Swedish Bankers Push for ‘No Cash’ Society

Swedish bankers, one in particular who was robbed twice, is pushing for a coin-less and note-less society - one in which credit cards and digital money would do away with hard currency. This is a scary thought to me, but when considering the situation it seems like this has practically already been done. Considering how much of world currency is digital and not backed by paper or coin, although these figures are not transparent, is something that is mind boggling. I doubt this cash-less idea will take off, especially considering privacy concerns (every transaction would be traceable, most likely resulting in an underground currency being created or the barter system being re-instituted).

Historically, honest money has been backed by real value in precious metals such as gold and silver. Of course, when governments needed funny money to pay for soldiers (such as in the United States revolutionary and civil wars) they printed special currency and then proceeded to devalue it until it was worthless. The US dollar has enjoyed a prolonged retention of value within the past ten years or so because of foreign growth and the use of the USD as a world currency.

However, looking at the dollar’s value within the past 100 years tells quite a different story (see chart below)