Abolish Paper Money

摘要

Gresham's Law holds that bad money tends to drive out good. These days, though, cash itself―loot, moolah, clams, bread, the dear old greenback, in short―is getting whacked. Go to the movies, shop for groceries, and the cashier is delighted to run a debit card through a terminal that zaps payment straight to the vendor's account. On many highways, an electronic pass pays the toll. And when you write a check, the money is switched from your account to the recipient's electronically. So, is the much-forecast day of the cashless society upon us? There's no question that consumers love the convenience of electronic money. Last year, they paid just 19% of their $5.4 trillion worth of transactions in cash, vs. 25% of payments totaling $2.3 trillion in 1990, according to The Nilson Report. By 2020, figures Nilson publisher David Robertson, little more than 10% of payments will be in cash. "The technology now exists for a paperless society," he says.