Heading Towards Total Control

Do you like to bare yourself in front of your bank advisor? No? Nevertheless, in the future, you will stand completely exposed before them, as they will know even the smallest payment you make. The same goes for the Ministry of Finance. As well as hackers. Governments and banks around the world are determined to eliminate coins and banknotes, citing the fight against terrorism and tax evasion. However, cash not only does not threaten our security and freedom, but actually contributes to their safeguarding.

Cash secures the last remnants of freedom and privacy that we have left. It limits the deprivation of our rights, state control, and monitoring by its secret services, the financial sector, and data collectors from the IT industry. Because every time we pay in cash, we exclude the spies who want to know everything about us. Cash leaves no electronic trace behind. And whatever leaves electronic traces is now – or will be in a few years – publicly accessible.

Journalist Norbert Herring thoroughly analyzes how politics and the financial sector employ every means to gain absolute control over all the information concerning us and our lives. Only cash is real. This is not a saying from nostalgic individuals clinging to the past, refusing to adapt to the modern world. Cash is tangible and measurable. It helps us keep our expenses under control. Cash is regular money, supported by the state.

In contrast, behind the accounting money of banks lies only a promise for cash, a commitment during favorable economic times. Since the financial crisis that erupted in 2008, we have begun to realize this again. We benefit from cash both as citizens and as taxpayers. Because with every banknote and euro coin that our central banks release into circulation, the profits they yield to the state budget increase. Correspondingly, the state collects lower taxes. However, with the money circulated by banks, things are different. Only bankers come out on top.