The Attack on Physical Money: ECB Votes to Remove €500 Note from Circulation - Nathan McDonald

February 17, 2016

It's something that I have discussed at great length in the past because it is something that is feared and should be resisted. Although horribly flawed, our current fiat money system is still much better than the system the financial elite are dead set on heading the global economy towards.

The discussion that I am alluding to, and now returning to, is the war on physical money. One of the great banes of the financial elite is money that people can take out of the system to hide, store, or save – it matters not to them. They hate it, as it diminishes the power that they have over what they consider to be their cash cows: you and I.

Through the banking system they have the ability to monitor our spending and habits, and ensure that no one is avoiding their taxes. It also gives them the ability to outright steal our money in a time of future crisis, such as that which unfolded in Cyprus.

You can say that this will never happen here, but you would be dead wrong. Already, numerous regulations have been put in place in Canada and other established, well respected countries that would grant Central banksters and politicians the ability to repeat the crimes committed in Cyprus. This has been covered at length on the Sprott Money blog, as many of our long term readers are well aware of.

Now, a renewed attack on physical, tangible cash has begun. The European Central Bank (ECB) is strongly pondering the idea of removing the EU500 note, the second highest banknote in circulation throughout the ECB.

Many will quickly dismiss this idea and say that it is irrelevant – but is it? The EU500 note, which is currently still in circulation, accounts for roughly €306.8 billion. Removing this note from the circulation would diminish physical currency to €700 billion – a 30% drop!

Think about this for a moment: this is 30% less money that citizens are able to hide in a crisis, 30% more that will be in electronic form in the highly regulated and controlled banking system. It’s a significant increase/decrease to say the least, and something that should be ringing alarm bells for libertarians around the world.

Yet, this is only the beginning and you better believe it. To think that this is where the bureaucrats in Brussels wish to stop is beyond foolish. This is only the beginning: the next step will be the €100 and then the €50 notes, then the entire cash system.

The end game is all about control and that is the one thing that politicians and the banksters crave most. Even above profits.