...as though the Fed is chartered entirely for public benefit? The structure of the 12 Fed district banks are very similar to private corporations. The whole system is run for the benefit of the US Treasury and (secondarily) the private member banks that hold stock in the district banks. It's there to keep the system solvent and stable. And it may be required to remit all profits to the treasury, but the Fed is not there to protect the general public, and if Hollywood has taught us anything, it is that the meaning of "profit" can be blurred with clever accounting.
I would only be fine with cashless if the power inherent in the system were diffused, such that no single entity could exercise significant control over it, and if it were supported by laws, such that attempting a 51% attack (perhaps by merger or secret collusion) would get those responsible thrown in PMitA prison for their dire felonies.
You let the Fed control it, and they'll just use it to print money, much like they do now with paper money and bank deposits. For some, that may be a beneficial feature, but I think the power to control the size of the money supply is simply too dangerous for any one group to wield it unchecked. And I think the Fed's ongoing policy of targeting a positive rate of inflation has harmed the whole US-dollar economy to a greater extent than the problems that are hypothesized to have been avoided by it.
You put one nexus of control on the whole money supply, and that's where all the crooks will go to get their scores. Bitcoin had the right idea in trying to solve the Byzantine Generals problem, because I don't trust any big financial institution to handle money alone, but I do trust them all to distrust one another enough to gang up against anyone that tries to pull off a coup.
I would only be fine with cashless if the power inherent in the system were diffused, such that no single entity could exercise significant control over it, and if it were supported by laws, such that attempting a 51% attack (perhaps by merger or secret collusion) would get those responsible thrown in PMitA prison for their dire felonies.
You let the Fed control it, and they'll just use it to print money, much like they do now with paper money and bank deposits. For some, that may be a beneficial feature, but I think the power to control the size of the money supply is simply too dangerous for any one group to wield it unchecked. And I think the Fed's ongoing policy of targeting a positive rate of inflation has harmed the whole US-dollar economy to a greater extent than the problems that are hypothesized to have been avoided by it.
You put one nexus of control on the whole money supply, and that's where all the crooks will go to get their scores. Bitcoin had the right idea in trying to solve the Byzantine Generals problem, because I don't trust any big financial institution to handle money alone, but I do trust them all to distrust one another enough to gang up against anyone that tries to pull off a coup.