Killer Cash!

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The global elites’ latest volley in the “war on cash” is a weird one. They’re telling us cash is — drumroll, please — a public health issue.

If you’ve been reading us for any amount of time, you’re familiar with the war on cash — the increasing push to get us all to perform our transactions electronically, the better to be tracked and taxed. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers figures the least that could be done is abolish the $100 bill; Harvard economist Ken Rogoff would just as soon do away with cash altogether, making his case in a book called The Curse of Cash.

There’s a compelling investment angle to the war on cash… and we’re not talking about anything like keeping gold in a safe at home. We’ll get to that shortly.

As you might already know, most of the arguments against cash are a variant on the following proposition: If we don’t do away with cash, then the money launderers and drug runners and terrorists win. Which is what makes the health gambit, if nothing else, novel…

“Studies have piled up in recent years describing exactly how filthy — specifically how bacteria-laden — our dollars and cents can be,” says an article in Scientific American.

“Fecal bacteria and other pathogens may have hitched a ride from someone’s hands, nose or apron onto our cash. And yeast or mold might have taken hold, too. The result could be a durable risk to our health whenever our money changes hands.”

Oh noes, teh germs!

The article spotlights a number of studies on the subject down through the years. For instance, “a 2010 analysis by Australian researchers looked at the actual number of bacteria per square centimeter on various bank notes and found that a U.S. note contains 10 such microbes per square centimeter.”

Cash: It can kill you!

While paying lip service to issues like privacy, “if the question of a cashless society is approached purely from a public health standpoint, the answer seems clear.”

Yes! If we all just went around waving our smartphones to conduct commerce, we’d prevent X number of deaths every year and save Y billion dollars in health care costs. That’s what the research shows us, right?

Uh, no: “There is no definitive research that connects enough dots to prove dirty money actually makes people sick.”

Oh, well…

“For those few remaining who steadfastly refuse to ever give up cash, forget about it: A global cashless society is fast becoming a reality,” says the veteran trend forecaster Gerald Celente, who joined the Agora Financial team last summer.

Aside from the agenda of the global elites, consider this: “The massive millennial generation across the globe shows minimal resistance against the imminent demise of cash. Indeed, digital dollars already are the way of the world. There are no ‘Occupy Cash’ movements anywhere.

“The convenience millennials naturally cherish, and more boomers and seniors are forced to accept, is accelerating the transition to a cashless society.

“Big Brother will watch even more how you spend your money, conduct your daily life and engage the world around you. Your privacy will be lost. Your spending will be a matter of record.

“Without hard cash, every digital purchase logged is subject to taxes, fees and penalties. Owe back taxes? Overdrawn on your account? Had a lien filed against you? Forgot a mortgage payment? In a cashless society, government or big banks can more easily take your money without resistance or due process.”

But a question remains: How will the elites rope in the 7.7% of Americans who have no bank account? Therein lies a profitable tale…

Best Regards,

Dave Gonigam
for The 5 Min. Forecast

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