Shades of the old inflation/deflation debate. Zerohedge points out the vast imbalance between credit money and cash.
1) The total currency (actual cash in the form of bills and coins) in the US financial system is a little over $1.36 trillion
2) When you include digital money sitting in short-term accounts and long-term accounts then you’re talking about roughly $10 trillion in “money” in the financial system.
3) In contrast, the money in the US stock market (equity shares in publicly traded companies) is over $20 trillion in size.
4) The US bond market (money that has been lent to corporations, municipal Governments, State Governments, and the Federal Government) is almost twice this at $38 trillion
5) Total Credit Market Instruments (mortgages, collateralized debt obligations, junk bonds, commercial paper and other digitally-based “money” that is based on debt) is even larger $58.7 trillion.
6) Unregulated over the counter derivatives traded between the big banks and corporations is north of $220 trillion
When looking over these data points, the first thing that jumps out at the viewer is that the vast bulk of “money” in the system is in the form of digital loans or credit (non-physical debt).
Put another way, actual physical money or cash (as in bills or coins you can hold in your hand) comprises less than 1% of the “money” in the financial system.
The simple facts tend to make the whole “war on cash” concept look absolutely absurd, as well as entirely obvious that it is about political control, not economic growth. The reason the central banks want to ban cash is because the credit money system is on the verge of collapse and they see it as a straw that could nevertheless cause the whole damn thing to collapse.
Which, of course, it is going to do anyhow. The map is not the territory and it will never be the territory.