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"If you have control of the servers belonging to Visa or MasterCard, you have control of Sweden," Engström says.
It is hard to argue that you cannot trust the government when the government isn't really all that bad. This is the problem facing the small but growing number of Swedes anxious about their country's rush to embrace a cash-free society.
Most consumers already say they manage without cash altogether, while shops and cafes increasingly refuse to accept notes and coins because of the costs and risk involved. Until recently, however, it has been hard for critics to find a hearing.
"The Swedish government is a rather nice one, we have been lucky enough to have mostly nice ones for the past 100 years," says Christian Engström, a former MEP for the Pirate Party and an early opponent of the cashless economy.
"In other countries there is much more awareness that you cannot trust the government all the time. In Sweden it is hard to get people mobilised."
There are signs this might be changing. In February, the head of Sweden's central bank warned that Sweden could soon face a situation where all payments were controlled by private sector banks.
The Riksbank governor, Stefan Ingves, called for new legislation to secure public control over the payments system, arguing that being able to make and receive payments is a "collective good" like defence, the courts, or public statistics.
[...] "Most citizens would feel uncomfortable to surrender these social functions to private companies," he said.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 08 2018, @09:55AM
That is a very rare creature, indeed. Everyone is afraid of something. If that something sneaks up on you unexpectedly, most likely you'll lose your cool. The biggest badass you ever met can be broken down, sometimes by something minor. Maybe he's afraid of rats, or wasps, or maybe he's superstitious. A black cat, or a voodoo witch destroys him.
OK, leave all of that stuff aside. Let us only consider a fighting man, who has faced combat many times. From my own experience, you might be fearless today, and tomorrow, you'll be scared shitless. It all depends on whether you can overcome that fear, whether you are also brave. Note that "brave" and "fearless" are entirely different things.
Anyway, those soldiers who are never visibly shaken often have their own psych problems. Audi Murphy was the most decorated US soldier in WW2. You should read his biography. He was pretty screwed up. We might suspect that being fucked up is what enabled him to perform his heroic feats - normal people can't do the stuff he did.