Has anyone seen the latest Visa comercial? It shows a cafeteria or deli at lunchtime. Every operation has been perfectly choreographed so everyone gets what they want without even thinking about it. It is a text book illustration of our instant gratification society.

Everything is humming along in perfect harmony, people are sliding their Visa card, moving through the line at peak efficiency until some poor soul whips out cash. Then everything comes to a screaching halt because this guy wants to use cash. People crash into each other, food flies into messy piles. Everyone in the store looks at this guy with disgust for daring to use cash. Once he is given his change everything speeds up again to the happy Visa ending.

For at least the past ten ten years, I have been jokingly asking cashiers if they still accept cash just to be silly and break the tension after waiting in line behind check writers without ID and others using various forms of plastic with great difficulty because of their inability to figure out the card readers.

I guess it has gone from a silly question to a serious one. Is cash coming to an end? There are now some places of employment that require you to take your pay in the form of direct deposit,no more checks. I know for fact that the Great State of Ohio now only pays by direct deposit or will load up a Visa debit card to pay you, anything from wages to unemployment benefits.

Do y'all remember on 9/11 trying to use plastic to buy gas or groceries? You couldn't because the servers in the towers were destroyed. How about during the last east coast power outage? How about the poor people in N.O. after Katrina when their banks were destroyed? Everyone in Calif is told to keep X amount of cash on hand incase of the big one.

The can is open. Conspiracy, coincidence, or whatever. Without cash, the ability to remain anonomys is greatly impaired. Is this another attempt or effort to take away another freedom?

I see this as a blatant attempt to stigmatize the use of cash. Am I paranoid and should I trust in the fact that cash is becomming passe? Or am I on to something?
Let's hear about it!!!