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Cash for me -- and I won't be quiet about it!

April 1, 2014 by Ron Delnevo — Chairman, Cash and Card World

I have a confession to make: I love cash! Further confession: I don't really care how it is delivered, just that it is!

Now I have to say that I usually swim against the tide. Being part of a mass movement doesn't often appeal to me. Usually such movements expect their followers to be unthinking. I know I can't do that.

And yet, cash is still used for more than 80 percent of all transactions on our little rock, so in lending my voiciferous support to this payment method, am I not simply going with the flow?

No, I am not!

The reason is simple. The vast majority of cash users are silent. Yes, that's right, the famous "Silent Majority."

Unfortunately, in our "New World of Über Communications," silent doesn't cut it.

Whilst the majority remains quiet, those who seek to remove cash from use are loud in their pursuit of their vested interests.

So I won't be silent. Ever. I also won't be bought off to become a consultant for one of the vested interests. They can keep their pieces of silver. It means nothing to me compared to maintaining cash as a payment method, available to all, in every circumstance.

Let's be very clear. I see most of the arguments put up by those waging their self-styled "War on Cash" as dangerous nonsense. The worrying thing is that some governments are now working with those vested interests to try to create "cashless societies." Think of a government you would least trust in any matter and you will find them scheming to remove cash, along with free speech, independent media, access to the Internet, the availability of Twitter and so on.

Let's look at some of the arguments against cash put forward by the vested interests and some political allies.

"Cash encourages crime." Are they serious? None of the major financial crimes on our planet has concerned cash. More people are harmed in one day in a world "trouble spot " such as Syria than are harmed by cash crime in a decade!

"Cash helps people avoid paying tax." Ha! The massive tax evaders are not individuals — they are corporations with fancy accountants who cheat the tax authorities.

"Cash is costly to circulate." Rubbish! Every year the British Retail Consortium, speaking for 80 percent of the U.K.'s big box merchants, confirms that cash is the cheapest payment method for their members to accept and process.

"Cash is dirty and carries diseases." What drivel! Only a hygiene-obsessed resident of a comfortable western nation could entertain such tosh! Three billion people living on less than $5 a day would happily risk their health to be able to handle more cash! They might even be able to afford to buy soap.

I could go on — and I do, frequently — but no need for now. The vested interests are vanquished, at least until their marketing departments come up with more anti-cash hype. So until tomorrow, then ...

About Ron Delnevo

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