How to end al-Qaida and ISIS - An idea: Making all money a combination of hard cash and digital currency, where every transaction can be traceable (if possible?). When the money is transferred to a terror organization (they will at some time) they could be deleted by a central system and traced back to the donor.
Like many ideas in the "War on Terror", this idea also reduces freedom, in this case by making it possible for the government to trace everyone's financial transactions. For example, you would no longer be able to buy drugs, like pot, that the government considers illegal without the police knowing about it. (Even in states that have legalized pot, it's still in violation of Federal law.)
As Snowden's leaks have revealed, our government isn't so trustworthy that we should be making it easier for it to amass ever more information about our personal lives. All of that warrantless NSA mass-surveillance was also purportedly done to "protect us from terrorism".
Also, unless you can convince all countries in the world to adopt this traceable currency system, terrorists will always be able to launder money by setting up legal-looking front operations (e.g., fake charities or businesses) in countries that have freer money systems. And since this system makes it harder for politicians to accept bribes, I'm guessing that it would have a hard time getting enacted in any country.
Why would enough people participate in such a system?
In the absence of a usable currency, I think people would barter, until the point at which a good that is commonly used in bartering becomes a currency.
As Snowden's leaks have revealed, our government isn't so trustworthy that we should be making it easier for it to amass ever more information about our personal lives. All of that warrantless NSA mass-surveillance was also purportedly done to "protect us from terrorism".
Also, unless you can convince all countries in the world to adopt this traceable currency system, terrorists will always be able to launder money by setting up legal-looking front operations (e.g., fake charities or businesses) in countries that have freer money systems. And since this system makes it harder for politicians to accept bribes, I'm guessing that it would have a hard time getting enacted in any country.