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from the i-bet-the-last-$10-in-my-wallet dept.
The New York Times is reporting that Sweden is getting close to eliminating cash as a method of payment:
Parishioners text tithes to their churches. Homeless street vendors carry mobile credit-card readers. Even the Abba Museum, despite being a shrine to the 1970s pop group that wrote "Money, Money, Money," considers cash so last-century that it does not accept bills and coins.
Few places are tilting toward a cashless future as quickly as Sweden, which has become hooked on the convenience of paying by app and plastic.
This tech-forward country, home to the music streaming service Spotify and the maker of the Candy Crush mobile games, has been lured by the innovations that make digital payments easier. It is also a practical matter, as many of the country's banks no longer accept or dispense cash. [...]
Bills and coins now represent just 2 percent of Sweden's economy, compared with 7.7 percent in the United States and 10 percent in the euro area.
But, as anyone with a brain can predict:
Not everyone is cheering. Sweden's embrace of electronic payments has alarmed consumer organizations and critics who warn of a rising threat to privacy and increased vulnerability to sophisticated Internet crimes. Last year, the number of electronic fraud cases surged to 140,000, more than double the amount a decade ago, according to Sweden's Ministry of Justice.
My take: With cash, identify theft and credit card fraud becomes more difficult. But more importantly, I like the anonymity of cash. It lets those of us who pay too much in taxes cheat on sales tax by buying expensive things in a tax-free state when we visit. I also like using cash to tip underpaid servers at restaurants so they don't have to report that portion of their gratuity. But there is a civil liberties element to it as well. The government has no business knowing or being able to know where I spend my money or how much I spend.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 27 2015, @06:44PM
Don't put your money in Mason jars, and bury them out beside the barn, either. Father in law did that very thing, and we'll never know if we found all of his jars. Some of his jars didn't seal very well, either, and the currency was useless. Steel pennies were also useless, when the jars didn't seal. In all the time I knew the old man, I never had a bad word to say about him, but I could have kicked him in the arse when I found a Mason jar full of rotten, crumbling paper currency.
R.I.P, Edward - the money wasn't all that important.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Monday December 28 2015, @03:29AM
This would be a swell topic for a submission along with Imgur uploads of any photos you took.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday December 28 2015, @05:06AM
No, I didn't take any pictures. It's possible that a sister-in-law took some, but if so, they've never made mention of them. I guess I should have taken pictures though. Years to late for that now!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2015, @04:25AM
...don't keep your wealth as paper money.
Northern California couple find $10M worth of rare gold coins buried on their property [ocregister.com]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]