AmericanMonetaryAssociation.orgGood old Sweden can always be counted upon to create a gag reflex in the throats of freedom loving capitalists everywhere. Earlier this year, that country’s Work Environment Authority (another mindless bureacracy that exists for the main goal of perpetuating itself) issued a report suggesting it might be a good idea to ban cash in Swedish retail stores to help fight the growing robbery problem. Before we go further, we have a few other ideas we’d like to submit to the Work Environment Authority to help address major societal issues.

1. Ban automobiles to reduce the number of road accidents

2. Ban governments to limit the amount of stupidity in circulation

3. Ban food to eliminate gastrointestinal distress

We wish we were kidding about the idea of banning cash but we’re not. And Sweden is not alone; removing cash as a medium of value transfer has long been a goal of authoritarian regimes around the world. They’re just usually not so blatant about it. Let’s listen in to a bit of an interview of the Work Environment Authority’s Mikael Sjoberg, who said, “It is not acceptable that people go to work in fear and concerned that they could be subject to a robbery.”

Other Swedish bureaucrats, whom we shan’t dignify by publishing their names here, have made such bold claims as:

“Folks using cash usually have something to hide; you can’t pay prostitutes with a credit card.”

“A cashless society is a less criminal society.”

“Wouldn’t cashless shopping be much better for senior citizens since they tend to lose their purses/wallets?”

Apparently, the Swedish government has a burr under its saddle about the shadow economy, unrecorded transactions that take place outside the onerous restrictions and taxation that hamstring official business activity. The truly idiotic part of the attempt to remove the under the table shadow economy is that it would ruin the government’s tax base. Consumption taxes like VAT and sales tax would plummet immediately as citizens’ would be forced to restrict their spending.

Cash offers people of a nation the option to transact business in private, as well as to remove themselves from the ridiculous nature of the banking system, which only keeps a fraction of deposits in reserve to service “normal business” over the course of a day.

The real question begging to be asked is why there is such a runaway crime problem in this socialist utopia? Wethinks there is something rotten in Denmark – er – Sweden.

The American Monetary Association Team

AmericanMonetaryAssociation.org

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