Posts
Jedi said...
Here's the link to one of the commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hXmyD9a4zg
August 28, 2010 11:33 PM
Oh! That's so good. The guy using cash is like a fool, even looks like a dork. Notice he also has just a few bucks, so its implied that he's a poor dork at that, someone you wouldn't want to identify yourself with. The older man waiting on line looks at him the wrong way. You wont want that happening to you. But the pearl is when it says "faster money" in the ending, as if digital information was actual money. In the average mass population it reads as …”oh… its still money… but faster…oh…” Lovely how they manipulate people.
Blogger EN said...Indeed, heck they don’t even have to bother printing it. As long as everyone thinks that a number in a computer means wealth they’re ok. After the crisis the government did a 5% tax return on everything bought using plastic. They were desperate both to promote commerce, but specially to stop people from using cash. Most people saw it for what it was and even more stores started accepting cash only.
Our government likes electronic everything because they can make money out of thin air. If that money were in circulation inflation would have been out of control a long time ago. It's just a way of hiding the truth for a lot longer then a cash nation.
August 29, 2010 12:16 AM
FerFAL
19 comments:
Not only does it let government create more dollars out "ex nihilo," but it also lets government track where it goes, more easily.
And if the government knows where the money is changing hands, it also knows where new taxes can be levied, and where people might be avoiding or evading taxation.
It wouldn't surprise me if cash became illegal within the next decade.
Whether it's "drink beer, get laid" or "use cash, be unpopular," advertisers are always looking for an edge to get you to buy their products and services rather than those offerings from their competitors.
Half the fun of watching the Super Bowl each year is the commercials and trying to figure out why a company spent millions of dollars to air their particular ads.
But these ads are fun only if you realize they are entertainment and not to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, most people (including myself) take them too seriously and let ourselves be easily separated from our money.
Here are some blasts from the past from the print advertising world:
Subliminal Images and Hidden Messages
Banks like for u 2 use electronic cash because they need fewer tellers to handle the money.
I lived in Taiwan, there when u buy something the reciept is a lottery ticket. That way more people ask for a reciept and the government can track the money. By the way, I never won.
Using cash is already illegal in some respects in the U.S.
There are laws against having too much cash. There are a number of instances where a person has had his cash taken simply because they had too much of it on them to suit the authorities.
Recently, a U.S. lawyer (defender?) was jailed and fined for Legally Depositing well Documented and Legally obtained cash.
That video is set to music I associate with Loony Tunes cartoons. And it's doubly loony because every time I'm in line waiting to pay for my purchases I have to wait for the person in front of me in line to swipe the credit card, wait for the response from the credit card company, not to mention the extra wait if the credit card is declined or simply wasn't swiped correctly. While my cash purchase is always faster.
At the store they often ask me if I have a member saver card or some such and I respond by saying I don't have a purchase monitoring card and maybe the store should be giving me a discount for paying cash. Some do.
Electronic funds are no different than cash. It's all just representative value anyway. Using paper money isn't like using gold or something. It's just as fictional as using plastic.
/agree with the above poster. Credit cards aren't bad. It's just easy to let them get out of control. They're a very useful tool when used responsibly. To me there's no difference between some digits on a computer screen and paper money. I do use cash for certain purchases and I always try to carry a good amount on me but I won't hesitate to swipe the card, either. I could care less who knows that I bought 30 gallons of gas last week or a gallon of milk and some eggs on my last trip to the grocery store.
Come on guys lets back away from the conspiracy theory ledge. Visa pushes the card because they make 2% on the transaction. Daily back the crazy and dial in the common sense...
I'm not really into the conspiracy theory myself, yet the fact is I can take more USD out of an ATM in Argentina than in Bs As. That wouldn't occur if this was all just about visa making a buck. Dont doubt it, its not only in the best interest of the cc companies, the government benefits from this inmensly.
FerFAL
While I agree that, "Using paper money isn't like using gold or something," there is a huge psychological difference between using cash vs. credit cards.
I can't begin to show the numbers of stories online or personal accounts I've heard of people not knowing how much they spend on shopping trips because they just put it on the credit card vs. the same type of people who wouldn't spend as much when they had to fork over the paper currency at the time of the transaction.
This is all quite similar to people buying houses without having to put down a significant down-payment. Once a person saves the money it's often not as easy mentally to part with the money compared to simply signing on the dotted line promising to do so.
Here's the kicker and the link to the lawyer having his documented and Legally obtained cash taken from him:
, they found that Gaskins had earned $355,000 in cash over five years and had filed all the appropriate paperwork on it and had paid his taxes.
But Gaskins had grown paranoid, justifiably or not, over the years. The feds determined that Gaskins, after storing his fortune initially in a home safe (OK, so it wasn't a mattress), was depositing it in increments of just below $10,000 – the threshold requiring the bank to report the deposits.
That's a reporting threshold that is mainly used to help the IRS track down tax scofflaws. Except, of course, Gaskins had reported all of his earnings on forms that not only included the payments but also the source of the money and who paid it.
"He gave the government more information than the banks ever would," said Dan Boyce, Gaskins' lawyer.
She finishes with this missive:
Top to bottom, the case has been a massive waste of resources and an overzealous exercise of government muscle. But that's not the worst of it.
People sometimes talk about victimless crimes. Here, the only victims are a troubled lawyer and his family, including his two teenaged children.
All thanks to what comes down to a technicality.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/anderson/anderson269.html
Come to think of it, I recall reading taxing proposals or income tax guidelines or some such which were based on what you earned the years prior and not what you earned this year.
The same would easily apply to the taxation of goods. "Say, Mr.Urban Survivalist, our records show that you've regularly bought milk and gas at X level in the past, why are your tax forms not reflecting the same level of purchases this year? We will just have to fill in that number for you based on your prior purchasing history."
I think that's partly how a negative savings rate works.
Not to mention, have you ever bought lobster? You could be a felon for doing so. Seriously, watch this lawyer show you how it's done, prosecutors often find the man and make the crime fit, it's the new reality, like or not, your purchase history, while innocent to you, can be used against you:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4097602514885833865#
How can u not be into conspiracy theories when most of them have turned out to be true!?
http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-10353-0-5-5--.html
All Over The World Governments Are Banning Large Cash Transactions
...
And as cash becomes criminalized, are all of us going to be forced into the banking system whether we like it or not? If we cannot pay for things in cash, what other choices are we going to have?
It's not a conspiracy "theory" to think that the government wants to track your transactions. It is very useful to them to have a database of how and where you spend your money. Would you buy 5 cases of ammo and use a credit card? Not if you're sane.
Of course it also benefits the cc company because people who use plastic for everything typically acquire large debt and end up only paying the minimum on their monthly bill, which benefits the cc company in interest payments on the balance.
Also, what a stupid concept it is that somehow using cash slows down a transaction. Using a credit card takes longer. I see this all the time at newspapers stands where people whip out their plastic for a $2.00 purchase.
1) Re cash versus credit cards, the government can't easily confiscate your cash --especially if they don't know you have it.
2) With plastic cards, they can turn you into a non-person with a flip of a switch. Every wonder what it would be like if you had to present a plastic card for every transaction necessary to live --to buy groceries, gasoline, home payments etc -- and suddenly the response to your card was "Rejected"?
3) To say that Americans are sheep is an insult to the sheep. The sheep are smart enough to sense when they're being led to slaughter.
1) OFf topic, Ferfal,
but the US magazine called "US News and World Report"
has an article on how to survive if
the USA falls into a double -dip recession (likely to be much worse than experience to date because people's reserve savings have been used up.)
2) Much of it is what you have been advising:
1) Save More
2) Make Backup Plans (to adapt to major loss of income)
3) Stay liquid (keep large cash reserve)
4) Get Smarter (improve job skills/qualifications/schooling)
5) Wait on Major Purchases (car, new home,appliances,etc.)
6) Watch Energy Usage (since cost likely to soar in future
for gasoline,electricity,etc.) As a general rule, I think it
is good to review ongoing utility costs (Internet subscription,
cell phone costs, cable TV etc) because they can eat up a lot
of cash
7) Postpone Retirement
8) Downsize (smaller house, smaller car, smaller rent,etc.)
9) Stop speculating (in stock market --high risk at moment)
10) Don't Count on the Government (US Federal and state
governments don't have money left to spend). You are on
your own. Don't expect tax breaks, entended unemployment
insurance or a stimulus job.
11) Start Something on the Side in case you lose your job
-- an Ebay business, consulting business, second job,etc.
Yes, this means little leisure time.
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2010/6/11/how-to-plan-for-a-double-dip-recession.html
3) I myself have wondered if step 12 should be: "Hang a couple of Congressmen and Senators from the Lampposts" heh heh
Just another datapoint on how the financial companies want you to lose the idea of using cash...
PayPal has this rotating on their splash page:
http://tinyurl.com/24vtwkx
( text in case the link disappears: "Cash is dying. Come pay your respects" )
This is an obvious little money maker as well; many banks offer "automatic overdraft protection" which means they will cover your purchases if you go over what you have in your checking account for that day. If you run to the bank before it closes to cover that short, all is well, if you don't and continue to use the card because you don't realize you've gone over what you have in your checking account, or it's after the bank has closed for the day, then it is an automatic $35.00 per transaction fee whether you spent $1.00 for a newspaper or a cup of coffee. This automatic $35.00 for every transaction is something you "opted" for, in order to have the bank "cover your charges". It is better to decline this little courtesy of bank "overdraft protection" to cover your spending for more than what you have in your checking account, because if you opt out of this "overdraft protection", the ATM card will just be declined as there are no funds available, thereby saving you countless $35.00 per transaction fee charges.
Most people do not want to risk public embarrassment so opt in for the "bank overdraft protection", not realizing there is a $35.00 fee attached to each time you "inadvertently" go over what you have in your account. The bank presents it as a "courtesy" (and it is but not without strings attached) and I wouldn't want my card accepted if I have gone over what my balance is, because if I'm that broke then I certainly don't need to be charged an additional $35.00 each time I use the card without realizing I am out of funds.
The bank doesn't call you right away either, they do however send you a letter 2 weeks later informing you of your over-the-limit spending and then present you with a bill for $35.00 for each and every "courtesy overdraft protection" item you purchased.
I made an entry error in my checking account recently and found out the hard way that what is said above is correct. I was lucky, the new terms had not kicked in yet and it was a single $35 overdraft fee for multiple overdrafts.
The way the, "automatic overdraft protection" is described above is almost exactly the way my bank describes it's new terms for using the account. They do reserve the right to decline payment, unlike with their overdraft protection plan, which I imagine has gone up in cost.
Goodbye single fee.
There is no, "opting out" other than finding a new bank, but something tells me they are all going to start doing this because it Is such a money maker.
The following is a summary of some of the very tight restrictions being placed on large cash transactions around the globe right now....
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rep/death-of-cash.html
Post a Comment