Bill Gates Hates Cash. Here's Why
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Young_Chitlin
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By Peter Coy
Billionaires are known for not keeping a lot of spending green in their wallets. But that’s not why Bill Gates hates cash. He hates it because of its effect on people at the opposite end of the wealth spectrum—the world’s poor and unbanked. The Better Than Cash Alliance, which was founded last September and is partially financed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, hosted a breakfast today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Speakers from the Philippines, Colombia, and the U.S., among other countries, made the case for why electronic transactions are better than cash payments.
Top five reasons, according to the alliance:
Transparency: Less corruption and theft when payments can be easily tracked. In Afghanistan, U.S. aid agencies use it so workers aren’t so vulnerable to robbery.
Security: The money gets where it’s supposed to go.
Financial inclusion: Electronic payment is a way for unbanked people to establish a record of on-time payment of their bills. This can be an “on-ramp” for them to get other services, such as loans, speakers said.
Cost savings: Moving physical cash around is costlier than zipping electrons. Many poor people, however, still find it cheaper to use cash, because some cashless networks charge high fees.
Access to new markets: This benefit is mainly for providers of financial services.
Kenya is a role model for the developing world when it comes to cashless payment. Its M-Pesa network, launched in 2007, has agents “on every block,” says Neal Keny-Guyer, chief executive of Mercy Corps, a nonprofit that’s a member of the alliance. Mauricio Cárdenas, Colombia’s minister of finance and public credit, said in an interview that he hopes within the year the national legislature will pass a law allowing nonbanks to take in cash and issue electronic vouchers.
The key is ensuring that the people who take in the cash are as well-supervised as bank tellers. “We see this as a first step,” Cárdenas said.
Comments
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dumb ? . i don't want nobody knowing what the ? i'm buying.
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MikeydaGawd wrote: »dumb ? . i don't want nobody knowing what the ? i'm buying.
cosign this, but if you use a debit or credit card now, they can already see what you're buying and the gov't is using that data to build behavior profiles. -
Everything you do electronically is being tracked by the government and corporations who have the inclination to follow it.
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I heard Sweden got rid of physical money last year.
Another reason to go there. -
RodrigueZz wrote: »I heard Sweden got rid of physical money last year.
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Setting up that cashless society....
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No. Bill Gates hates cash because he's a proponent of the one world currency and RFID chips.
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Most people fear the idea of a one world government. Provided it is not a ruthless dictatorship I am all for it though.
The people of this planet are so divided by language, norms, mores, tastes and more that we give no ? to help those who aren't part of our group. If uniting all countries together would eliminate these divisions I think it could be a good thing for human progress.
Maybe that's just me being overly idealistic though. -
but it smells sooo good
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nah mayne
i know its coming but i hope it aint soon -
Man, I'm so conflicted over this. Lot of good and bad. Guess it just depends on some key factors like leadership and responsibility.
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Fuckoutofherewiththatbullshit!
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RodrigueZz wrote: »Most people fear the idea of a one world government. Provided it is not a ruthless dictatorship I am all for it though.
The people of this planet are so divided by language, norms, mores, tastes and more that we give no ? to help those who aren't part of our group. If uniting all countries together would eliminate these divisions I think it could be a good thing for human progress.
Maybe that's just me being overly idealistic though.
People are going to differ on opinions and such. We need to LEARN to accept people for who they are if we are gonna to truly fix our society and other cultures.
Main Topic: This is good and bad. There are just as many good reasons why it's good and why it's bad. If the people who were maintaining this system weren't pieces of ? than this would work really well. -
America would never go for this. Its built on corruption and fuckery. That ? would wipe out the drug trade which is a huge part of the economy whether they want to admit it or not.
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America would never go for this. Its built on corruption and fuckery. That ? would wipe out the drug trade which is a huge part of the economy whether they want to admit it or not.
It's dudes out here moving major weight on PayPal. The drug game gives no ? about cash or credit, so long as people paying, they're supplying.