with even a debit card, someone is tracking all your purchases.

corporations have already proven they are more than willing to open up their data banks to government on a whim.

cash is anonymous, you spend only what you have.

I no longer use credit cards and I use my debit card as little as possible, soon hopefully not at all.

If the government/media/corporate complex is going to come out and pit itself as the enemy of the population, then it is contingent upon the people to do what it takes to thwart the system and to save and protect themselves.

Do not buy their BS anymore.

Leaving aside the "moral hazard" argument, valid though it may be...

Using debit cards also provides a trail, tracking the identity of a purchaser, allowing for the sorts of tracking analysis of mundane activities that help advertisers target their audiences, and also (for those among us with a small dose of possibly-justified paranoia) leaving any and all activity, including types, times, and places of purchases, available for scrutiny by the Homeland Security types.

My own suspicion is that at some point, a Brunner-esque dsytopian future will view the elimination of even the smallest measures of anonymity as a desirable end, no doubt for some nebulous "security" reason.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

I am 540 degrees opposed to the argument you quote (ie. I've been around the circle once and am still 180 degrees away!)

I found that debit cards, used in conjunction with digital balances from my bank (downloaded off the website and uploaded into a spreadsheet) made me far more financially responsible than I am now that I'm "cash only".

Example: how much did you spend on lunches at work last week? Last month? Last year?

With cash, or a combination of cash'n'cards, is there any way you would ever know beyond a guesstimate?

Is it any wonder, then, that people have no idea how to budget and less idea of how to stick to one even if they do?

The thing is, a decade ago when I worked in a society that accepts debit cards just about everywhere (Australia) I could tell you exactly how much I was spending on lunches at work. And movie tickets. And impulse purchases. And everything else.

And I was able to modify my behavior to meet changing budgetary needs.

Nowadays I live and work in China, probably the closest thing to a cash-only society married to hyper consumption that exists on earth.

And my wages (cash -- nice red 100 yuan notes in a big stack) sometimes last the month. And sometimes they don't. And I've really no clue why or how or what or when.

Give me debit cards any day of the week, and twice on Saturdays when I'm out shopping on a budget!

Actually, Visa often slows things down. A lot. Merchants sign an agreement with Visa to accept the card that explicitly states that the merchant may not require anything of the customer other than a signature that matches the one on the card.

Then they disregard that contract and slow things down by frequently requiring that the customer show identification as a condition of purchase. Try buying something, anything at all at Best Buy with a Visa without showing ID. They'll show you the door, despite the fact that they are required to accept your signed card.

Visa has been very nice about assuring me that I don't ever have to present ID to make a purchase. But they don't do squat about reminding their merchants about it.

Cash is faster.

In my experience using cash is often as fast as using plastic and can sometimes even be faster if you’re dealing with a twitchy POS device that refuses to read your card. Or even worse when the POS goes out completely and the cashier either can’t do anything or is forced to dig out one of the old manual systems they normally don’t know how to use.

The thing that normally kills a line is the people who write checks (especially those folks who don’t even start to fill out their checks until after everything is rung up).

What worries me is at some point in the next few years there are going to be retailers that refuse to accept cash at all. They’ll make some excuses about safety (no cash on premises = no incentive to stick the place up) and ‘convenience’. That would seriously tick me off. I much prefer to use cash for small impulse purchases (say under $50). It’s quick, easy and forces me to stay in a budget for the week rather than simply pulling out the credit/debit card and swiping.

It's been a long time but I do remember there being a law that if a merchant won't accept cash for a purchase then he must provide the product or service at a reduced rate or for free. I'll have to look that one up again but that's in my mind from a long time ago.

if we end up with a "cash free" economy, apart from having all our financial exchanges available for governmental and commercial scrutiny, it'll be that much harder on undocumented aliens to get by, and they'll be even more vulnerable to price-gouging and other abuses by hostile, prejudiced Americans.

Likewise the credit card industry will have less need to have a moratorium on bankruptcy as people will have to stay in the credit system anyway in order to do virtually anything.

I have lived in the same apartment for 12 years-having moved there after selling a house. I have not had a credit card in 11 years. A recent review showed my credit reports to be basically empty. I plan on moving in the next year or two so thought I should get a credit card to put some positive info on my reports for apartment shopping. Because of my "empty" credit reports, the only card I could get is a secured card ($500.00 deposit)with a small annual fee and an outrageous interest rate. I'll pay the balance off each month to avoid the interest. My point? I don't want the damn card, but the "system" is forcing me to get one. I'm not happy about it, but sometimes one has to accept reality.