To some, however, a pandemic-triggered decline in cash is nothing to celebrate. Cash is an essential financial tool of the millions of Americans who either don’t have access to banks or credit cards, or who opt to not make use of them.
by Dave Allen
The International Forecaster
The retail apocalypse is coming. Stores have been closing their doors all over the country. And whether they’re inside a mall or on a standalone slab, many of those that are still open are saying no to cash.
Shoppers continue to switch their buying to Amazon and Walmart.com. Most of the restaurants that have stayed open won’t take cash, and they’re operating without any customer contact at all, requiring them to pay online before picking up their orders.
What once seemed like the oldest, most reliable – and preferable – way of paying seems in peril.
Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, who has advocated for a less-cash society (as opposed to cash-less),predicts the crisis “is absolutely going to drive people to prefer credit and debit to cash.” The jury is out on what Rogoff expects , but…..