It has
been one of the primary objectives of the banking industry to eliminate the use
of coin and currency from society. A couple of reasons why they are doing this.
First, there is "no money" for the banks in the use of cash.
Individuals could use cash in all of their transactions without the
prospect of paying a bank service fee each time they did so. Secondly, the
banking industry would have 100% control over all of our financial
dealings with the elimination of coin and currency. Without cash, consider where
you would be if the computer systems went down at a crucial time and you could
not access your account. Consider the possibility of your bank or banker
refusing you access to your account either deliberately or in error. Where would
that leave you?
The "Smart Card", with its microchip, is touted by the banks as next step in financial convenience. Huge campaigns are under way to convince people to accept the smart cards. But unlike today's financial (credit/debit) cards, the smart cards don't need a magnetic strip on the back. Instead, they are equipped with a small silicon chip hidden in the plastic. The smart card can hold up to 500 times more data than the conventional magnetic strip and they would allow retailers to accept payment without requiring any authorization from a bank.
People are being encouraged to do their banking over the internet and companies have created devices that can transform your PC into an automated teller machine with which you can "load" money on to your smart card directly from your home without going to an ATM or your bank.
But remember, this is a trap, as it will lead to the elimination of coin and currency and the smart card will become the ONLY means of exchange. (remember the reasons given above for NOT using them!)
Smart cards can also be stolen, lost or damaged putting your money at risk. So the bankers will then go to the next step, the implanted microchip which will link people directly to their smart card so their will be no way it can be lost. The "chip" will no longer be in the card but inside the human body!
A company in Florida called Applied Digital Systems is now poised to market the "Verichip" which is the size of a grain of rice and would be embedded beneath a person's skin. The information on this chip could include your medical records, your banking records, how much you owe on your mortgage, credit cards and other personal loans. It could also be used to track your activities anywhere you go in the world. It would replace all of your present forms of ID such as, passports, driver's licenses, social security and credit/debit cards. You will not be able to withdraw money from the bank without it, receive benefits from the government without it, buy or sell anything without it. The chip would also include data on your family history, address, occupation, criminal record, income tax information etc.
The chip is powered electro-magnetically through muscle movement or, it can be activated by an outside monitoring facility. This is one of the dangers of the chip; once you have it, you can be controlled by someone else. This is similar to the anti-theft devices used in cars. When a car is stolen, the company tracks the car via satellite, and the remote control system can turn off the car's engine and lock the doors. The same technique is used in some U.S. prisons. Prisoners have a chip implanted in them and when they become violent, the guard simply pushes a button on a remote control and paralyses the prisoner. Sounds pretty scary.
Getting back to the cards. These "smart cards" and implanted chips have little to do with convenience and more to do with power and control over our daily lives. Is this something you want? I don't think so.
We need to say "no" to these cards and demand and promote the use of a debt free and interest free monetary system which includes the use of government issued (debt free) coin and currency. There are advantages to using coin and currency when you think about it. Specifically, it does not leave a paper trail for others to follow, it does not cost you a fee every time you use it (spend it), you don't have to remember a PIN # every time you use it and if you lose some cash, you don't have to phone your bank or worry about losing any more beyond the initial loss. Always remember, CASH IS KING!!
UPDATE!!
The New Homeland Security Card
A new I.D. card to be imposed upon U.S. citizens was revealed in the September 2002 edition of Popular Science magazine. The card has the letters "USID" in the upper left corner with the words "United States Identification" under them. Then, the words "Department of Homeland Security" appear, under which is the social security number and, under that, the date of birth. Then, there is the name of the individual with the basic statistics including city of residence. To the far right on the card is a laser engraved photo with a RFID or radio frequency identification device in the forehead of the individual.
The background on the card is the truncated pyramid with the all-seeing eye. There is also a memory strip containing 20 MB of data including information about your fingerprints, iris scans, face scans, heartbeat characteristics, and DNA sequences. (In claiming to protect you, you will be more vulnerable for identity theft, and even framing for crimes that you did not commit. By placing your blood at a crime scene, evil people could implicate you in crimes that you had no part of.)
Beginning in the fall of 2004, visitors to the USA must have microchip ID's (that include biometric data like retina and fingerprint scans) in their passports. The United States is pushing Canada to do the same. This is why Canadian Immigration Minister Dennis Coderre is pushing for such a national ID card that would include thumbnail prints and iris scans (as reported on Feb. 7/03). With the heightened security both in the States and in Canada, our government will use this as their reasoning to introduce the National ID Card and it will include much of the information as the US card and likely will also contain information on medical, dental, financial statistics of the card holder. (Yes, CCRA will track you and have the capability of freezing/seizing your bank accounts, and tracking your every move.)
On May 16, 2002, the Houston Chronicle reported that at "Kroger stores, customers are getting their groceries without cash, check or credit card. They rely on a new machine called Secure Touch-n-Pay. Shoppers can enroll free of charge to use the finger-image machine, officially known as a biometric electronic financial transaction system. The customers fingerprint is scanned, and the purchases are automatically charged to their account.