The Future of "Money"

If you live in the US or the UK and watch television at all you've probably seen the VISA ads promoting the use of check cards instead of money. The ads imply that anyone who still uses currency for purchases is out-dated and a broken cog in the machinery of the economy.

In short, stop using your national currency and swear allegiance to the banking system that bestows the gift of plastic. Mull that over as you read the following article which was published almost a year ago.


Cashless Society by 2012, says Visa Chief
By Tim Webb

Sunday, 11 March 2007

Paying for goods with notes and coins could be consigned to history within five years, according to the chief executive of Visa Europe.

Peter Ayliffe said that, by 2012, using credit and debit cards should be cheaper and more convenient than cash.

Some retailers could soon start surcharging customers if they choose to buy products with cash, because of the greater cost of processing these payments, he warned.

Visa Europe briefed the British Retail Consortium last month on new "contactless" cards that can be waved in front of a scanner to make small payments.

However, the consortium dismissed this vision and claimed that card processing fees, which regulators are investigating, are still too high.

One member of the consurtium said that the estimated "interchange" fee charged to retailers amounts to some 4p for each transaction.

Nick Mourant, treasurer at Tesco, said: "There is a duopoly between Mastercard and Visa in the UK. Their setting of fees is anti-competitive."

The banking industry is moving us towards a world where there are no dollars, pounds, euros, yens, rupees, rubles, etc. and only the international currency of plastic.

And when the plastic cards are too large and inconvenient ........