Cashless Society Will Enable Left To Unbank Political Enemies – Peter Roff
This all impacts consumer freedom of choice. Even absent the pressure from the government, payment providers like PayPal have unilaterally closed the accounts of organizations because of complaints about their political leanings. Payment processing and financing firms are putting restrictions on the legal firearm industry like the 2018 Citibank prohibition on its business partners selling firearms to customers under the age of 21 and Bank of America s announcement it would stop lending to certain firearms manufacturers.
And, along with PayPal, Square, Stripe, and Apple Pay do not allow their services to be used to purchase firearms. We do not believe permitting the sale of firearms on our platform is consistent with our values or in the best interests of our customers, said a spokesman for Square. Other banks and card companies have explored methods of identifying gun purchases such as unique purchase codes for gun retailers and requiring specifics on the type of gun purchased possibly as a prelude to restricting those transactions.
To dictatorial regimes, the advent of the cashless society is a boon. China is planning to eliminate cash as a means of payment as it seeks to further control its citizens and monitor their behavior. Leaders in Beijing understand cash is a censorship-resistant currency whose use cannot be controlled, approved, or denied by a third party or government.