It is not amusing that the Greens and leftists savagely opposed moves by State governments to put a brake on organised crime and especially Bikies. Drug manufacturing and trafficking are valued in the $billions annually and NO tax. Add to that the public health and other costs to the taxpayer.

Hypocrisy.

Why we still need cash.

Six weeks ago I had some plumbing done. I got a handwritten bill in the mail, with GST but no banking details. I didn't have a cheque book any more - the cheque account had just been hacked and I'd closed it. So I rang the plumber and spoke to his wife - said I'd do a direct debit - what was the account number etc. Alas, she said, we've just had to close our business account because it was hacked - I'll get back to you with details of the new one soon. No worries, I said, I'll put some cash in an envelope, tell him to call in next time he's over this way. Which he did, and we had a chat about cash v. cards.

So ultimately I think we'll still need cash for when the electronic systems fail us.

Re bartering: I live in a small country town where a bit of this goes on. I recently 'sold' a lounge chair to a coffee shop for several weeks regular coffee. But what happens when everyone has a glut of the same product to barter? Right now everyone here has oranges - it's impossible to give them away, let alone trade them.

Cossomby,

Hi

As you realise and I am only saying this for others who may not read earlier posts, I am not recommending barter to replace, but to supplement.

You have raised the interesting matter of specialising though (oranges). Again, specialising in itself is not the problem, but allowing a single industry to dominate could be.

There is no reason why cottage industries shouldn't thrive at the same time. Maybe it was other changes such as refrigeration and supermarkets that saw the demise of small crops and other small business supplementing income or providing out of season income. Just talking about those, supermarkets do have an obvious effect, noticeable even in large towns.

Anyhow, in the future I reckon that governments (and banks!) may well find themselves having to manage without their strangle-hold on the currency of exchange, especially a currency that is based on smoke and mirrors and open to currency speculation and manipulation. -I detect that some, older folk for instance, are already feeling marginalised and more outside than a part of the said financial system.