There are many folks working overtime to see cash removed altogether, making us all dependent on trackable methods of payments. Both governments and businesses are heavily involved in all this. A headline from the press yesterday would be representative of many: “Popular Australian holiday spot Hamilton Island now cashless.” The articles says this:
Cash is no longer accepted at any business in the popular tourist destination. Holidaymakers at Hamilton Island should make sure to bring their debit or credit cards as the Whitsundays destination is now entirely cashless. Hamilton Island, one of Australia’s most popular holiday spots, started changing its money policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, and does not accept cash at any of its outlets….
The Cash is King site is just one of many such sites that are worth visiting. And plenty of good reasons have already been offered as to why we should avoid heading down this path. Some of this has been circulated far and wide so it is not always clear who first wrote it up. But let me offer a few posts. One of them says this:
A cashless society means no cash. Zero… It doesn’t mean mostly cashless and you can still use a ‘wee bit of cash here & there’. Cashless means it is fully digital, fully traceable, fully controlled. I think those who support a cashless society aren’t fully aware of what they are asking for. A cashless society means:
-Your child can’t go & help the local farmer to earn a bit of cash.
-No more cash slipped into the hands of a child from their grandparent when going on holidays.
-No more money in birthday cards.
-No more piggy banks for your child to collect pocket money & to learn about the value of physically earning and saving.
-No more cash for a rainy day fund or for that something special you have been putting $10 a week away for.
-No more loose change to put in your piggy bank or glass jar.
-No more selling bits & pieces from your home that you no longer want/need for a bit of cash in return.
-No more Garage Sales.
-No more bargaining power.
-No more donating to the poor in the streets.
-No more cash gifts from relatives or loved ones.
What a cashless society does guarantee:
-Banks have full control of every single cent you own.
-Every transaction you make is recorded.
-All your movements & actions are traceable 24/7.
-Access to your money can be blocked at the click of a button when/if banks need ‘clarification’ from you which could take weeks, a hundred questions answered & five hundred passwords.
-If your transactions are deemed in any way questionable, by those who create the questions, your money will be frozen, ‘for your own good’.
And before anybody slams this post … don’t go shooting the messenger .. I’m sharing it because maybe we all need to take off our blinkers. Forget about cash being dirty. Cash has been around for a very, very long time & it gives you control over how you trade with the world. It gives you independence, not turn you into a slave to a corporate system. If you are a customer, pay with cash. If you are a shop owner, remove those ridiculous signs that ask people to pay by card. Cash is a legal tender, it is our right to pay with cash….
Another one puts it this way:
Why should we pay cash everywhere with banknotes instead of a card? You have a $50 banknote in your pocket. Go to a restaurant and pay for dinner with it. The restaurant owner then uses the bill to pay for laundry. The laundry owner then uses the bill to pay the barber. The barber will then use the bill for shopping. After an unlimited number of payments, it will still remain a $50 bill, which has fulfilled its purpose to everyone who used it for payment.
However if you pay for your meal digitally at the restaurant then the bank fees on the card for your payment transaction charged to the seller are 3%, so around $1.50 so will the fee of $1.50 for each further payment transaction or owner re laundry or payments of the owner of the laundry shop, or payments of the barber etc….. Therefore, after 30 transactions, the initial $50 will remain only $5 and the remaining $45 became the property of the bank thanks to all digital transactions and fees……the rich get richer and the poor get the picture.
Another website, Keep Cash Alive, has plenty of material on this, including the following:
What impact does using cash have on small to medium businesses?
-Businesses save money instantly on transaction fees.
-They have more control over their profits.
-If you can help save that business money, they are more likely to keep staff employed and give back to their local community.
-Small to medium business are an integral part of keeping your local economy and community thriving and growing.
What’s wrong with a cashless society?
-Cash jobs on the side will no longer be an option, which create economic hardship and higher debt.
-Tech companies have invested heavily in making electronic transactions secure but hackers are always one step ahead. In a world of 100% electronic payments, the risk of falling victim to fraud rises significantly.
-If cash dies, your location and purchases will be tracked automatically. You won’t be able to opt out or unsubscribe.
-If you are on any government funding whatsoever, they could restrict you from spending that money on certain things that the government does not condone.
-Cash allows you to make anonymous purchases or donations. If cash dies, there will be no such thing.
-People in abusive situations are often financially reliant on their abuser. If cash is removed, their way out will be that much harder or close to impossible.
-Elderly, blind and people with disabilities will struggle. Many people can’t or don’t know how to use technology. They would also be vulnerable to scams and other technological difficulties. https://www.keepcashalive.com/
Moves are underway by governments throughout the West to replace cash with digital currencies. Communist China should already serve as a warning about this. Consider just one case: America is moving to do similar things. Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel recently wrote about this ominous move:
The Biden administration is working with the Federal Reserve (the Fed) to develop a replacement for paper and coin currency. The Fed plans to issue what is known as a “Central Bank Digital Currency” or CBDC, which some call “FedCoin.”
CBDC will effectively turn the government into a commercial bank — the bank to replace all banks, if you will. Once the government becomes your bank, it will control every purchase you make. A CBDC gives governments the ability to erase bank accounts of political enemies, and control where people are allowed to shop and what they are allowed to buy.
A CBDC can even put an “expiration date” on funds, forcing people to spend money or the government simply takes it away. The Chinese Communist Party has already issued its CBDC, called the digital yuan, and uses it as part of its social credit score that regulates people at home and around the world.
Furthermore, when the government is your direct bank, it can withhold home loans, auto financing, and other fiscal instruments, not because of your credit, but because of your political inclinations or your poor social score for not supporting green initiatives and progressive ideals. If you want to buy a gas vehicle rather than an EV, you could be blocked. If you want to buy a handgun, your transaction could be halted.
CBDC allows the government to individually monitor and control your purchases — and even your contributions. … Rep. Warren Davidson said, “A retail CBDC would essentially allow the government to mediate all transactions, which would mirror what we see in China. It’s vital to ensure this does not happen here.” https://lc.org/newsroom/details/240318-shocking-discoveries-with-digital-currency
Here’s my own conspiracy theory: I don’t believe that there is a national coin shortage; I believe rather that the government declared that there is one at the beginning of Covid to compel us all to use electronic means for our transactions. Maybe they genuinely did this to slow the spread of Covid, but have you noticed now that you are now accustomed to making all, or nearly all, of your transactions via debit or credit card? They have shifted, and are shifting, our way of buying and selling, to establish a system that makes it harder for those who have run afoul of the Machine to participate in commerce. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/covid-great-reset-totalitarianism-globalization-machine-kingsnorth/
And his very important 2020 book Live Not By Lies is still must reading in this regard. His look at Communist China’s social credit system should shock every single one of us. Writes Dreher:
The great majority of Chinese pay for consumer goods and services using smartphone apps or their faces, via facial recognition technology. These provide consumer convenience and security, making life easier for ordinary people. They also generate an enormous amount of personal data about each Chinese individual, all of which the government tracks.
The state has other uses for facial recognition technology. Television cameras are ubiquitous on Chinese streets, recording the daily comings and goings of the nation’s people. Beijing’s software is so advanced that it can easily check facial scans against the central security database. If a citizen enters an area forbidden to him—a church, say—or even if a person is merely walking in the opposite direction of a crowd, the system automatically records it and alerts the police.
In theory, police don’t have to show up at the suspect’s door to make him pay for his disobedience. China’s social credit system automatically tracks the words and actions, online and off, of every Chinese citizen, and grants rewards or demerits based on obedience. A Chinese who does something socially positive—helping an elderly neighbor with a chore, or listening to a speech of leader Xi Jinping—receives points toward a higher social credit score. On the other hand, one who does something negative—letting his or her dog poop on the sidewalk, for example, or making a snarky comment on social media—suffers a social-credit downgrade.
Because digital life, including commercial transactions, is automatically monitored, Chinese with high social credit ratings gain privileges. Those with lower scores find daily life harder. They aren’t allowed to buy high speed train tickets or take flights. Doors close to certain restaurants. Their children may not be allowed to go to college. They may lose their job and have a difficult time finding a new one. And a social-credit scofflaw will find himself isolated, as the algorithmic system downgrades those who are connected to the offender.
The bottom line: a Chinese citizen cannot participate in the economy or society unless he has the mark of approval from Xi Jinping, the country’s all-powerful leader. In a cashless society, the state has the power to bankrupt dissidents instantly by cutting off access to the internet. And in a society in which everyone is connected digitally, the state can make anyone an instant pariah when the algorithm turns them radioactive, even to their family. pp. 85-87
If you do not think that this can happen here, you are living in dreamland. We saw all this being played out with the Covid craziness, lockdown madness, and coercive medicine practices. All that was just a dry run for what lies ahead. If you value freedom, personal autonomy and the right to decide how you should make any transaction, then reject the push for a cashless society.
Revelation 13:16-17 says, ‘And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name’.
18 years ago, 2006, in Britain the Labour government brought in the Sexual Orientation Regulations or SORs as they are aptly named.
The regulations mean that it is a crime to discriminate in the provision of goods and services on the grounds of sexual orientation, i.e., based on being a homosexual [1]
What the regulations hid was they discriminated against those who wanted to receive Christian goods and services because the providers of such goods and services would be shut down. In other words teachers, lawyers, photographers, politicians, cake makers etc who refused to promote homosexuality would be removed from the marketplace.
The regulations resulted in the near destruction of the lives of an elderly couple, Mr and Mrs Bull and their small Christian hotel [2]
Fast forward today where even bank cards, let alone cash are disappearing and it is your face or the mark on your forehead that records your social score and thus awards or denies you the right to receive goods and services.
You wrote an article in 2006, entitled “When Nations Collapse [3]
I wrote the comment a year later.
‘Dear Bill, You need to sound the alarm. Britain without any one being aware, except for a handful of people, passed from liberty into bondage and marxist oppression, last Wednesday night, 21st March 2007. All that thousands had fought and died for, some in the most brutal fashion, over the previous centuries, was lost during one vital debate in the House of Lords. Rub your eyes, pinch yourself, put it in your diary. It has really happened. The Sexual Orientation Regulation engine has started and on April 30st it leaves the station to inexorably pull Britain into the darkness. Wake up Australia.
I am in court on the 13th of June on a charge of breaching Section 127 of the Electronic Communications Act 2003, for reporting to the police mass murder taking place in our local abortion clinic.
(1)A person is guilty of an offence if he—
(a)sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or
(b)causes any such message or matter to be so sent.
(2)A person is guilty of an offence if, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, he—
(a)sends by means of a public electronic communications network, a message that he knows to be false,
(b)causes such a message to be sent; or
(c)persistently makes use of a public electronic communications network.
(3)A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or to both.
Apparently, the UN voted last Friday, 5th April whether communicating negatively about homosexuality would be considered a crime against humanity [4]
So even posting this comment on your site could be brought in evidence against me.
[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/philipjohnston/3998908/Why-is-sexual-identity-any-of-the-Governments-business.html.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_v_Hall
[3] https://billmuehlenberg.com/2006/07/07/when-nations-collapse/
[4] https://citizengo.org/en-gb/rf/12819-stop-the-un-from-criminalizing-your-christian-beliefs
David Skinner UK
Years ago, when we arrived in the UK to live, we were surprised to find that you could use both debit and credit card, anywhere, and for even the smallest purchase, with no minimum spend, without incurring any card fees. My understanding is that those bank fees have been abolished throughout Europe.
Ten years later when we were returning to live in Australia, we had an overnight stopover in Shanghai. Since we got there late in the day and were leaving early in the morning, we hadn’t bothered to exchange any currency to the local cash. We went for a walk around the area near the hotel to find something for dinner, only to find that no place would accept cards: they all wanted cash including McDonald’s!
Our only alternative was to return to the hotel and order (expensive) room service which we could pay for by card when checking out.
Back in Australia, it was a huge shock to find we had to pay fees just about everywhere, on card transactions, with the most prevalent being in Chinese-owned shops.
Banks are already de-banking charities in Australia and UK.
UK charities commission complained to the banks who blamed the government. The excuse seems to be that charities often send money overseas and that could be money-laundering. As an Aussie misho in Nigeria says, they have trouble getting $1k from Australia, USA or UK to Nigeria, but Boko Haram terrorists have no trouble getting brand new vehicles and weapons to terrorise many parts of Nigeria.
Hey, I wondered if “scofflaw” was a typo, when I read it in the email, so I checked on your website to see if it was corrected. Loved the humour of the Cash is King Man In Black Johnny Cash photo – but what’s “scofflaw”?
Thanks Peter. As is so often the case, a 3-second google search will reveal all:
a person who flouts the law, especially by failing to comply with a law that is difficult to enforce effectively.
“scofflaws who have accumulated large debts in unpaid parking tickets”
It staggers me how quiet the Freedom rallies have been about this,at least in Adelaide. At the last rally a month ago they were still going on about convid1984 & the jabs etc. Only 100 people or less turned up & I was the only one with a placard against the Digital id and a cashless society. I always knew that the whole thing in 2020 was about this Digital nightmare. If the freedom masses were awake to convid they should be far more awake to the Digital id & cashless system threat. There should be many millions protesting in the streets regularly if they truly cared. The Chinese credit system is there for all to see. No conspiracy theory.
BTW, I did not make the meme that adorns this post. Whoever did, however, seems to have photo-shopped the hand and guitar (Lucille) of BB King into the pic, as Johnny Cash almost always played acoustic guitar!
AP Report this morning: BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday revealed details of his government’s plan to stimulate the economy by giving digital cash handouts of 10,000 baht ($275) to an estimated 50 million Thais for spending at their local businesses.
Here’s the test case.
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday revealed details of his government’s plan to stimulate the economy by giving digital cash handouts of 10,000 baht ($275) to an estimated 50 million Thais for spending at their local businesses.
Srettha said at a news conference that the 500-billion-baht ($13.7-billion) plan, to be mostly funded out of the 2024 and 2025 fiscal budgets, will be rolled out in the last quarter of the year.
The stimulus and subsequent consumption are expected to boost gross domestic product growth by 1.2 to 1.6 percentage points, he said. The World Bank estimated Thailand’s year-on-year GDP growth at 1.5% in December.
Another portion of the funding will come from the state’s Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, earmarked for covering payouts to about 17 million farmers.
The digital purchases will be allowed only in the recipients’ own districts, and will not be allowed for items including oil, services, and online purchases.
Srettha called the project a “life-changing policy for the people.” He expressed his disappointment that the project could not be carried out earlier but said the government needed to make it transparent and legal.
The plan, which was a major campaign promise by Srettha’s Pheu Thai party ahead of last year’s general election, had been previously criticized by economists for being an ineffective way to contribute to sustainable economic growth compared to other measures.
The ruling Pheu Thai party had also suggested digital wallet payments for all Thais 16 and older, while the current plan is limited to lower-income Thais, defined as people with yearly incomes not exceeding 840,000 baht ($23,000) and savings in financial institutions not totaling more than 500,000 baht ($13,700 ) .
The government was also criticized for initially suggesting that it would fund the plan by borrowing, which would incur a heavy public debt burden.
Thailand’s central bank has resisted pressure from the government to boost the economy by cutting interest rates, opting to keep its policy unchanged at a meeting on Wednesday.
But analysts expect the Bank of Thailand to cut its 2.5% benchmark rate later in the year, given that inflation has been falling for six straight months.
“While the economy is not exactly in a crisis, it is in need of more support,” Gareth Leather of Capital Economics said in a commentary. He noted that the central bank is keen to maintain its independence, but that it ultimately would likely cut rates at its next meeting, in June.
Thailand’s levels of household debt are relatively high, and higher interest rates raise borrowing costs, tending to discourage spending and investment.
You can bet your bottom dollar that digital handouts will be index linked to one’s attitude towards LGBT and abortion rights. Apparently 8% of the population have been recognised at LGBT and as for abortion, Wikipedia reports:
‘Teen pregnancies in Thailand account for as much as 15% of total pregnancies, well above the World Health Organization’s 10% median. Data from the Thai Department of Health showed that 72,566 teens aged 10–19 years old gave birth in 2018, or 199 such babies being born per day. Of the total, 9% gave birth to their second child. In the 10–14 age group, 2,385 young girls, down from 2,559 in 2017, gave birth, seven cases a day. According to the Thai National Health Security Office, over 300,000 women have sought medical treatment at state hospitals for incomplete abortions from 2009 to 2019. Nearly 100,000 of them suffered complications and infections. More than 20 of them died each year. The casualties mount even though safe, WHO-approved abortion pills, legal in more than 60 countries, have been available for over a decade.’
Thailand has been a mecca for homosexual paedophiles for years How soon before paedophiles are also awarded bonus digital currency?
David Skinner UK
Thank you Bill for all the information. All churches should be preaching what you have just wrote. Losing our cash means losing our freedom. We need to stand up to these people wanting to take our freedoms away and not let them get away with it. Tell everyone, everywhere we need cash to remain or there will be more homeless people etc. Go to ATMs and get cash out and use it. Sorry to hear about David Skinner and others who have stood up to these tyrants wanting to control us and promoting their Godless cultures. They are brave people who will hopefully be promoted for their stance one day as our leaders. We will pray for you.
Thank you Bill for all the excellent information even though I am a bit late catching up with it.It is much worse than I thought. There is a paper called The Light circulating in WA which dealt with the cashless society in their last issue on the front page and I sincerely thank the businesses who are promoting and stocking the paper so people can be informed. However, I am convinced that the majority of people are still oblivious to this very real danger to our freedom.I see them every day blithely pulling out their cards and phones to pay for things at the shops The shop assistants at Coles and Woollies always say ”cash or card”? I always reply ”cash of course” I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they hadn’t been instructed to ask that. I rarely use a card on principle although I am not against their use altogether. Just as I never use a telling machine because they kow tow to the banks in their policy of limiting their services to customers for the privilege of looking after their money I have resolved in advance never to kow tow to those businesses who insist on payment by card only. They are welcome to keep their goods where the sun doesn’t shine as far as I am concerned [ha ha]. I don’t want them thank you very much! As this push for a cashless society progresses there may be less choice of venues to shop at which will be inconvenient but those who feel strongly enough about the dangers of a cashless society will have to put up with that and search out those who still accept cash and boycott those who don’t.
I intend to get your article printed and photocopied Bill although reading printed matter is not something many people do these days.Perhaps some of the elderly still do but your article needs to be read by as many people as possible. As Jeremy says the whole covid thing was really about all this but people are so busy with earning their living and the cares of their every day lives they brush this issue out of their minds in the hope that it will go away but I can assure them it won’t. There are too many people in positions of power evil enough to persist in pursuing it as it is the work of Satan of that there is no doubt. As Lynette says our Christian leaders should be talking about this and a few are but it needs many more if we are to beat it. God Bless
Revelation 13:16-17 says, ‘And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name’.
18 years ago, 2006, in Britain the Labour government brought in the Sexual Orientation Regulations or SORs as they are aptly named.
The regulations mean that it is a crime to discriminate in the provision of goods and services on the grounds of sexual orientation, i.e., based on being a homosexual [1]
What the regulations hid was they discriminated against those who wanted to receive Christian goods and services because the providers of such goods and services would be shut down. In other words teachers, lawyers, photographers, politicians, cake makers etc who refused to promote homosexuality would be removed from the marketplace.
The regulations resulted in the near destruction of the lives of an elderly couple, Mr and Mrs Bull and their small Christian hotel [2]
Fast forward today where even bank cards, let alone cash are disappearing and it is your face or the mark on your forehead that records your social score and thus awards or denies you the right to receive goods and services.
You wrote an article in 2006, entitled “When Nations Collapse [3]
I wrote the comment a year later.
‘Dear Bill, You need to sound the alarm. Britain without any one being aware, except for a handful of people, passed from liberty into bondage and marxist oppression, last Wednesday night, 21st March 2007. All that thousands had fought and died for, some in the most brutal fashion, over the previous centuries, was lost during one vital debate in the House of Lords. Rub your eyes, pinch yourself, put it in your diary. It has really happened. The Sexual Orientation Regulation engine has started and on April 30st it leaves the station to inexorably pull Britain into the darkness. Wake up Australia.
I am in court on the 13th of June on a charge of breaching Section 127 of the Electronic Communications Act 2003, for reporting to the police mass murder taking place in our local abortion clinic.
(1)A person is guilty of an offence if he—
(a)sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or
(b)causes any such message or matter to be so sent.
(2)A person is guilty of an offence if, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, he—
(a)sends by means of a public electronic communications network, a message that he knows to be false,
(b)causes such a message to be sent; or
(c)persistently makes use of a public electronic communications network.
(3)A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or to both.
Apparently, the UN voted last Friday, 5th April whether communicating negatively about homosexuality would be considered a crime against humanity [4]
So even posting this comment on your site could be brought in evidence against me.
[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/philipjohnston/3998908/Why-is-sexual-identity-any-of-the-Governments-business.html.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_v_Hall
[3] https://billmuehlenberg.com/2006/07/07/when-nations-collapse/
[4] https://citizengo.org/en-gb/rf/12819-stop-the-un-from-criminalizing-your-christian-beliefs
David Skinner UK
Years ago, when we arrived in the UK to live, we were surprised to find that you could use both debit and credit card, anywhere, and for even the smallest purchase, with no minimum spend, without incurring any card fees. My understanding is that those bank fees have been abolished throughout Europe.
Ten years later when we were returning to live in Australia, we had an overnight stopover in Shanghai. Since we got there late in the day and were leaving early in the morning, we hadn’t bothered to exchange any currency to the local cash. We went for a walk around the area near the hotel to find something for dinner, only to find that no place would accept cards: they all wanted cash including McDonald’s!
Our only alternative was to return to the hotel and order (expensive) room service which we could pay for by card when checking out.
Back in Australia, it was a huge shock to find we had to pay fees just about everywhere, on card transactions, with the most prevalent being in Chinese-owned shops.
Banks are already de-banking charities in Australia and UK.
UK charities commission complained to the banks who blamed the government. The excuse seems to be that charities often send money overseas and that could be money-laundering. As an Aussie misho in Nigeria says, they have trouble getting $1k from Australia, USA or UK to Nigeria, but Boko Haram terrorists have no trouble getting brand new vehicles and weapons to terrorise many parts of Nigeria.
Hey, I wondered if “scofflaw” was a typo, when I read it in the email, so I checked on your website to see if it was corrected. Loved the humour of the Cash is King Man In Black Johnny Cash photo – but what’s “scofflaw”?
Thanks Peter. As is so often the case, a 3-second google search will reveal all:
It staggers me how quiet the Freedom rallies have been about this,at least in Adelaide. At the last rally a month ago they were still going on about convid1984 & the jabs etc. Only 100 people or less turned up & I was the only one with a placard against the Digital id and a cashless society. I always knew that the whole thing in 2020 was about this Digital nightmare. If the freedom masses were awake to convid they should be far more awake to the Digital id & cashless system threat. There should be many millions protesting in the streets regularly if they truly cared. The Chinese credit system is there for all to see. No conspiracy theory.
BTW, I did not make the meme that adorns this post. Whoever did, however, seems to have photo-shopped the hand and guitar (Lucille) of BB King into the pic, as Johnny Cash almost always played acoustic guitar!
AP Report this morning: BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday revealed details of his government’s plan to stimulate the economy by giving digital cash handouts of 10,000 baht ($275) to an estimated 50 million Thais for spending at their local businesses.
Here’s the test case.
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday revealed details of his government’s plan to stimulate the economy by giving digital cash handouts of 10,000 baht ($275) to an estimated 50 million Thais for spending at their local businesses.
Srettha said at a news conference that the 500-billion-baht ($13.7-billion) plan, to be mostly funded out of the 2024 and 2025 fiscal budgets, will be rolled out in the last quarter of the year.
The stimulus and subsequent consumption are expected to boost gross domestic product growth by 1.2 to 1.6 percentage points, he said. The World Bank estimated Thailand’s year-on-year GDP growth at 1.5% in December.
Another portion of the funding will come from the state’s Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, earmarked for covering payouts to about 17 million farmers.
The digital purchases will be allowed only in the recipients’ own districts, and will not be allowed for items including oil, services, and online purchases.
Srettha called the project a “life-changing policy for the people.” He expressed his disappointment that the project could not be carried out earlier but said the government needed to make it transparent and legal.
The plan, which was a major campaign promise by Srettha’s Pheu Thai party ahead of last year’s general election, had been previously criticized by economists for being an ineffective way to contribute to sustainable economic growth compared to other measures.
The ruling Pheu Thai party had also suggested digital wallet payments for all Thais 16 and older, while the current plan is limited to lower-income Thais, defined as people with yearly incomes not exceeding 840,000 baht ($23,000) and savings in financial institutions not totaling more than 500,000 baht ($13,700 ) .
The government was also criticized for initially suggesting that it would fund the plan by borrowing, which would incur a heavy public debt burden.
Thailand’s central bank has resisted pressure from the government to boost the economy by cutting interest rates, opting to keep its policy unchanged at a meeting on Wednesday.
But analysts expect the Bank of Thailand to cut its 2.5% benchmark rate later in the year, given that inflation has been falling for six straight months.
“While the economy is not exactly in a crisis, it is in need of more support,” Gareth Leather of Capital Economics said in a commentary. He noted that the central bank is keen to maintain its independence, but that it ultimately would likely cut rates at its next meeting, in June.
Thailand’s levels of household debt are relatively high, and higher interest rates raise borrowing costs, tending to discourage spending and investment.
You can bet your bottom dollar that digital handouts will be index linked to one’s attitude towards LGBT and abortion rights. Apparently 8% of the population have been recognised at LGBT and as for abortion, Wikipedia reports:
‘Teen pregnancies in Thailand account for as much as 15% of total pregnancies, well above the World Health Organization’s 10% median. Data from the Thai Department of Health showed that 72,566 teens aged 10–19 years old gave birth in 2018, or 199 such babies being born per day. Of the total, 9% gave birth to their second child. In the 10–14 age group, 2,385 young girls, down from 2,559 in 2017, gave birth, seven cases a day. According to the Thai National Health Security Office, over 300,000 women have sought medical treatment at state hospitals for incomplete abortions from 2009 to 2019. Nearly 100,000 of them suffered complications and infections. More than 20 of them died each year. The casualties mount even though safe, WHO-approved abortion pills, legal in more than 60 countries, have been available for over a decade.’
Thailand has been a mecca for homosexual paedophiles for years How soon before paedophiles are also awarded bonus digital currency?
David Skinner UK
Thank you Bill for all the information. All churches should be preaching what you have just wrote. Losing our cash means losing our freedom. We need to stand up to these people wanting to take our freedoms away and not let them get away with it. Tell everyone, everywhere we need cash to remain or there will be more homeless people etc. Go to ATMs and get cash out and use it. Sorry to hear about David Skinner and others who have stood up to these tyrants wanting to control us and promoting their Godless cultures. They are brave people who will hopefully be promoted for their stance one day as our leaders. We will pray for you.
Thank you Bill for all the excellent information even though I am a bit late catching up with it.It is much worse than I thought. There is a paper called The Light circulating in WA which dealt with the cashless society in their last issue on the front page and I sincerely thank the businesses who are promoting and stocking the paper so people can be informed. However, I am convinced that the majority of people are still oblivious to this very real danger to our freedom.I see them every day blithely pulling out their cards and phones to pay for things at the shops The shop assistants at Coles and Woollies always say ”cash or card”? I always reply ”cash of course” I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they hadn’t been instructed to ask that. I rarely use a card on principle although I am not against their use altogether. Just as I never use a telling machine because they kow tow to the banks in their policy of limiting their services to customers for the privilege of looking after their money I have resolved in advance never to kow tow to those businesses who insist on payment by card only. They are welcome to keep their goods where the sun doesn’t shine as far as I am concerned [ha ha]. I don’t want them thank you very much! As this push for a cashless society progresses there may be less choice of venues to shop at which will be inconvenient but those who feel strongly enough about the dangers of a cashless society will have to put up with that and search out those who still accept cash and boycott those who don’t.
I intend to get your article printed and photocopied Bill although reading printed matter is not something many people do these days.Perhaps some of the elderly still do but your article needs to be read by as many people as possible. As Jeremy says the whole covid thing was really about all this but people are so busy with earning their living and the cares of their every day lives they brush this issue out of their minds in the hope that it will go away but I can assure them it won’t. There are too many people in positions of power evil enough to persist in pursuing it as it is the work of Satan of that there is no doubt. As Lynette says our Christian leaders should be talking about this and a few are but it needs many more if we are to beat it. God Bless