Homelessness is it's own entirely separate issue and is not solved or created by how we store val
(In reference to becoming a cashless society and how that would apply to a more disenfranchised populous)
Benjamin Rosenberger I agree that it is a separate issue, and that it needs to be solved.
But you can’t tell me that a cashless society would make it easier on the homeless community. That’s just ludicrous. Until every person has a smartphone, a credit/debit card, an ID, a birth certificate/social security card, a wallet in some cases, and the mental capacity/security to keep track of all of those things, a cashless society will only discount that demographic. There are millions of people so “indoctrinated” that the only thing of value that they have isn’t even a piece of paper in a wallet, it’s coins in a cup. How do you turn that cashless? I’m generally interested in any suggestions. I can’t see any way that a switch to fully cashless any time in the near future (without utterly disregarding millions of already disenfranchised people) would even be possible. It would be catastrophic. People talk a lot about privilege these days, and I can’t think of anything more privileged that all the comments I keep reading that say stuff like,”How hard is it to just get a bank account?” And “You guys know jobs pay direct deposit now?” And “Everyone has a cellphone, what is the problem?” Like dude, for some people? It’s REAL HARD to get those things. I know people right now that have jobs and shit going on that can’t get a PayPal. I know people that can ONLY deal in cash because of legalities already In place. I’d love to amend those legalities, but that in itself is talking about a complete overhaul of our entire economic system which would take years of legislature and a basically laughable mountain of bipartisan agreement. So without working out all those kinks first, the only other option would be to just say one day,”Ok, guess what? As of today, that cash you have in your pocket? Worth more to heat a fire to keep you warm. Plastic or GTFO.” I’m sure there is a grey area and a path towards doing it, but the fervor with which I’ve seen it talked about in the last week and the astounding support for it honestly scares the shit out of me. It should be a LOOOOONG way off if we’re even discussing it, but I see a lot of people saying,”Fuck yea let’s do it tomorrow!” And that sounds dystopian AS FUCK. What happens when you lose your card? Best case scenario you wait 10 days for a new one? Meanwhile...they scan your chip? Your eyes? Facial recognition? You just can’t use money for 10 days? What else? I’m very curious towards people’s opinions of how to implement something like that. I’m not opposed to the idea of a cashless society EVENTUALLY, maybe, in a much closer to utopian society than Orwellian hellscape we seem to be tumbling towards. But to make that move any time in the near future seems like a swan dive economic/societal chaos.