In Sweden, a Cash-Free Future Nears
Found on New York Times on Monday, 28 December 2015
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.
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.
“It might be trendy,” said Bjorn Eriksson, a former director of the Swedish police force and former president of Interpol. “But there are all sorts of risks when a society starts to go cashless.”
Leaving aside all the propaganda, going cashless is a really bad decision. People don't have the "feeling" for money anymore, because transferring $1 is no different than transferring $100. During a power outage, you're unable to pay anything. All your money is under control of the government, and the banks. It is the perfect basis for a totalitarian, Orwellian state where using cash equals being a terrorist or criminal.