecy. I'm no theology expert, but doesn't the book
of Revelation speak of a time when people would have to have a mark on the
forehead in order to buy goods? Are we actually heading in that direction?

I was just going to say the same thing.

[Stormtracker TF]

We already rely on computers enough now, this kinda stuff is just crazy.

[Schmoopie]

It sounds kind of cool, but I would imagine that it costs more to install technology like what we've been talking about than it would to print paper money and make coins.

Andrea