Things To Come...........

Partially true but that is fading fast.As other places like China grow and grow, their monitary system will also have to be modified to deal more with the rest of the World. US money will also have to fade. Note how already much of Europe has changed to one type of monitary system. Only the start. Eventually they too will have to change again to a more Universal system and the electronic method is for now the best solution. Computers could and will very quickly tell you how much something cost in China, Russia, Bulgeria, Africa, India and even Tennessee.
It appears a long way off but start looking around. You'll see less and less reasons to use coins or currency. And in many smaller countries it will take longer but is necessary if communications are to continue.
Not to distant a future you'll hear some kid say
"Hey Granpa, what was that stuff you people used to carry called cash? What was it for?"

Refused to take hundreds? where?

This is the governments way of tracking where every dollar goes. I for one am completely against moving away from "real money" (ok real money was killed in 1964). It takes away any anonymity coin and paper money once provided. Wanna go buy that "toy" for the wife? Get out your card so the government knows you bought it, when, and if you have the funds to cover it. If not how did you get them money? Put you on a list. Think I am wrong? The constitution explicitly stated that our currency was to be GOLD AND SILVER ONLY. No paper because the founding fathers knew that paper money was fake money and would allow the government to usurp power by false inflation by printing money it cant sustain. Plain and simple, this is another power grab by greedy politicians and the Federal Reserve.

I dunno, we talked about this at work today and although most places could go cashless the guys seemed to think that there would be a big problem at strip bars. They're just gonna have to make at least dollar bills no matter what (it was also pointed out that the strip bars could be behind the failure of dollar coins to catch on. Think about it.)

Where would we swipe a debit/credit card?

I'm trying to picture a stripper with one of those credit card processors hanging from ..........?


Your kidding of course. In Illinois people that picket anything could end up in jail for life. Imagine picking to put our govenors in jail.
And this was no joke. If you are in Illinois and fail to use the prepaid IPASS lanes, you have to pay double in cash.

I never park where there are parking meters but someone was telling me those too are going to be credit card friendly soon.
Not sure but I think gum ball machines will be with coins for a long time or people will have to get a credit card for 5 yo 10 year olds.

Should I start collecting old credit cards?

A few years ago when I was over in Romania working on a project there were many money changers who would not take 100's I would have to go to different ones to exchange my money.

thai-vic,

While I agree that there is an Euro- and Ameri-centric viewpoint dominating here - the fact is that functionally, we are already a cashless society. Something like 99.9% of all money moved is done electronically in some form or fashion. I haven't had to carry cash in years. In fact, I haven't had to carry a checkbook in years now either.

As for who will "take care of the vast majority of the peoples of the world" - as always, they will take care of themselves. The movers and shakers of the world could really care less about the people who do not have cash. Harsh, but true.

RFID chips are so cheap that Wal-mart is putting them in all the clothes they sell. These are the same type of chips currently placed in pets. It is not a stretch to imagine people having these chips implanted (in fact, some people already do as proof-of-concept). This will probably start with some aspect of health care, i.e., "have your history with you at all times so the doctors don't give you something you're allergic to" or "have peace of mind knowing your elderly parent will be taken care of". From that, it's just a short step to having all financial data on the chip as well. Reminds me of the Mark of the Beast, but let's not go there.

As for how the rest of the world gets by? Just like they have always done - barter.