While I think cash is important, and I think many of the threats posed by digital payments infrastructure to low income individuals are real, I believe that the fears of surveillance capitalism are exaggerated. Google hasn't been able to convincingly provide targeted ads that reflect my obvious demographic and interest profile, data they definitely have available, for years. Amazon is incredibly crude at this as well, and Alexa obviously can't recognize our consumer habits at all. Square never informs any advertising I am inflicted with, otherwise I would be inundated with hoagie ads. People love fear, but I think it would be better to focus on reality rather than speculation. I hear you about the cost of cash -- it is clearly very high -- so high that some major banks are simply closing large numbers of branches, and, more to the point, many ATM locations. This is happening even in dense urban areas. It is increasingly difficult for me to obtain cash, particularly without paying a bank fee for the "privilege". We can't simply wish that cost away without some government intervention -- and good luck with that in many countries.
