West County Democrats

The afternoon before leaving for Washington I went to my local bank and got a nice handful of cash. 

I figured we could charge our visit to Monticello, all the hotel costs and our nicer meals but we had tickets for Cards games against the Nationals and ballparks very efficiently take money from your wallet.

Except…

At the National’s park most of the concession stands don’t accept cash.  Likewise, many of the vendors working the seats have mobile credit card readers attached to their tubs.

This didn’t come as a complete surprise:  looking for dinner before the game we passed a cashless deli.  Once I started paying attention in Washington, I found similar warnings on several doors.

Cashless retailers became a topic a couple of years ago, with Amazon, Walmart/Sam’s Club and other trend setters wanting to avoid the hassle – and dirtiness – of cash.  “I had money and I couldn’t pay,” an iron worker wanting a taco recently lamented.   [ https://www.apnews.com/98613f20d0254b8bacd908ef12107fef ]

Of course, media coverage points out the discrimination against lower-income folks who tend to not have easy access to credit or debit cards.  One of six African American households and one in seven Hispanic families lack a bank account, making possession of a major credit card or affiliated debit card pretty much impossible.

Oh, many banks offer pre-paid cash cards with Visa or MasterCard affiliations which work on the credit card systems.  Or, they’re supposed to do that.  I have a friend who uses such cards who discovered the pharmacy filling his cats’ prescriptions won’t accept the cash card, nor will at least one chain of movie theatres in the St. Louis area.

So, take as a given that cashless transactions discriminate against many good people with the money to purchase what they need.

Here’s another issue…Cashless transactions are not anonymous.  They are instantly, forever tied to a particular person at a specific place and time.

No, I’m not worried about others tracking how many beers I had at a ballgame, the issue for me is that cashless transactions are another cut bleeding away that most American of rights, the right to privacy.

Each day billions of data files are created as we live our lives, buying gas or groceries and doing all the routine stuff that’s, well, our stuff.  Our lives are no longer our lives, they’re commercial – and government – data…data that gets traded and used with virtually no safe guards.

Here’s a scary one:  our dog had a late night accident on the bed.  My wife talked about it within earshot of our home’s digital assistant.  The next day, for the first time, she began getting e-mailed ads for products to clean-up after pet accidents.

At Monticello our tour guide noted that Thomas Jefferson served America overseas while the constitution was being written.  Jefferson did tell his protégé, James Madison, how critical it was for the country to have a Bill Of Rights to protect citizens.

Too bad Jefferson never dreamed of a day when every American’s most every move is tracked.  That privacy thing might have gotten more play.

Another problem with the cashless concession stands in Washington:  to find out what things cost you have to buy them, as in a bottle of water and a can of IPA for a total of $19.50.

Progress?

Glenn