Is Switzerland About To Become First Country To Outlaw A Cashless Society? https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/switzerland-about-become-first-country-outlaw-cashless-society
...a Swiss pressure group with libertarian leanings called the Swiss Freedom Movement (FBS) announced it had collected enough signatures (111,000) to trigger a national vote on preserving cash for posterity.
Nice! I'm somewhat leary of referenda in principle, though. After Covid revealed how many Karens exist in the general population, my trust in the common sense of the common man took a nosedive.
FBS says cash is playing a diminishing role in many economies, including Switzerland, as digital payment methods come to the fore, making it easier for the State and central bank to track citizens’ behavior. ... Forty percent of transactions were still being made using cash, which is also higher than many of Switzerland’s more cashless European neighbors, such as the UK (around 15%), Sweden (less than 10%) and Norway (3-4%, the lowest level of cash usage in the world). But that was down from around 70% three years earlier. What’s more, in terms of transaction value, the debit card recently overtook cash as the payment method with the highest share for non-recurring payments.
So, a key way for us frogs to put the brakes on is for us to keep using cash, as much as possible.
In 2019, a blog post on the IMF’s website, titled “Cashing In: How to Make Negative Interest Rates Work,” based on an IMF staff study, posited setting a dual currency system in which cash would gradually depreciate against e-money, thus allowing the central bank to set “as negative an interest as necessary for countering a recession, without triggering any large-scale substitutions into cash.”
Been hearing talks of "negative interest rates" for awhile now. Massive inflation is another way to erode cash, even when stored in your mattress.
Let's ask penisse. He lives in both Switzerland and France.
I love your moxie, fren. Be well and God Bless.
I'll call him for you: u/penisse Mary would like your input
Here’s a copypasta of my private answer to u/RandomNumber:
👉🏻 Note: the Swiss people refused the basic income (I also voted against, BTW).
u/Mary911 👉🏻 what wouldn’t I do for you?🤗🔥❤️💐
Thank you friend. I knew you'd follow through. God bless.
You're a good guy!
Thanks friend. Sometimes I need all the help I can get. You friends and anons alway seem to see me through. God bless.
Any time. You see me through too!
Bless you. I hope your kids are well and enjoying themselves. We have Spring Break coming up the end of the month so I'll have my hands full. When it comes to kids, I think you and I are in the same boat at times. Haha. But you gotta love 'em.
They are doing very well except my little girl has a cough right now.
Little germ vector!
Thank you.
So sorry to hear that. Last week I had the 4 year old and the 10 year old sneezing their heads off. Now my grandkids who live behind me, the 12 year old has a stuffy nose and he acts like he doesn't know how to blow it. I'm like, " Quit sniffling that stuff up in there and blow it out. The sooner you get it out of your nose the sooner you'll get well." I can't stand the sound of a kid snorting that stuff back up in there. EWE!
Omg! So my daughter isn’t the only one snorting her snot back up and into her brain!!? It drives me nuts too! Blow your nose and don’t stop until it’s all out! 🤪🤧😂
When we shop in person, we only use cash.
Switzerland prided itself on being neutral. Then, their stupid government decided to bend the knee to the EU.
Seems like a humanitarian thing to do at first glance. What else does one do when refugees walk over one's border? (Ahem. Southern Border USA) However, the Swiss are sending money to Ukraine. So not so neutral suddenly. On the one hand, they are helping those who flee the country, and on the other they are supporting the government who is party to the conflict. I suppose one can argue neutrality in such a situation because one is helping both victims and perpetrators.
So yeah - not so neutral anymore.
https://www.politico.eu/article/switzerland-rethinks-neutrality-considers-weapon-export-amid-ukraine-russia-war-crisis/
The Swiss also reported that
Erm. Last time they did that was when Obama demanded to know which Americans had money in swiss accounts. The swiss banks lost the trust from many foreign investors for that disclosure, and it led to them banning Americans from holding swiss accounts. So they lost business. Now they stand to lose Russian accounts. duh.
There is a debate going in what to do about the fact that 40% of gas imports come from Russia. For a complete list of Russian imports check this out: https://tradingeconomics.com/switzerland/imports/russia
Whether one thinks it is good or bad to trade with Russia, deleting all those imports would deleteriously affect the average citizen. So, methinks that neutrality will keep them coming in. But as can be seen, the whole neutrality thing is going off the reservation. Beyond the Pale as some Irish will say.