Microeconomics of a Cashless Society

957 Words4 Pages
Microeconomics of a Cashless Society Across times and cultures, many things have served as money, including salt, tobacco, furs, and cigarettes. No matter the form, the purpose of money is to serve as a medium of exchange and act as a standard of value. Over time, money has evolved from commodity money to representative money and now to inconvertible fiat. In 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed an executive order that transformed the dollar from being a form of representative money into what is called inconvertible fiat. Inconvertible fiat refers to both paper and virtual money that is not backed by anything. People just have to accept the currency as though it has value. Fiat money refers to how the government creates money simply by ordering it into existence. (Flynn, 2011) President Roosevelt’s executive order was just the beginning of converting our thinking from the reality of using hard cash and the virtual possibility of a cashless society. The article “The Cashless Society Almost Here and With Some Very Sinister Implications” contends that the government is currently setting in place a global disaster that will push us into a cashless society. How would a cashless economy be different from our paper money and coin system? The author, Patrick Henningsen, demonstrates that the world as we know it will be dramatically different. The ease of electronic systems has made using paper money unpopular. While swiping your credit card at your local retailer seems like a good idea, there is a much deeper implication of a cashless society. Every swipe of the card brings us closer to big brother. A cashless society for many people will take them unaware. A cashless society is all about the control of its people. What would happen if a glitch occurred at your local bank and all the money you had disappeared? In a cashless society, how could you

More about Microeconomics of a Cashless Society

Open Document