It's really simple. Governments want to abolish cash so that they can monitor all of your transactions. Hooray! No need for accountants anymore, when the government can calculate how much you "owe" them by themselves!
They're also doing it so that you can't escape their fucking insane negative interest rate 'stimulus' measures, or bail-ins etc.
Oh, and if you can't use cash and the government decides you're a naughty thought-criminal, they can just freeze your accounts and you're instantly reduced to begging on the streets..
> dung beetles 1.8m long, who have absolutely zero understanding about why we humans don't just squeal with delight and scarf down the poop
You know how they say "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity", right?
The next level of understanding is that the aphorism has it backwards.
Instead, it should say something like: "Do attribute to malice that which looks like stupidity and is harmful to the people's interests". That would be accurate.
It's not that they don't understand what they're doing. You don't get to be a high-ranking politician by being stupid, let alone one of the people telling Congressmen how many minutes they're graciously allowed to look at TTIP..
> continuing to deal in private where even lawmakers are restricted from seeing it can be absolutely nothing other than trying to avoid controversy and public debate
Indeed, they just don't want us little folks to disturb their dealings.
They say it's a free trade deal of sorts, but actual free trade could be arranged overnight: just stop intervening in trade, and it will be free.
I get the feeling that the tone on HN has changed a bit. Are intelligent people finally waking up to doubt their "representatives'" or governments' good intentions?
It's difficult to see how they could make it any clearer that they're working against our interests. Going full police state on us would do it, but there's not much room in between.
Not only that, but Larry Summers wants to abolish cash so that banks and governments get to loot us whenever they want to, and monitor all of our transactions: http://www.campaignforliberty.org/war-cash
Remember the Cyprus "bail-in"? Greece's bank holiday?
It's really simple. Governments want to abolish cash so that they can monitor all of your transactions. Hooray! No need for accountants anymore, when the government can calculate how much you "owe" them by themselves!
They're also doing it so that you can't escape their fucking insane negative interest rate 'stimulus' measures, or bail-ins etc.
Oh, and if you can't use cash and the government decides you're a naughty thought-criminal, they can just freeze your accounts and you're instantly reduced to begging on the streets..