Yesterday, our partner The New York Times reported that the United States Treasury Department is printing far less cash than it had been in recent years. Production of dollar bills fell to a modern low last year, the number of $5 bills rolling off the presses dropped to its lowest level in 30 years, and the Treasury did not print any $10 bills at all. As the number of places that don’t accept cash at all increases – Internet retail sites, in-flight purchases on airlines, and certain New York restaurants fall into that category – it would seem that cash is in decline. With no quantifiable data to support this, however, we can only speculate. Do you find yourself using cash less and less, and opting for credit instead? David Wolman, author of the forthcoming book “The End of Money: Counterfeiters, Preachers, Techies, Dreamers–and the Coming Cashless Society,” speaks with us about whether or not cash is dying out in the U.S.
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