Use Cash Movement

A peoples' movement toward banking & monetary reform

Did you know that the banking industry makes BILLIONS of dollars a year from consumers like us using credit and debit cards?

Deprive the banking industry of some of this money...

Maybe its time that we do something that actually has the potential to make a difference. Deprive the banking industry of some of the billions of dollars they receive just because it is easier for us to pull out the plastic than to plan ahead and have a little cash on hand.

Yes, you can write a letter to your congressman and hold a sign on the village green but what does that really accomplish. The politicians don’t listen. They know that Republicans are still going to vote Republican and Democrats are still going to vote Democrat – even when their respective candidate stinks and they have to hold their nose while doing it. After all, it is us against them, regardless of what team you are on.

And the banking industry knows that we are going to keep using those plastic cards and living beyond our means. It is what they have programmed us to do and we, being the good little sheep that we are, do what we are told.

There is an excellent documentary, The Century Of The Self, that starts in the 20's and 30' with how Freuds nephew Edward Bernays showed "American corporations how to make people want things they didn't need". It was the beginning of the "all-consuming self". The documentary continues on to show how that has evolved into dominating our culture today. It is a four hour four-part BBC series and well worth watching.

Individual change is never easy. We all have to sacrifice a little if we truly want to make things better. Some of us will make that sacrifice and we will feel better about ourselves when we do. It may be a small cut but at least we are doing something that actually can make a difference. The rest of us will bitch and moan, point fingers, blame the other side and continue doing those things that make it so damn easy for the big guy to get exactly what they want.

While I have realized for a long time that using those credit and debit cards really only benefits the banks it wasn’t until I was introduced to the Use Cash Movement website that it really hit home. It is not an organization and there are no memberships or dues. It is a peoples’ movement and that is truly the only way anything is going to change for the individuals betterment.

Following are some quotes from the Use Cash Movement website.

Merchants pay fees that average about $3.50 on every hundred dollars, plus the cost of those days they wait to be reimbursed by the banks. They pass these fees on to their customers in the form of higher prices. The purchaser pays the fee, whether they know it or not. So, every plastic payment is like getting money from an ATM that charges you 3.5%.

Credit card use, rewards or no rewards, costs an average American family, paying with credit cards or not, between $427 to $600 per year. At $500 a year that's $59 billion dollars in revenues to Big Banking.

Yes, to do this we must suffer some small inconveniences. If we’re not willing to be inconvenienced, we do not deserve meaningful change.

Chains retailers and restaurants love credit cards. They have their own. They prevent theft. They're easier to handle than lots of cash.

Small businesses, independent businesses, mom and pop businesses, hate credit cards. Plastic payment use costs these businesses thousands of dollars a year. Their merchant fees tend to be higher than the big boys, forcing them pass along even more banking fees in the form of higher prices.

Anyone can do it. You don't have to pay-off credit card balances first. We all make purchases, do as many as you possibly can with cash.

If we are not capable of this, we do not deserve change. If we can not take direct actions like Use Cash, what will we tell our children? That we did a lot of bitching and moaning online and it didn’t work?

Be informed and spread the word!