Are Germans About to Be Made to Pay for Their Love of Cash?
by Don Quijones
WolfStreet.com
Mar 12, 2017
The ECB would do so at its own peril.
Germany loves physical money. According to a Bundesbank study, approximately 80% of payments in Germany are made in cash. Even among millennials, two-thirds say they prefer paying in cash to electronic means, a much higher level than in almost any other advanced economy with the exception of Japan.
This is a big problem for a European establishment that is desperate to consign physical money to the scrap heap. Some countries, including France and Spain, have already set maximum cash limits of €1,000. Greece has dropped its cap for cash transactions from €1,500 to €500.
In January the European Commission telegraphed its intention to implement a mandatory continent-wide limit by 2018, even if it violates the “non-fundamental” rights of over 500 million EU citizens to privacy, anonymity, and personal freedom. The Commission’s plans are likely to meet strong resistance from certain quarters, in particular Germans.
When the Merkel government merely suggested last year that it was considering banning cash payments above €5,000, it triggered a fierce public backlash. The country’s biggest tabloid, Bild, published a scathing open letter titled “Hands Off Our Cash,” while a broad spectrum of political parties condemned the proposed measures as an attack on data protection and privacy.
Even the head of the Bunderbank, Jens Weidmann, criticized the government’s proposals, telling Bild (emphasis added): “It would be fatal if citizens got the impression that cash is being gradually taken away from them.”
Most central bankers do not share Weidmann’s misgivings. On the contrary, most central banks and the big banks whose interests they largely represent are one of three elite groups that are currently waging an existential war against physical money — the other two being the electronic payments industry and government itself.
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