I think that is it Mr O.

Anyone who has any money in any sort of bank account would be wise to get all but a couple of thousand out. They should if possible, convert it to something like gold, as close to immune to inflation as possible.

I don't think that there is any deliberate ill-intent by anyone, yet the result is unwholesome and sickening.

Cash is not ideal, it was already a compromise: the ideal is sharing what we have freely with others, but the exponential growth in human population prevented this and so came barter, and as human population grew further, barter too was replaced by cash.

At least with cash we have a real personal human exchange, including eye and hand contact, some physical form, so at least we still relate with each other as human beings, not as commercial entities, at least it still echoes some respect for each other.

So long as we have physical bodies we should aim to return to real physical connections and not support this mad abuse of magnetism that swallows us into machines.

So what do we do during pandemics?
Fortunately with COVID-19, disinfection is easy. When times were bad like in April-May, I used to spray my hands and the money I paid before handing it over and similarly spray the change I received with my always-ready disinfectant. The notes were wet, but it's not a big deal. Even now I am still always ready with my bottle should anyone ask me to disinfect my money before paying.

But suppose it had been a different germ/virus that is harder to disinfect, then I would suggest paying by leaving money in a dedicated spot for the other person, even in a cupboard in one's own home if necessary, with a note: "this money belongs to such-and-such", then hand it to them once the pandemic is over. Of course, if the payee wanted to use this money to pay someone else, then all they need is to ask us to modify the note accordingly.

So what is missing? Trust!

Because we fail to be kind and trust each other, the machines have the better of us... and still, now people discover that if we cannot trust the essential goodness of each other then bit-based machine-money cannot be trusted either!

Yes Yuyutsu, trust was great, the Ozzie way. When the folks sold the family home in Young NSW in 1968, they couldn't find the keys, it was so long since they were used.

Then of course immigration exploded. We brought in too many good for nothing people, of the wrong type, from the wrong places. Now we are afraid to walk down a suburban street, or ride a train at night.

Not only trust, but safety is long gone, & won't be coming back unless we send a few million people back to the hell holes they came from.

It would be nice to be able to expect a bit of gratitude & cooperation from those we have tried to help, but it obviously doesn't work that way. Unfortunately it appears to be impossible to get the bleeding hearts to understand this, so we all pay with our list life styles.

As Hasbeen has drawn attention to "Bail In" many people have never
heard of it. Ask your bank manager and he will contact his manager
in a far away HO.
When the financial system gets into difficulty the IMF (International
Monetary Fund) activates the Financial Stability Board who can go to
any bank anywhere and skim as much money off as many accounts as to
meet the debts of another bank.
Actions of which I am aware are the raids on the private bank of Cyprus
to rescue the National Bank of Cyprus which had outstanding bonds with
National Greek Bank bonds.
Remember the Greek Govt Bonds were in trouble.
They ran into trouble because the Russian
oligarchs got wind of it and entered the Bank of Cyprus branch in
Moscow and withdrew their funds around midnight.
Another case was in Portugal and a third was in Italy. In this case
a farmer who had over E100k disappeared from his account shot himself
on the steps of the bank.
Wayne Swann signed us up for this at the G20 meeting in 2012 in
St Petersburg and in 2013 Joe Hockey ratified it at the Brisbane G20 meeting.

I researched this and from reading the documentation there is one safe
place outside a bank and that is a building society.
Catch, make sure the building society is not part in any way of a bank.
I asked the manager of my building society and it was obvious he had
never heard of it, Oh no worry he said the Australian banks are solid.
I had to research the society myself.