Comments on: Plastic Currency

By: Attila Girl

Attila Girl — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 14:34:30 +0000

I just don't see us switching over. I don't think anyone wants to buy a package of gum with a debit card.

Churches and Twele-Step groups aren't going to start taking debit cards when the collections are taken (and coins are already way too prevalent in those collections--I was treasurer at my self-help group, and the coins were a big, heavy pain in the butt).

By: bryan

bryan — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 02:32:12 +0000

for some reason Christians believe that getting rid of money is an indication of the end times. Actually, Leopold, the "some reason" is tied in to having some sort of number (traditionally the 666 "mark of the beast") affixed to every person, like a tattoo or a personal identification number. millenialists argue that getting rid of cash money would make it easier to plant the mark of the beast. But I personally prefer my reason not to totally switch to a cashless society.

By: Modulator

Modulator — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 00:58:39 +0000

Why not Plastic Dollar Bills?
According to this Slate article 23 countries currently use plastic instead of paper currency:Notes circulating in tropical climates wear even more quickly. I lived in India for several years and had more than one rupee bill literally disintegrate in my...

By: The American Mind

The American Mind — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 23:38:34 +0000

One Word: Plastic
James Joyner links to a story on plastic bills replacing paper ones. I'm all for it. Plastic bills are hard...

By: McGehee

McGehee — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 22:41:13 +0000

Bryan and Jen made the two best points. I'd like to see the smaller denominations of U.S. folding money replaced by coin, but doing away with cash entirely just isn't practical, and I honestly can't foresee a free future in which it would be.

By: jen

jen — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 21:31:31 +0000

How many people don't have bank accounts and deal exclusively in cash? That would make the debit card difficult since they're tied to banks.

By: bryan

bryan — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 20:55:30 +0000

Interesting. It strikes me, though, that a better solution would be to simply switch to the "plastic" currency we have all become accustomed to: credit and debit cards. A purely electronic system would seem to have all of the advantages of polymer bills with none of the disadvantages. But folding money is untraceable. For anyone who doesn't want their every transaction stored in a database, switching totally to plastic is not an option.

By: Laurence Simon

Laurence Simon — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 20:51:23 +0000

Plastic stays dry when you get wet crossing a river... hint hint hint

By: Leopold Stotch

Leopold Stotch — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 20:37:33 +0000

I read somewhere that Singapore is on its way to a moneyless society -- wherein every transaction will happen electronically. It's an attempt to reduce costs and kill the black market economy, but it won't happen here because for some reason Christians believe that getting rid of money is an indication of the end times.

By: BigFire

BigFire — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 20:27:23 +0000

The primary advantage of polymer 'paper' currency is durability. When compare to the current fiber paper, it's nearly indestructable.

By: Say Anything

Say Anything — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 20:26:04 +0000

Paper Or Plastic?
Here's an interesting argument for turning our paper money in for plastic currency.

Slate - The decision to switch from paper to plastic isn't an easy one. Countries take their money seriously. They want their currencies to convey stability and po...

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 20:18:05 +0000

Doesn't the government have a huge investment in the paper money float out there? If all of a sudden the paper money was turned in, would that hurt the US?

I really do not know the answers to this, but I vaguely remember that there is an amazing amount of money in bills all through out the world that the country uses as a float.