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This is exactly the point. We're boxing out people who are already at the bottom rung economically, making it increasingly difficult for them to be part of our transaction system at all.

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Django Wexler

@DjangoWexler

Jun 23, 2021

Replying to @DjangoWexler and @JamesSACorey

So I both see why they do it, but I also worry about creating a two-tiered system like you said, where poor people literally can't even get in the door of rich-people shops because they won't accept their money.

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That said, I think the solution is probably not to prop up cash somehow, but rather to establish baseline banking services as a public right. Let everyone have a fee-free checking account with a debit card at the Fed, for example. (One option that's being discussed re: CBDC.)

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The main reason people end up without access to financial services is due to government regulation on sex work, drugs, money laundering, etc. Can you really trust the US government not to take away access to government banking from say, people with a criminal record?

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I mean, that's certainly a potential problem! But we are, theoretically, in charge of the government. If it's cruel to the poor, it's because people want it to be. That's not a problem with a technical fix.

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And in 2024, the Republicans may control the US Federal government again. They may control the Senate as early as 2022. If you don't trust them to directly control people's banking, why would you give them more power over it once they're back in control of government again?

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It's entirely possible for banking and other financial services to be provided by non-profit organizations which are not directly part of the government. At least then, they'd have to pass laws to regulate them and then potentially contest it in court not just executive control.

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Look at what was happening with the USPS in 2020. It's not a stable place to put people's banking. Half of your politicians want to dismantle it and they're often in power. There are more choices than something either being a for-profit corporation or a government service.

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Also, who do you really mean by "we" when you talk about control over government? Do you think marijuana should be not only illegal, but criminalized? Biden does. Also, if policies change, the records of all transactions, etc. are still there ready to be used for new purposes.

9:34 PM · Jun 23, 2021Twitter Web App

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So, for example, having direct government access to all that transaction data is probably quite useful if you want to do mass deportation of people who aren't in US legally, crack down on sex workers (something both parties agree on), make a registry of people who are trans, etc.