Cash is king, at least until our “overlords” at the Federal Reserve and the Totalitarians that have infested the Executive Branch decided to make our paper (actually made of a special cloth) dollars digital – just PERFECT for tracking everything we’d do).
Anyways, this from Instapundit that should remind you to keep cash handy for when our modern society gets a hiccup (emphasis mine):
SO, SHOPPING AT THE FRESH MARKET TONIGHT, we were among the very few to buy groceries, because their computer network was down and they couldn’t process credit or debit cards. They couldn’t even accept checks because those are run through an ACH payment system rather than deposited in the old way. We, however, were able to pay and get out, something only a couple of other customers could do. (One older guy, and a couple of teenaged girls who said “we rock it old schoool with cash,” which I thought was hilarious.) Most people didn’t carry enough cash for groceries.
Two lessons: (1) The “cashless society” is less robust than cash; and (2) Always carry enough cash to buy groceries, a meal out, and a tank of gas. Just in case.
Flashback: Amy Langfield on the handiness of a stack of small bills in the New York blackout, when nobody could process credit cards. Though with inflation today, “small bills” probably includes twenties, and possibly fifties.
Debit and credit cards are nice, quick, and easy to use (and over use as well). However, when things go south/sideways in small (like the farmer’s market above) or worse (a blackout), having sufficient liquidity is a big plus. At least, at those places where they look at the cash in your hand (that could be theirs) and their dead Point Of Service terminal and they choose your cash over a no-sale. It is clear from the above that the farmers were a lot more nimble in creating a backup system (paper and pencil) than most stores would be, so who knows?
But you never know what will happen when that next EMP event is going to happen, do we?
