Money, in the physical form, is rapidly dying and in its place credit and debit cards are increasingly dominating the purchases of many American consumers. The concept of the credit card dates back to the late 1800's, while the modern credit card took form in 1966. Since then credit card use has exploded (Woolsey par.1-2). Today, over half of the United States' population owns at least two credit cards. The United States should become a cashless society because the government would ultimately save money, there is more convenience for consumers, and money related crimes would decrease dramatically.
During the year 2012, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) produced approximately 8.4 billion notes. Over ninety percent of those notes are printed to replace damaged currency that is taken out of circulation and destroyed (“Annual” par. 10). The one dollar bill, for example, has a life span of less than two years, meaning the government is constantly printing them (Schoen par. 4). If the government stopped printing all notes all together, the budget would essentially be reduced by 1.6 billion dollars a year (“How much does” par.1). Consumers would also save an “x” amount of money from their taxes.
Besides the BEP, the United States Mint has also been facing a serious problem as zinc and copper prices have run-up. It costs the government more money to produce nickles and pennies than they are actually worth (Isidore par. 2). This means the government is actually losing money to make money. Pennies from 1793 to 1837 wear made of one-hundred percent pure copper, but two forces conspired to guarantee that this wouldn't remain the case for long; the value of copper went up and the buying power of the penny went down due to inflation (“...
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...teiner par. 2). This obviously means people are spending more than they have. This problem would be nonexistent if there were no credit cards at all.
The end of cash would also most likely mean the end of panhandling, or the act of “begging in the street”. The National Coalition for the Homeless reports that the typical panhandler works five hours on average a day, making about forty-seven dollars per day. Based on the number of homeless people on the streets, that would be more than one-hundred million dollars lost annually (Null par. 5).
In the end, no matter what the pros and cons of a cashless society are, it will be inevitable. Technology is on the rise, and everything that was once good must come to an end. The transformation is already in process because most Americas have a mix of “paper” and “plastic” in their wallets, many not even carrying currency at all.
Throughout the past decade, costs of everything have skyrocketed. According to Source C, America used to have “five and dime stores;” now its a dollar store. In addition, no one can buy anything with just a penny anymore. The source also made a fair observation that these worthless zinc disks are, “behind chair cushions or at the back of sock drawers next to your old tin-foil ball. Quarters and dimes circulated; pennies disappear because they are literally more trouble than they are worth.” According to a New York Times article, “it takes nearly a dime today to buy what a penny bought back in 1950.” The penny is still stuck in the 1950s while America just keeps moving on. As stated by Mark Lewis in his concept of establishing a bill, “the bill would not ban pennies, but merely discourage their use by establishing a system under which cash transactions would be rounded up or down.” (Source A) This motive will help keep the America exceed and
Yes, numerous amount of people does acknowledge that fact, but the government can also propose that pennies are to use inexpensive metal, like steel, which makes the entire coin industry save money and have the cost of coins to be cheaper to make. Additionally, think about the amount of people that would be fired if the penny industry were to be eliminated. This might the only job that can support their family. Instead of trying to eliminate the pennies which provide a great use for US citizens it is time to ask the government why they would spend hundreds of dollars uselessly for studies, such as a study on why chimpanzees throw their
In America’s modern day economy, the penny is very useless and irrelevant in our society today. As source C states, “The time has come to abolish the outdated, almost worthless, bothersome, and wasteful penny.” There is not one item that can be purchased with a penny anymore (Source C). As source C states, “it takes nearly a dime to buy what a penny bought back in 1950.” Stores such as the Dollar Store prove how the cheapest items you can purchase are with only a dollar, not a cent. Pennies are shoved out of the economic picture by credit cards and because of the modern-day technology, there are even self-service machines that help convert coins into paper money (Source B). Furthermore, pennies are easily tossed into piggy banks or appear behind chair cushions. It is not used the same way as it was before.
The penny should be eliminated! The penny is the us’s lowest denomination of currency. Currently the penny costs more money to make then the penny is worth. Recently the legislature passed a bill to cut the penny altogether. While the penny has been around for 200 years it has been proven useless in modern times for reasons like a charge card and . The many reasons for eliminating the penny include the penny costs more than the value of its metal, Basically no one uses penny's any more, And the penny costs us a lot of time that could be used valuable. The penny is useless.
“The currency is gone; it is being sold off very quietly, worldwide, by the oil producing states, by China …” (Watson)
There is definitely no purpose and meaning in continuing the creation of these worthless objects. All they do to the United States is cause trouble, and they are clearly a bothersome to uphold them in our possession since they barely contain any value. Our economy would be fit with just dimes, quarters, and nickels as our coins. Abraham Lincoln, who was the president represented in this penny, would disapprove having his reputation and honor shown in a futile currency. The government needs to stop producing pennies. They create a loss of money rather than a profit; therefore, these copper cents need to be gone from our economy. What other choice is available? What can these pennies do in order to redeem their glory? It is nearly impossible to convince residents to use pennies once again. The penny has lost its value, and their dignity has become faint to us. It is time to eliminate pennies–for
The penny costs 1.4 cents to manufacture each time at the mint. This is causing the mint to lose money for the treasury. Last year, the mint earned $730 million dollars in profit. Many mint officials claim the estimation will be about $45 million due to the cost of metals made in pennies. Our country is continuing to have a very strong economy with the stock markets going up. The penny might affect these benefits from the rapid production of these coins. Copper and zinc are the main elements that compose the penny. With the rising costs of these elements, the economy may back up a bit. Because of this, the U.S. mint should reduce their penny production.
Credit cards are something that are almost needed in everyday life now, as most dont have the money available to purchase a car or house and so need credit, thus needing credit cards to help build that credit. Those cards are hard to handle, and receiving applications in the mail daily, and commercials appearing on television don’t seem to make the struggle of staying away any easier. This starts to spark an interest. So people begin to think, "I think I 'm responsible enough to get a credit card, I 'll only use it for emergencies." Then the application process begins and it may take a couple times to finally be approved for one. This only makes it worse, of course, because realizing how long a credit card wasn’t applicable to life, but now
Money has evolved with the times and is a reflection of the progress of man. Early money was a physical commodity, grain, gold or silver. During the vital stage, more symbolic forms of money such as certificates of deposit, bank notes, checks, letters of credit, bonds and other forms of negotiable securities came into prominence. Social development transformed money into a trust, “In God We Trust' it says on the back of the ten-dollar bill.” (The Ascent of Money, 27)
When it comes to convenience credit outweighs cash. It’s always easier just to pull out a card and swipe rather than pull out cash and should give exact change. Swiping a credit card is also less time consuming which can be convenient when running low on time. Credit also lets you keep track of your transactions, that way you know where your money is going. I know personally that keeping track of my
The invention of money was a major improvement in peoples’ lives. In the past, people usually had to travel all day to find the person who is willing to exchange their goods. In addition, the goods people want to exchange did not have the standard value of measurement. This led to unequal exchanges. Furthermore, it is not convenient to carry heavy goods from one place to another for an exchange. To solve these issues, money will be the only solution. Later, people tend to develop money from cowry shells to credit cards for the convenience and to improve their society.
To some, this prospect may seem daunting. However, given the major advantages of electronic money over outmoded paper counterpart, society as a whole should embrace the upcoming era of digital money. Digital money is undeniably convenient; anyone who has used a credit or debit card understands this. However, the era of digital money is only beginning; rapid technological advances will continue to make paper money a remnant of the past. Several innovations are already lessening the burden in your wallet.
The use of credit and debit cards today are taking a tour in the sense that electronic cash is becoming more admissible as the world makes a switch towar...
A cashless society will further improve the globalisation that characterise our present time. The computerised systems can be used to decrease the quantity of paper trail therefore substituting paper cash with cashless credits or electronic money transfers. However, in a cashless economy, this will change with certain crimes almost eradicated. It will also be faster to generate electronic payments than cash as Near Field Communications (NFC) chips make their way into more payments cards and mobile handsets as well providing protection not applicable to purchases made using cash. This technology is simple with low power wireless link evolved from radio-frequency identification (RFID) tech that can transfer small amounts of data between two devices identifying us and our bank account to a computer. Another benefit of drawing nearer to a cashless society is that other companies are providing pioneering cash-free solutions to the payment related problems we come across. For example, WisePay, a provider of e-payments services, is deploying technologies that ensure parents no longer have to worry about sending their children to school with cash to pay for meals, excursions and other fees that will eliminate the likelihood of being caught short for cash or children misplacing money. The Government also has valuable explanations why they may deem to turn away from cash. Due the main factor of printing and distributing cash, not to mention ensuring the economy is free from forgeries which are all costly endeavours estimating that the cost to society of using cash is between 0.5 and 1.5% of GDP annually. In addition, there are many technological innovations that propose there is a real enthusiasm for an alternative to cash with the upsurge...