Monday, February 7, 2011

Cash and Currency in the end times

A recent article, on The Economic Collapse blog has noted that the death of cash is indeed inevitable, as governments all over the world are creating more and more hurdles to render large cash transactions unattractive. (http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-death-of-cash-all-over-the-world-governments-are-banning-large-cash-transactions)
A visit to any Nigerian bank will show notices announcing financial regulations that make it mandatory that certain “qualifying transactions” be routinely reported to the Central Bank. Of course, it is such reporting that has helped tremendously in the work of the EFCC and other security agencies. For instance, the solid leads facilitating the current incarceration of Charles Okah with respect to the Independence-day Bomb Blast were made possible by the availability of fastidious records of movement of monies. Such records are made possible as cash transactions between individuals become more and more obsolete and people are forced to use the bank or some regulated means such as credit cards.
Nigeria is only just starting off, and is obviously being goaded along by countries like the USA. In America, unconfirmed sources have it that bank notes are no longer being printed in denominations higher than $100.00 - automatically limiting how much can be conveniently carried around. Moreover, as obvserved by Economic Collapse blog,, the US government has also “burdened large cash transactions with some heavy-duty reporting requirements.”
One of such requirements, not just for banks but for individuals, requires that any individual who receives over $10,000 in cash in a single business transaction, or related transactions within a 12-month period, MUST report the buyer to the Internal Revenue Service. Jeff Schnepper mentioned the case of one of his clients who got too busy to report a qualifying transaction, and actually (together with some of his children who work with him) did jail term for the negligence! That wasn’t just a one rare event though. As cited by Schnepper, “In fiscal 2004, the Internal Revenue Service initiated 1,789 criminal investigations. There were 1,304 indictments and 687 convictions -- and an 89.1% incarceration rate. The average sentence: 63 months.” (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/P69839.asp).
More and more governments are actually putting limits on how much cash can be legally exchanged between individuals. In Greece, starting from January 1, 2011, all cash transactions “above 1,500 euros between natural persons” are no longer legal. According to Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou , “Transactions will have to be done through debit or credit cards" (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE61824V20100209).
The bars are a little higher in Italy (5,000 euros) and Mexico ($7,700) where similar bans are being considered. In Mexico, violators of the specified limit for cash transactions (on real estate, vehicles, boats, airplanes and luxury goods) would face up to 15 years in prison. (http://www.zerohedge.com/article/italy-banning-cash-transactions-over-%E2%82%AC5000-latest-european-austerity-package-revealed, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/140267.html)
The ostensible reasons for these laws vary from country to country. The main reason (e.g Greece, and Italy) however is to ensure that all taxes are efficiently collected as part of new austerity measures to rescue the economy. Another important stated reason is the need to curtail mafias, drug cartels, and other money launderers. In the US, it is part of the war against terrorism; and has already mentioned, in Nigeria, such requirements are one major tool crime fighting agencies rely on.
However the big reason (or at least, inevitable result) is often left unstated: Control. It’s a matter of time that people accept the restrictions, and even the smallest transactions would have to be made cashless. By then the populace would have gotten used to the convenience of cashless transactions to complain too loudly about any inconveniences in privacy matters – or such little things as loss of the pleasure of physically counting out money to your child or ward, for small expenses! However, attending this development would be the reality that every transaction would be traced (with records of people involved, locations, time, spending patterns, etc being stored up in massive computer systems). Furthermore, e-transactions could be voided or blocked. This would facilitate absolute control of the world.
To further smoothen the operations of a cashless society, it is inevitable also that a common global currency be devised. This will ease e-transactions and solve the problem of fluctuations of exchange rates, among other benefits. It will further put an end to the current troublesome issue of some countries using devaluation of their currency to solve economic problems and creating problems for their trading partners. As pointed out by Brazilian Finance Minister in 2008, (AFP, Sept 28 2008) the world is in the grip of a currency "war", with leading nations using devaluation to solve economic problems. Examples include Japan, South Korea and Taiwan who had to pull down the value of their currencies to solve economic problems; and on-going tension between the United States and China over the value of the yuan (see http://topics.breitbart.com/ )
Concretizing this proposal is the International Monetary Fund in a report published on April 13, 2010, suggesting that the U.S. dollar be replaced by the "bancor" as the world's reserve currency (http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2010/041310.pdf). The name "Bancor" was suggested by John Maynard Keynes, the British economist who headed the World Banking Commission that created the IMF during the Breton Woods negotiations, which preceded the United Nations. As is being proposed by the IMF, the bancor would be issued by a new global central bank that would have the authority to levy taxes for various infractions.
Henry Lamb expatiates on this blatant advocacy for global governance:
“The people who believe the world should be governed by a global authority have been working toward this goal for more than a century. They are relentless; they are driven; they are convinced that they know best how people should live. They believe that all nations and all societies should be controlled by an elite, benevolent intelligentsia that can ensure social justice by enforcing what has now become known as sustainable development. These people are closer to achieving their goal than at any previous time in history.” “http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=193741
In conclusion, the prevailing socio-economic conditions in the world are literally compelling the move towards a cashless society and a centralized global economy. While many device means of stopping this inevitable development, we think it probably will be more profitable to appreciate exactly what this development portends and how best to respond to it. The important question is: how was it possible that a prophet could, two thousand years ago, accurately predict the situation we see emerging today. (Rev 13:15-17). The prophets call the season to be characterized by these developments as the end times. All these increased control of every segment of society will eventually pave way for an absolute dictator, benevolent to be sure at the beginning of his reign. The Bible describes him as the antichrist. Thank God, Bible makes clear how to prepare well for these inevitable developments, probably right upon us at this moment. (Dan. 11:32-33, Jhn 14:1ff)?

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