We’ve all read and heard a lot lately about the “war on cash.” Harvard Professor Kenneth Rogoff even wrote an entire book on the subject calledThe Curse of Cash. Of course, Rogoff is on the side of those who want to eliminate cash. Then, savers can be herded into digital cattle pens at mega-banks and slaughtered with negative interest rates, fees, confiscations, asset freezes, and bail-ins when things get rough. Europe recently eliminated the 500 euro note and Australia began a legislative process to eliminate its $100 note. The most notorious cases were in Venezuela and India where the government simply declared the largest and most widely used denominations to be illegal overnight. In Venezuela, it was the 100 bolivar note, and in India it was the 500 and 1,000 rupee notes. The result was chaos, long lines at banks, collapsing commerce, and some looting. Now, see an article below on Pakistan is adding its name to the list with a proposal to eliminate its own 5,000 rupee note. Governments justify these actions by claiming to fight “terrorists” and “tax evasion.” The truth is they want to convert all commerce and money to digital form so honest citizens can more easily be kept under surveillance, and so that accounts can be frozen in the next financial panic, and hit with negative interest rates in the meantime. For now, the only alternatives are non-digital assets such as gold, silver, land, and fine art. – Rickards

Pakistan Senate proposes scrapping 5,000 rupee note

BBC News – Pakistan’s Senate has recommended scrapping the country’s 5,000 rupee ($48; £38.50) banknote, despite government opposition.  A resolution, which is not binding, has called for the government to remove the notes to “reduce illicit money flow”.  Two months ago, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised the country by scrapping 1,000 rupee and 500 rupee notes overnight,  The move led to acute currency shortages in India.