John Fetterman says stores still need to accept cash. Despite what government agencies and ginormous banks might want . . .

Photo above - I want to pay cash. Will that be a problem? It's the best I can do. I don't have a Visa card . . .

Are you “unbanked”? The term refers to anyone who doesn’t have either a credit or debit card. Probably because they bounced some checks in the past. Or they might have a rock-bottom FICO score. Or possibly an all-cash income. I see cash transactions at Costco all the time. Like Juan and Maria buying mega pallets of stuff for their restaurant.

So people without bank cards aren’t necessarily bad people. They just have challenging (or no) jobs, and might feel flummoxed by long division. John Fetterman (democrat senator from Pennsylvania who might be struggling with higher math after his stroke) has our backs. Senator Fetterman has sponsored a bill which would require brick and mortar stores to keep accepting dollar bills, nickels, dimes and quarters (see link below).

You’d think this would be a no-brainer. Why would anyone want to shut the door on all those shoppers who prefer to use cash? Fear of armed robbery, or counterfeit bills? In 2020, some smart alecks claimed going cashless would halt the spread of Covid 19.

But it says right on each dollar bill that this is legal tender, for all transactions, public and private, unlike Bitcoin. TrumpCoin, and Foxwoods Casino poker chips. The real payoff to replacing cash with bank card transactions is that those electronic records are easier to analyze by banks and government agencies than a cash deposit.

Someone asked “Snopes” if American stores are required to accept dollar bills. Snopes says “nope”. But their reasoning is specious, and Snopes has difficulty dancing around the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, which is discussed at length in their link below. And “I read it somewhere in the internet” may once again be a bogus excuse when violating the law. Especially when it comes to cash register operations.

Irrespective what some for-profit website believes, John Fetterman wants to protect the rights of ordinary people. The right to not have their transactions accumulated in corporate and bank databases, uploaded to the US government, and analyzed by quantum AI computers. Which then trigger an investigation into your financial life. Some people believe that such warrantless searches could be another erosion of our privacy rights. Our health records are usually private. So are our votes. Why shouldn’t our Jarritos sodas and burner phone purchases at the bodega be private too?

I’m just sayin’ . . .

John Fetterman introduces bill to block businesses from going cashless

Must All U.S. Businesses Accept Legal Tender as Payment? | Snopes.com

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Avectoijesuismoi · 36-40

I can see the point from the spread of germs and disease issue.

The government were once rattling on about dirty money and laundering of money.
As a joke a friend of mine had a bank note tested, but the report she got back as to what was on that piece of paper was no joke it was actually found to have amongst other things traces of faeces and semen as well as a number of germs.
At which point she sent it all to the government and suggested that since the money in circulation was so disgustingly dirty they should consider laundering it on a regular basis.
But on the flipside no I don't want to make small purchases of bread, milk and my son's ice cream with a credit or debit card either.
I have good reason for that in most countries especially with debit cards they charge you for each transaction so it is a money making scam for the banks.

If the governments are that interested in my shopping habits they are always welcome to send a representative to actually go to the store and do the shopping for groceries for me or go to the clothes stores and bring a selection to my home for me to choose from. That way they could collect the data firsthand and it would provide them with the opportunity to create some of that employment for the people that they are always threatening to create.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@Avectoijesuismoi so your theory is that dollar bills spread viruses, but credit cards somehow neutralize them? interesting, but unlikely.

ElwoodBlues · M

@SusanInFlorida 99% of the time I swipe my plastic credit card across a plastic surface. Neither cashiers nor other customers handle my credit card. This is VERY different from passing around porous paper bills.

Avectoijesuismoi · 36-40

@SusanInFlorida Paper in general that is passed through multiple hands with have things on it that you as a person probably wouldn't want to touch in general if you knew what was on it.
The same can be said though of many things that we touch on a daily basis such as door handles, escalator rails, your grocery packaging and countless other things we come into contact with.

I can see the point with COVID though if you think about it, it was actually a bit of a nonsense on most places around the world they sanitized every thing in sight including spraying your hands and sometimes further up your arms with some alcohol substance.
But then when you paid in cash the person on the cash register took it, and you took the change from them. Either party could have not showed symptoms but been a carrier of the virus? I always wondered why we only wore masks and not disposable gloves as well?
But truth of the matter is will having no paper money stop the spread of something similar or any other disease. The answer is NO.

I can see the other part of the agenda being more the motivation for cashless society and that is that like I said before most places there is a charge generated by the banks so everytime every person buys something be it even some donuts the bank is going to profit from it and that charge might actually equate to more than the purchase itself.

Personally I think both the debit card/credit card and the real money have their use.

Do I want to walk around with a bag full of cash to make a large purchase NO

But equally I don't want to take out a debit/credit card to pay for 2 donuts either and I won't do it either.

ElwoodBlues · M

@Avectoijesuismoi says

will having no paper money stop the spread of something similar or any other disease. The answer is NO.

Not stop the spread, but reduce the spread. And if you're especially concerned, it's much easier to wipe down a credit card after use at one of the many sanitizer dispensers that are ubiquitous in grocery stores and pharmacies in my area.

Don't make the perfect the enemy of the good.

Avectoijesuismoi · 36-40

@ElwoodBlues I am not making an enemy of it
What I said it is not completely practical to be cashless. Both have their time and place.
When I make a bigger purchase I use the debit/credit card as it is safer than walking around with handfuls of cash to do it.
But as with my example if I am just paying for something like two donuts I am going to use cash to pay.
Use of especially debit cards attract charges in most places around the world so the winner is going to be the banks when in some cases the charge for using may exceed the value of your purchase.
Further for some small business it is not practical or cost effective to not have cash in the system. Yes there are those mobile machines about but they are limited by battery life like anything the more it is used the faster the battery goes down. The vendors that sell things like hot dogs etc it is not going to work.
It is also slower than giving the man cash for a start, secondly if he doesn't have connection that day he can't operate. Thirdly the banks etc charge him for the facility guess who is going to wind up paying and who will benefit the consumer pays the bank benefits.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@Avectoijesuismoi whenever there is a public panic, governments like to divert it with some sort of "wag the dog scenario". Here are examples:

1 - we're having a drought. Report your neighbor for watering his lawn or washing his car. we set up a new hotline for informers

2 - we are requiring you to wear masks. please cast shade on people who don't

3 - your thermostat is set wrong. this is the reason everyone's electric bills are so high. it has nothing to do with the millions of EVs getting plugged in every day.