contents - Description: Description: Description: Description ...

contain a magnetic strip, bar code, photograph, signature, and an 18-digit identification number
that would look something like this:
666-110-202-123-45-6789
666- (International Code to Activate the World Computer)
110- (National Code to Activate Central U.S. Computer)
202- (Telephone Area Code)
123-45-6789 (Social Security Number)
The Cashless Society
In 1974, Gary Allen wrote in A Decade Left- Has Orwell’s 1984 Come Early?: “Federal
planners forsee the day when every citizen will have a money card instead of money to spend.
The cards will be placed in a machine at each point of purchase, and the charge would be
electronically subtracted from the customer’s Federal Reserve Account.” The November, 1975
issue of Progressive Grocer reported: “The day will come when one card will be good at any
terminal, in any state...” In the September 21, 1976 issue of the Daily Oklahoman, was an article
titled, “The Cashless Society Expected to Become Reality Soon,” which said: “The long-talked
about cashless society is almost here. Bank debit cards are expected to go into nationwide use
soon.” In the December 27, 1979 issue of Electronic Fund Transfer Report, there was an article
titled “Electronic Money” which revealed: “A sophisticated point of sale system is quietly
operated by the Chase Manhattan Bank in one of the banking industry’s best kept secrets. Chase
is now directly linked to hundreds of electronic cash registers or P.O.S. terminals in department
and specialty stores ... by offering this service to merchants on a nationwide basis, a network will
be created that will allow the Chase Manhattan Bank to have a national E.F.T. present.”
On May 29, 1980, during ABC-TV’s Good Morning America show, a Federal Reserve
official talked about the existence of a new Federal debit card: “A thin piece of plastic which is
to be inserted in automatic machines. One must then punch in his own secret code number ...
You are not to write your number down, tell it to anyone, or record it anywhere. It must be
memorized.” Giant Food, Inc. and the Safeway Stores were the first to install the Point-of-Sale
computerized Electronic Fund Transfer checkout machines in their supermarkets to take bank
debit cards. They were later joined by Mobil Oil who installed the system in all of its gas stations
throughout the country. Since then, debit cards have quickly assimilated themselves into all
aspects of the retail industry.
The plan was to combine the credit card and the debit card into a single multi-use card which
could be used to make deposits, pay bills, transfer money, make withdrawals, make purchases,
and borrow money. On March 3, 1979, the Knight News Service in Miami, Florida reported: “By
1980, many bankers predict, most shoppers will exchange the wallet full of credit cards they now
carry for a single, all-purpose card and number.” In the September 17, 1979 issue of the
Electronic Fund Transfer Report, in an article called “MasterCard,” it said:
“In a speech, John J. Reynolds, President of Interbank Card Association, said that ‘the
newly named MasterCard (formerly known as Master Charge) will be a full transaction
card, rather than just a credit card … In significant ways, Interbank now had brought its
EFT strategy in line with Visa’s. The debit card will bear the familiar red and ochre logo,