Cash to become extinct as chips take off

By Anthony Keane

The Advertiser

June 15, 2009 06:00am

Extinct? ... bank bosses have predicted the decline of cash as transactions are done through microchips / File

CASH is accelerating down the path to extinction as new technologies threaten to mark the end of loose change within a decade.

Bank and credit union bosses say cash won't be alone, with wallets and credit cards also likely to disappear too.

They told The Advertiser's round table forum that cash and cards will be replaced by computer chips embedded in mobile phones, watches or other portable devices.

Australian Central chief executive Peter Evers believes cash will be replaced for most transactions in five-to-seven years.

"Cash will disappear as there will be other forms of carrying cash, stored value in your phone or whatever it might be. It will transfer automatically," he said.

"We're very close in countries around the world. If you go in to Hong Kong or Singapore, the low-value transactions have already disappeared. You can't go anywhere, like on public transport, without pre-purchasing a card.

"I think the Australian Payment Systems Board is very much on top of it and is trying to move down a path, but hasn't publicly put things into place yet."

BankSA general manager strategy and operations Chris Ward expects Australia to follow the offshore lead, with small cash transactions disappearing first.

"So you can't go and buy a bottle of water from the deli with cash; you've got to go and buy it with your chip," he said.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank state manager SA/NT John Oliver said it was easier for retailers to use electronic transactions than manual cash transactions.

Savings & Loans chief executive Greg Connor said the concept of the wallet would go.

"Whereas now we have a wallet and purse, it will be a chip in your phone or your watch or something like that as your access," he said.

Mr Evers said credit cards were on the way out as well.

"The access to credit is still going to be there through the mobile phone, but you don't need the card because that's really only a means of identification," he said.

"There could be another way of identifying, but the product, revolving credit, will still sit there."

Pope visit to Padre Pio' Tomb

Rome, Italy, Jun 19, 2009 / 12:21 pm (CNA).- On the eve of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the tomb of Padre Pio, Brother Francesco Dileo, Rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace, where the Pope will celebrate Mass this Sunday, said his visit will encourage the faithful to imitate the saint from Pietrelcina and thus follow Christ with more devotion.

In an interview with L’Osservatore Romano, the rector noted how “Padre Pio once said, ‘I will make more noise dead than alive.’ And in fact, the number of pilgrims is much higher compared to the end of 1968,” with some seven million visiting the shrine annually.

Speaking about the number of faithful who come to San Giovanni Rotondo to pray to the saint for a miracle, Brother Dileo said he receives an enormous amount of letters from people praying for Padre Pio’s intercession. The letters are directly addressed to Padre Pio, “as if he were still alive, to ask for some physical or spiritual healing,” the brother said.

“I am firmly convinced that the grace of God that touches the hearts of men and makes the faith blossom and be reborn continues to work in this place, even after the death of Padre Pio,” he said. “I think it is difficult to encounter the life of this saint without sensing a desire to renounce sin and change one’s conduct.”

Referring to Pope Benedict XVI’s visit this coming Sunday, Brother Dileo said, “The picture of Benedict XVI in prayer in front of the remains of our beloved brother saint will certainly be more eloquent than many words.”

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Voice of the Catholic Lay Faithful

Attempted Poisoning, Splattered With Abortion Blood, Dog Head Thrown Into Church; Fr. Tom Euteneuer Recounts Violent Acts of Pro-Abortion Radicals By Frank Walker Pewsitter.com Fr. Tom Euteneuer, President of Human Life International (HLI) June 19, 2009 - Pro-life leaders world-wide, having chosen to stand effectively against a violent and powerful industry, become targets for hostility. This week I asked Fr. Tom Euteneuer, of Human Life International, to describe what he and his organization have encountered. Question: As an outspoken visible pro-life advocate, you work against the goals of pro-abortion politics and the abortion industry. In what ways have you been threatened, either written or verbally, with physical harm? Fr. Euteneuer: In the days when I was more actively doing sidewalk counseling, I was threatened with death twice by abortion clinic workers, threatened with physical harm numerous times by boyfriends and others who accompanied women to the clinic and several times I was assaulted by people in vehicles trying to run me over. The verbal harassment is too numerous and gross to recount, especially when directed against a man of the cloth. Question: What forms of harassment have you encountered in your work and travels, and which groups or organizations seem to be sources of intimidation? Fr. Euteneuer: There has been less harassment in my work with HLI given that I remain mostly in pro-life circles and focus on training and motivating. The anti-lifers are usually in their comfortable air-conditioned offices plotting the destruction of more children and do not harass us too much both because they are cowards and because they don’t need to have direct contact with us. Several members of our international network who have direct contact with the abortion lobby in their countries do encounter problems however: In Kenya an abortionist tried to poison our director; in Mexico, the HLI director found a knife covered with red blood-like liquid stuck in his couch with a message to stay out of abortion; in Austria the anti-lifers have sued our affiliate (without success) and the city government of Vienna created special laws against them; in the Philippines there are attacks against the character of our pro-life people and one parliamentarian called for the deportation of HLI’s Dr. Brian Clowes when he did a speaking tour there; in Ecuador our affiliate leader was threatened with death, satanic graffiti was put on the door of a church against us, the severed head of a dog was thrown into a church with a desecrated Sacred Host in its mouth. Question: What specific security steps must you take in order to protect yourself from these attacks? Fr. Euteneuer: Prayer. Question: In addition, have you learned of threats or violence to people close to you or in your family? Fr. Euteneuer: There has only been intimidation of family members like my father who stands in front of the local Planned Parenthood. It is regular fare: he has insults hurled at him and bottles thrown from cars. Question: How have these instances of intimidation and violence changed over the years? Fr. Euteneuer: The violence and intimidation seems to change as political fortunes change: it tends to go from personal to institutional. For example, during the Clinton years the FACE Act was passed to shut down Operation Rescue-type protests; we can expect the same and worse in the Obama Administration. The physical assaults and intimidations will likely get worse also as the forces of death are emboldened by radical laws and policies. Question: Have threats, intimidation or violent harassment ever come in an open or official capacity? Fr. Euteneuer: HLI was denied official status at the UN in the late ‘90s due to its strong stance on the life issues. The only other example that I can think of in my case is when the Minister of Health in Zimbabwe officially vetoed my talk to a nursing school in Harare. The incident of Dr. Brian Clowes in the Philippines mentioned above is another example. Other than open criticism in the media, we are more of a grass-roots training and educational organization and under the radar screen of most governments. Question: Finally, has there been an increase in irrational behavior including threats and violence? Fr. Euteneuer: The behaviors have always been irrational, but the new element seems to be an occult element that I believe we will see more in the future. “Death-scorts” seem to be more prone to curse and "pray" against pro-lifers probably due to so many of them being involved in New Age and witchcraft. Some of it is overt and some not. The abortion clinic owner in Rockford, IL periodically comes out of his place dressed in a devil outfit, for example. He also puts blasphemous images of Jesus and religion in the window of the clinic. One abortionist in FL some years ago shook blood from his abortion instruments on the pro-lifers after a morning of killing. We will see much more of this in time.