The Real Price of Convenience: Going Cashless Is Costing You More Than You Think

 We’ve all done it at some point – tapped our card, phone, or watch at the checkout without thinking twice. But in the background, there’s an additional cost of its convenience that few people ever consider. 

Paying with cash reportedly causes psychological discomfort, as we’re constantly aware of what we’re spending, known as the “pain of paying” by some researchers. Their studies show that when we pay digitally, we pay much more freely and feel less friction. In real terms, research has shown that mobile payments lead to 9% higher transaction values and 11% higher payment frequency when compared to cash. And more than half of Americans now say their primary payment method is digital rather than traditional. [Source: TIME] 

Essentially, using modern ways of paying bypasses our hardwired financial senses, meaning we’re all silently becoming more comfortable with invisible spending....<<<Read More>>>...

Food for Thought #603

 

Bank of England to Open “Digital Pound Lab”

 The Bank of England announced yesterday that they will be launching a “digital pound lab” to “experiment” with different “use-cases” and set-ups of the UK’s planned Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

This signals the end of the “consultation and response phase” and the beginning of the “design phase”, according to the BoE’s website.

This is the first real news on the digital currency front for some time.

In fact, after an action-packed 2023 saw at least 135 of the world’s 197 nation states developing a digital currency, things have been eerily quiet on that front. Some nations – including Japan and Canada – have paused or even entirely scrapped CBDC development.

Even the Bank of England’s announcement of the lab contains much softer language than the previously energetic and enthusiastic endorsements of digital currency. Noting the CBDC would be “used alongside banknotes” instead of replacing them, and that “No decision has been made on whether to proceed with a digital pound.”...<<<Read More>>>...

ECB is looking forward to 2025 with the development of the digital euro and the accompanying EU legislation

 On the first day of the new year, Lagarde posted a video message announcing that the development of the European Union’s central bank digital currency (“CBDC”) – the digital euro – was in phase 2 and the ECB is “expecting legislation.”

“Another significant development on the horizon is our digital euro. We are in the preparation phase and we are expecting European legislation,” she said. “Once that is done, we will decide whether we move forward with developing a digital form of cash.”

Lagarde wished those who watched her video a “very, very great start to 2025.” Well, the ECB’s aspirations, as she described them, begin the year on a very, very bad note and in wishing Europeans well she is speaking with a forked tongue. Take for example the two blatant lies Lagarde told in her message.

Firstly, they would not be legislating for a digital euro if they were not intending to “move forward” with the agenda. So, it’s not a case of deciding “whether” to move forward but rather the decision has already been made.

Secondly, CBDCs are not a “digital form of cash.” They are tokens which can be programmed to be used only for certain items or services and to expire – much like a gift voucher system which retailers use. Vouchers are for a specific amount to be used on specific items or in specific retailers and expire within a specified time; the retailer’s rules and conditions apply. It is because of the programmable and centralised nature of CBDCs that they will be used to control who can buy or sell what, when and where; the central bank’s rules and conditions will apply...<<<Read More>>>...

The Dangers of a Cashless Society: Why Cash is Essential for Personal Freedom and Financial Awareness

 The push towards a cashless society is gaining momentum, promising greater convenience and ease. However, beneath the surface of this cashless revolution lies a significant threat to our financial autonomy, sovereignty, and personal well-being. As governments and big businesses worldwide push us away from cash, many are left unaware of the hidden consequences of this shift. This article explores why cash remains an essential tool for maintaining financial freedom.

Cash is more than just a form of payment. Recent research from the University of Surrey reveals that physical money fosters a deep psychological connection to our spending habits, something digital payments cannot replicate.

When we handle cash, we engage with it physically. The feeling of the notes in our hands, counting them, and even the smell of the paper create an emotional connection. This connection serves as a constant reminder of the value of money and helps regulate our spending...<<<Read More>>>...

Canada rolling out social credit system, citizens’ bank accounts linked to obedience scores

 Our neighbors to the north are implementing a new system called "open banking" that will link citizen's bank accounts to a new social credit scoring system.

In the aftermath of the Trucker Convoy and other noteworthy protests against Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "pandemic" tyranny in Canada, the Justin Trudeau regime is radicalizing the nation's banking system to make it much harder for citizens to express their voices against political corruption.

Proponents of the social credit score-linked banking paradigm say it will make Canadian banks more "inclusive," allowing them to easily access user data on demand while being able to share information with one another.

A World Bank partner called Open Banking Excellence (OBE), which originated in the United Kingdom, is proudly boasting right now that it will incorporate social credit scores with people's banking information in Canada. Canadians will likely receive digital "cash" and identification in a "convenient," all-in-one and "inclusive" place.

"It's about having that fairer, more inclusive, more open society," said OBE founder Helen Child, making sure to use all the popular buzzwords to make her project sound like a dream come true for the world...<<<Read More>>>....

So what happens when cash has gone and digital systems go down? Sainsbury’s unable to take contactless payments with many tills cash only and cancels all Saturday deliveries

 Tesco and Sainsbury’s have both been hit by an IT meltdown just that has impacted home deliveries and stopped customers from using contactless payment at the tills on one of the busiest shopping days of the week.

Tesco has cancelled some home deliveries today due a ‘technical issue’, a spokesperson told MailOnline, in a situation echoing the online shopping chaos experienced by rival Sainsbury’s this morning.

The Every Little Helps grocer did not specify how widespread the issue is, but dozens of Tesco customers complained online that their orders had been cancelled or delayed this morning.

Sainsbury’s customers were left fuming after the supermarket suffered an ‘error with an overnight software update’ that impacted its online ordering system and in-store payment options.

Frustrated shoppers are being forced to wait in long queues and pay with cash while the company was ‘experiencing issues with contactless payments’. Customers also complained that the grocer’s ATMs ran out of money due to the influx in withdraws.

The supermarkets’ tech issues come just one day after McDonald’s experienced an IT outage that left customers unable to order food....<<<Read More>>>....

Australia’s transition to a fully cashless society now in full swing as major bank closes all physical branches

 Bankwest, a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), has announced that it is closing 45 of its branches and transitioning the remaining 15 CBA branches in an effort to go fully digital by October 2024.

This announcement comes as Sydney-based banking software company Constantinople, a startup founded by two former executives of major bank Westpac, unveil a new app called Business+. They claim that this app will be an all-in-one mobile app that can offer Australia's first end-to-end digital banking platform for the country's 2.4 million businesses with fewer than 10 employees.

CBA and Westpac are two of Australia's "Big Four," or the four largest banks that have traditionally dominated Australia's banking industry in terms of market share, revenue and total assets. The two others are ANZ and National Australia Bank.

Last year, Constantinople raised AU$32 million ($21.2 million) from investors to develop its "bank-in-a-box" platform aimed at getting more people to shift away from traditional financial institutions and toward digital banking.

Great Southern Bank, one of the country's largest credit unions, has already signed up to launch Business+. CEO and Managing Director Paul Lewis said the company had "taken the best of the neo-bank proposition, digitally first, with what we're good at, which is the banking license side, regulatory requirements." Neobanks are digital-only banking platforms that operate solely online....<<<Read More>>>..

Australia launches CBDC test program, complete with carbon credit trading

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), similar to the private Federal Reserve here in the United States, has launched 14 different central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot programs in an effort to shift the country entirely to a cashless society.

The Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) reportedly partnered with Grollo Carbon Ventures (GCV) to launch the trading of so-called Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), which are tokens backed by “nature-based and real-world assets,” according to Reclaim the Net.

There is already a “stablecoin” called A$DC that is paired with these ACCUs, which GCV can now purchase with real-time settlement through ANZ’s smart contracts scheme.

A formal transaction already took place with this dollar-backed stablecoin on a public and permissionless blockchain system using a pilot CBDC to back its issuance.

“When applied to carbon markets, tokenization has the potential to improve efficiency and transparency, reduce risk and preserve the unique characteristics of underlying projects to incentivize investment in climate solutions,” announced Nigel Dobson, ANZ’s banking services head about the venture....<<<Read More>>>...

Food For Thought #501

 

Going Cashless: EU Is Pushing To Criminalize Use Of Physical Cash

 As Central Banks assert control while making way for their dystopian Central Bank Digital Currencies, governments are moved to criminalize the use of cash. It’s an incremental squeeze, lowering the levels of permitted transactions. The war on cash is global, making it obvious that this is a key part of flipping the world into scientific dictatorship, aka Technocracy. ⁃ TN Editor

The European Union is in danger of “criminalising” the use of physical cash with its new anti-money laundering laws, an MEP has warned.

Dr Gunnar Beck, a representative for the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has warned that the EU appears to be pushing for the “criminalisation” of the use of physical cash with its new anti-money laundering (AML) laws.

Politicians in Brussels have long been pondering an upper legal limit on the value of cash transactions within the bloc, with lawmakers detailing plans to ban Europeans from spending over €10,000 in physical tender as part of a single transaction.

The European Parliament however has now voted for such a proposed limit to be dropped down to as little as €7,000 as part of efforts to clamp down on money laundering and tax dodging within the bloc, with officials also voting to see cryptocurrency transactions paying for goods and services that are valued over €1,000 to be banned.

Many within the parliament appear to be justifying the decisions as being an important step in curtailing criminality within Europe, though Dr Beck warns that the limits on cash payments now appear to have gone too far.

In a statement to Breitbart Europe, Beck emphasised that while the AfD welcomed additional efforts to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing, it rejected the parliament’s call for cash transactions to be curtailed.

“While we should focus on money laundering by organized crime and Islamist terrorists, the EU chooses to tighten its surveillance of German savers and pensioners transactions,” Dr Beck remarked. “This is a mistake.”

He went on to claim that the AfD were now the “only party defending cash freedom” in Germany, with the members of other supposedly right-leaning parties from the country allegedly voting in favour of the cash restrictions, despite criticising the implementation of similar measures at home...<<<Read More>>>...

Britain’s vanishing High Street banks: Lloyds and Halifax announce plans to axe 40 more branches later this year

 Another 40 bank branches will be lost from the UK’s high streets after Lloyds and Halifax announced yet more closures.

Lloyds Banking Group is to close 18 Halifax sites and 22 Lloyds branches between April and June this year, with all but one of the closures being in England.

The new closures will bring the total number of Lloyds outlets in the country to 693, and Halifax branches to 518.

The group said the branches selected for closure have seen visits drop by about 60 per cent on average in the last five years.

The move is yet another hammer blow for Britain’s beleaguered high streets, with banks and building societies having closed or planning to close more than 5,000 branches since January 2015, at a rate of 54 each month on average.

Britons are also continuing to grapple with a cost of living crisis brought on by sky-high energy prices and an inflation spiral that is only just starting to abate.

Responding to the announcement, Age UK’s charity director Caroline Abrahams said elderly customers risk being ‘cut adrift’ from banking services and banks should be doing ‘everything they can’ to ensure ‘essential’ services continue to be provided...<<<Read More>>>...

Just one week left to spend paper £20 and £50 notes: New polymer versions featuring artist JMW Turner and code-breaker Alan Turing will be the ONLY legal tender from October 1

 There is only one week left to use paper £20 and £50 notes in shops before they are no longer legal tender.

After September 30 the paper notes will essentially become worthless in shops, so for anyone hoping to spend the cash before it goes out of circulation will need to use it soon.

The replacement £20 and £50 notes, made out of polymer, have been in circulation for more than two years now, after being released in February 2020.

The old notes with Adam Smith on the £20 notes and £50 notes with images of Matthew Boulton and James Watt will not be legal tender from next week.

Instead, the new, shinier notes with images of Alan Turing on the £50 and painter J. M. W. Turner on the reverse of the £20 note will be the only legal tender.

Anyone sitting on a wad of paper notes, however, will not lose out.

The notes will not lose their value and can still be taken to banks in exchange for the new polymer notes.

The switch to the synthetic notes was made to make the cash more durable to wear and tear, as well as being harder for criminals to counterfeit.

Banks will not exchange counterfeit notes even if you end up with the cash by accident....<<<Read More>>>...

Big Brother Watch Director Says Going Cashless Will Bring Terrible Consequences

 The director of Big Brother Watch claimed today that a cashless society will bring terrible consequences.

Writing in today’s Telegraph, Silkie Carlo claims:

“..not only can governments, banks and tech companies monitor what you have earned and spent in a cashless world, they can preemptively control it too.”

We have already seen financial services companies take an interventionist approach to people’s spending.

There are now numerous examples of cancel culture driving digital wallets to be frozen – an early notable example was PayPal freezing WikiLeaks’ account in 2010.

Just months ago, the Canadian government froze bank accounts of people associated with the truckers’ “Freedom Convoy”, in an effort to quell the campaign against mandatory vaccines.

With digital currency, the question fast becomes not only who watches how you spend your money, nor even who controls how you spend it, but who actually owns it?”

She’s right of course. 12 months ago, PayPal deleted The Richie Allen Show account. I wasn’t consulted. An email from the company stated that I was in violation of its rules and that was that. When PayPal wouldn’t respond to my queries I complained to the Financial Conduct Authority.

The FCA investigated my complaint but said they were powerless. Astonishingly, an anonymous third party had made a complaint to PayPal. The company promptly closed the account and kept £400 which belonged to the show.

It was never returned to me and my supporters were not reimbursed either. PayPal kept the money. That’s got to be theft, right?

There is nothing I can do about it. When I wrote about it last year, I was inundated with emails from folks telling me that it served me right and that it would teach me to be careful of what I said on the radio show. I know, right?

Yesterday, while running past Old Trafford’s East stand, I saw to my astonishment that Manchester United’s Megastore has gone cashless, permanently. I thought it was a measure left over from lockdown. A security guard told me that it was here to stay.

Cashless terrifies me. I’ve said time and again, when we go cashless, it is game over. They win.

It really is that simple....(Richie Allen)

Governments worldwide are working in Lockstep to bring in Digital I.D. & Social Credit System as EU agrees to expand online censorship with ‘Digital Services Act’

 Under pressure applied by both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the European Union is working to expand online censorship to an extreme Orwellian level, as well as strictly regulate speech during what authorities deem to be times of crisis (we always seem to be in the middle of a “crisis”), and remove online anonymity by forcing the public to have a digital identity.

But these plans aren’t unique to the EU. They are also currently being rolled out in the UK and Africa, proving Governments worldwide are working in lockstep to bring in a digital identity and social credit system right under your nose.

The UK government is pushing ahead with its nationwide digital ID plans, despite half of the responses to its public consultation on digital identity opposing the idea.

On April 6, 2022, new digital identity document verification technology (IDVT) that enables data sharing between public bodies and businesses for the purpose of identity verification was introduced. It has been made available to UK employers, landlords, and letting agents who can use it to digitally carry out pre-employment criminal record checks, right to work checks, and right to rent checks.

The introduction of this digital IDVT is part of the government’s far-reaching digital ID plans which were announced in March. The government has framed these digital ID plans as a way for UK citizens to “easily and quickly prove their identity using digital methods instead of having to rely on traditional physical documents.”

Before announcing these digital ID plans, the government sought views and feedback on its proposed approach to digital identity via a public consultation.

50% of the responses to this consultation were “against digital identity in principle” but the government didn’t include these responses in its statistical analysis of responses to the consultation because they “did not engage with the questions.” However, the government insisted that “outside the context of producing the statistical analysis, we have taken these responses into account as part of this consultation exercise.”

The government’s digital ID plans were announced in the same month that the UK government’s Online Safety Bill began its legislative journey. This bill mandates the implementation of identity and age verification technology on many large online platforms.

The UK Government and Bank of England have also been working on a new digital currency in the background to replace cash....<<<Read More>>>...

Peacefully marching through London once a month hasn’t changed a thing; it’s time to fight before it’s too late

[The Daily Expose]: All the evidence is there, it just needs piecing together. There is a coordinated effort worldwide to bring in a social credit system right under your nose. The time to put a stop to it is now, and marching through London peacefully every few weeks won’t change a thing, what has it changed so far?

On Saturday 24th July hundreds of thousands of people gathered at Trafalgar Square to listen to several speakers before marching through London peacefully. Whilst it will have been great to gather with like-minded people for the day and try to make your voice heard, it won’t change a thing. This Government isn’t listening.

There have been huge peaceful protests throughout London since March this year. In that time the UK Government has told you it is considering a vaccine passport. Then it told you they were not going to bring in a vaccine passport. Then they told you “freedom” day was going to be delayed for a month. Then when “freedom” day came they told you they are now going to bring in vaccine passports.

In the same time frame the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine has been given emergency use authorisation to be given to children aged 12 – 15. The JCVI has recommended it is first given to all children with disabilities and learning difficulties, and children who live with “vulnerable” family members.

These are the words written on your passport –

‘Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.’

Yet you still cannot leave the UK or return to the UK without taking a PCR Covid-19 test as a minimum, there is a traffic light system on countries which is changed at the drop of a hat, meaning most people have to isolate on their return to the UK.

Nothing has changed.

Did you also know that whilst nothing has changed the UK Government has been working in tandem with other world leaders to introduce a social credit system and digital identity right under your nose? The evidence is all there to see.<<<Read More...>>>...

Major Retailers Sign Pledge To Remain “Cash Friendly.”

[Richie Allen]: Retailers including Aldi, John Lewis and Lloyds Pharmacy have made a commitment to always accept cash as a method of payment. Consumer advice magazine Which? launched the Cash Friendly Pledge to encourage retailers to signal to customers, that they will continue to take cash as payment.

According to Which?:

The pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the UK’s already fragile cash system. The closures of bank branches and free-to-use ATMs have continued at pace, while worries about the safety of handling notes and coins (since debunked by the Bank of England ) have led some businesses to refuse to take cash.

With life getting back to normal, we want to ensure that shoppers that need to use cash are able to. So we’ve launched the Which? Cash Friendly pledge – a public commitment retailers can take to signal to customers that they welcome cash payments.

Aldi, Asda, Co-op, John Lewis, Lloyds Pharmacy and Waitrose are among those who have all made the public commitment to keep accepting cash in their stores. Together, the supermarkets are responsible for almost 4,500 stores in the UK, and have a combined grocery market share of more than 30%.

Speaking to Which? Alison Owens, who owns Lodge Cottage Farm Shop in York said;

“As a small local business we think it’s important not to exclude anyone, and we would never refuse anyone trying to pay with cash. A lot of our elderly customers rely on cash and people are often telling me that other stores will now only take card payments. We are a small farm shop that has served the local community for 10 years and will continue to accept cash for people buying our goods.”

While it’s good news that retailers with a combined market share of 30 per cent, have signed a pledge to continue to accept cash, it will count for nothing if we cannot access cash in the first place.

Which? acknowledged that ATM machines are disappearing from our towns and cities at the speed of light. Bank branches and post offices are disappearing just as swiftly. This must be addressed and quickly.

The cashless agenda is just one that has advanced in the last year, but it is central to the plans of those who would transform the way we live and reset society. If we go totally cashless (and we’re getting there), our fate is sealed.

Get Ready to Become a ‘Digital Asset’ of the Globalists’ Great Reset

[Humans Are Free]: Few are aware of it but the digitalization of the human race is advancing at break-neck speed.

Don’t look now but the world is racing down a path that has been interlaid with landmines of control and surveillance and yet almost no Western politician of any party seems concerned enough to even talk about the impact this will have on personal privacy.

The answer lies hidden in the coming cashless system.

These elites have wanted to get rid of cash for a long time. This has been a priority item on their to-do list for more than 60 years. They want to monetize, put a value on, every human life. To achieve this, they need to be able to track with pinpoint accuracy everyone’s spending and consumption habits.

They now believe they have found the solution: Replacing cash with a new digital currency based on blockchain technology.

Cash is simply too difficult to track [despite various attempts] and the technocratic elites are obsessed with tracking, measuring and everything in real time.

What will this new digital currency be backed up by? There are several theories, none of which are likely to involve precious metals such as gold or silver.

Some believe the new world currency will be backed by the world’s major land masses and the natural resources beneath that land. This could explain why the Chinese and Bill Gates have been going on a land-buying binge which includes farmland in the United States.

Another theory is that this new global currency will be backed up by human capital, meaning the global workforce.

This would explain why they need to attribute a monetary value to every human being, based on their age, productivity and other contributions to society minus their carbon footprint.

Basically, you become a cog in their globalist wheel, a digital asset of the central banks. Of course the important people will be allowed to use up more carbon and fly around the world on jets, as John Kerry has already informed us, while the masses are relegated to bicycles and public transportation....<<<Read The Full Article Here>>>....

Africa to Become Testing Ground for ‘Trust Stamp’ Vaccine Record and Payment System

[Waking Times]: A biometric digital identity platform that “evolves just as you evolve” is set to be introduced in “low-income, remote communities” in West Africa thanks to a public-private partnership between the Bill Gates-backed GAVI vaccine alliance, Mastercard and the AI-powered “identity authentication” company, Trust Stamp.

The program, which was first launched in late 2018, will see Trust Stamp’s digital identity platform integrated into the GAVI-Mastercard “Wellness Pass,” a digital vaccination record and identity system that is also linked to Mastercard’s click-to-play system that powered by its AI and machine learning technology called NuData. Mastercard, in addition to professing its commitment to promoting “centralized record keeping of childhood immunization” also describes itself as a leader toward a “World Beyond Cash,” and its partnership with GAVI marks a novel approach towards linking a biometric digital identity system, vaccination records, and a payment system into a single cohesive platform. The effort, since its launch nearly two years ago, has been funded via $3.8 million in GAVI donor funds in addition to a matched donation of the same amount by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In early June, GAVI reported that Mastercard’s Wellness Pass program would be adapted in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Around a month later, Mastercard announced that Trust Stamp’s biometric identity platform would be integrated into Wellness Pass as Trust Stamp’s system is capable of providing biometric identity in areas of the world lacking internet access or cellular connectivity and also does not require knowledge of an individual’s legal name or identity to function. The Wellness Program involving GAVI, Mastercard, and Trust Stamp will soon be launched in West Africa and will be coupled with a Covid-19 vaccination program once a vaccine becomes available.

The push to implement biometrics as part of national ID registration systems has been ongoing for many years on the continent and has become a highly politicized issue in several African countries. Opposition to similar projects in Africa often revolves around the costs surrounding them, such as the biometric voter management system that the Electoral Commission of Ghana has been trying to implement ahead of their 2020 general election in December. Bright Simons, honorary VP of the IMANI policy think tank, has questioned the “budgetary allocation” for the new system, claiming that the “unnecessary registration of 17 million people all over again” represents millions of dollars “being blown for reasons that nobody can explain in this country.”...<<<Read The Full Article Here>>>...

The Extinction of Privacy and Personal Security Via Biometrics and the Cashless Society

[David Icke]: In a survey of 1,000 UK shoppers by the retail personalisation company RichRelevance, respondents were asked to rate a suite of in-store shopping technologies as either “cool” or “creepy”, and facial recognition fell decidedly on the creepy end of the scale.

In this survey it was found that companies will soon be using a range of technical tools to achieve sales via personalised product recommendations and promotions.

With screens displaying their products, possibly utilising an image of you and even getting assistants to bring products, say clothes, and automatically unlock dressing room doors.

Of course, the only way they can do this is by using facial recognition systems. As soon as you walk in store, your mobile gives you away. This provides the retailer with sufficient information to identify your age and gender, whether you are are a high-value customer and your spending habits. All of this was found to be very ‘creepy’ by respondents.

There are no laws or guidelines limiting their use and as soon as it gets into the wrong hands problems occur. One would not normally think that our own security services would be a threat to innocent civilians going about their lawful business....<<<Read The Full Article Here>>>...