A free essay, as at http://www.yoga6d.org/procash
{feel free to redistribute when whole and unchanged}


PRO CASH: ELEMENTS OF TRUE LUXURY IN A 21ST-CENTURY SHOP
Suppose you are an aware, intelligent, and possibly rich
citizen. What would you naturally demand of the stores
you buy your things in, in addition to cleanliness etc?
Would you not expect privacy of various kinds?
--With added notes on the value of cash for all sorts
of businesses and markets

By Aristo Tacoma {a yoga6d.org/economy.htm essay}

Mr Georg Apenes has, for decades, been a national
celebrity in Norway. And he is respected internationally
for his concise (but also often witty) commentaries on the
the right of every citizen to have privacy protection. Mr
Apenes is a pioneer in thinking about the right to privacy
of citizens in a good state, and was, for decades, head of
the Norwegian State's "Datatilsynet". His particular role
was more or less "ombudsman for data / information 
technology" if not "ombudsman for privacy". Datatilsynet
wasn't quite a ministry, but it had and has a certain
regulative power, to some extent, and if it had been a
ministry, it could have been named, "The Ministry of
Privacy". One of his oft-repeated themes is this: a
person doesn't have to be a criminal even though he or
she doesn't want the state to know everything about him
or her.
  Ian Fleming, writing about the fictitious American
millionaire du Pont in his Goldfinger, mentions that
when du Pont gives the waitress a tip (out of his roll
of dollar bills), he turns around, hiding the act from
others, considering it "indecent exposure" to show how
much he tips--similar to many other rich people.
  Look into the habits of affluent people, and, as a rule
of thumb, you find all sorts of little rules of privacy
like that. Why? Is it but pleasure? But convenience? Just
a form of eccentricity?
  No, privacy is part of what makes life fun. A model may
put on a bikini on a naturist FKK beach, or she may not.
That's part of the freedom to choose, the fun of being
free to take decisions. We do not want every beach to be
tyranically ruled so that bathing suits aren't allowed.
Nor do we want to make societies where, tyranically,
privacy isn't allowed. Privacy is an integral part of
life, and the total removal of it is associated with the
most ruthless, grotesque forms of prisons imaginable.
Absolute lack of privacy is torture.
  When I mention the classic James Bond novels by Mr
Fleming, I do so very conscious of the fact that Bond is
nothing less than a man whose profession it is to impose
himself and his skills of observations on some other
people, typically master gangsters, who do not want such
invasion of privacy because, of course, their income and
their ego depends on the cover-up of their severely bad
actions. Unless we're against all forms of state as a
matter of principle, and against all forms of police as
well, it is hard to be entirely against the layout of
the Secret Service in Fleming's novels. We approve of
Bond doing an action of good in precision-use of the
notion of spying, just as the world doesn't approve of
massive swooping-up of the world of data as created by
all citizens using computers for legal purposes, whether
for purposes of advertisement or for purposes of storage
in the cellars of secret services 'just in case'.
  Privacy is something holy, and natural: and it is to be
broken down only in situations of vital need. Vital need
shouldn't be determined by hysterical people who declare
that everyone is potentially a criminal against the state
or anything like that. Vital need should be a case-by-case
decision, by people who take privacy seriously as a matter
of principle and, if you like to use that expression, as
a matter of 'human right'.
  In the 21st century, with the quantity of computers
exceeding the quantity of people, and many actions related
to existence from one day to the next associated with
using computers directly or indirectly, the world is
having to think, and think fast, about whether privacy
must be saved or not. For if the old, pre-computer laws
are in place, the nerds will wash away all privacy before
we know it, as a matter of laziness and carelessness,
backed up by the greed of those who make money by means of
mining private data as if it were a kind of gold.
  So we need new laws.
  Meanwhile, we must also think about what it takes to get
economies going. Part of any society is that it has luxury
stores. It is part of the philosophy of luxury stores that
they appeal to wealthy people. And stores with more
generally affordable wares often take their cues from the
luxury stores; and this, in turn, affect people in general
and also politicians who shape laws. So it appears to me
a valid point to expand what I think is the taste of rich
people, and submit this as advice to those who design and
run luxury stores from day to day. The following list is
the result of a good deal of contemplation, meditation,
and sifting through of my own experience in dealing also
with several relatively rich people over some time.
  * In a luxury shop, one can buy wares without having
to tell one's account number, to show any credit card,
to leave one's phone number, or any such thing
  * In a luxury shop, there is not even a hint of
raised eyebrow if an expensive article is paid for
by cash
  * And if the cash is in any of the world's
largest currencies, that is also accepted without
the slightest problem, and with little or no
currency transaction fees
  * One automatically gets a receipt without asking
for it
  * In a luxury shop, the staff doesn't have mobile
phones or such devices lying about; on the contrary,
the luxury shop may well be a mobile and wearable
computer free area, even to the extent it is
shielded from the wireless-polluted and wireless-
infiltrated (and invasive) areas around it by lead
in the wall
  * In a luxury shop, there aren't video cameras on the
wall. It is instead a well-staffed shop, and whatever it
has of protection is human-based, not technology-based,
and implemented with discretion and elegance
  * In a luxury shop, the articles sold are supposed to
have an element of quality in them, and they are hope-
fully made with a sense of pride in the work; these
articles are supposed, when such as shoes or electronic
articles are concerned, to persist far longer than their 
cheaper imitations, and to have no element of tracking 
electronics inbuilt into the wares (this excludes all cars 
made by companies that treats privacy in a cavalier fashion)
  * A luxury shop can have a personal relationship to
a wealthy customer, but this is because that customer is
herself or himself asking for it. It is then taken for
granted by the wealthy individual that this data isn't
shared even amongst the staff of the shop but is treated
more or less like a state secret; the wealthy individual
may then gradually reward the shop with the right to even
contact the person at home in order to provide relevant
information about new wares that have just have arrived,
--"and shall we set aside such and such for you?"
  * A luxury shop sells only things they fully understand.
They will, without cost, replace any sold item not being
of superior quality, far beyond what laws and regulations
require, and they will learn from each such incident and
improve, as (what P Senge and others call) a learning
organisation.
  * A luxury shop is owned by the boss of the shop; there
is no such division between those in head of the shop or
shops and those who own the company having the shops,
that can lead to the shop or shop series suddenly being
in the hands of entirely different people. This is part
of what makes it possible for rich individuals to trust
the shop.

ADDED NOTES about the value of cash for all sorts of
businesses and markets.
  Cash, as I first understood during my prolonged stay
in Manhattan, New York, can have a glamour factor all
on its own. There's something about the greenish paper,
touched by many, enabling one to get doors opened and
to order waitresses about, that liberates, and gives
energy. Think of it: in the past, all that mattered--or
so history from many parts of Earth will want it--was
that one came from the "right" families and was adopted
into the "right" circle of friends. Sure, if you had
a large quantity of goods you could buy certain times,
but it did seem like there was plenty of things money
couldn't buy.
  Take now a society founded on the concept of cash
flow; a society in which cash, the printed legal tender
bills, as dollar bills or something else, look good; they
feel good; they have a nice sound to them, when handled;
they have meaningful symbols, a bit mysterious, not too
plain; the numbers make sense, they are not inflated into
meaningless super-high numbers; and people don't look
for other means of identification of you when you have
them, generally speaking. The money does the talking.
Of course, this is a tendency that can take somewhat of a
wrong turn, for obviously, having money can be a substitute
for doing right things and attending to right and meaning-
ful priorities, values and qualities. But when that is
understood, should we not then remind ourselves of the
beauty of money?
  For how good, how--indeed, to invoke a religoius term--how
blessed is money? Think of the thousands of small and
medium-sized business enterprises, how they cater to the
thousands and thousands on people walking by on the street
--what would happen if the money got sterilized, became
merely digital numbers on a boring plastic card?
  Money is a token of social energy. It is a ticket, in
many cases, to health and to put our spiritual energies 
and capacities to be humane to good use, and make physical
the forms we have in our mind, and create situations of
harmonious collaboration around them. 
  The very sparkles of market economy DEPEND on cash, on
good-looking cash, and the dollar bills tell us something:
that money must be printed and must be works of art, as
well-made and as peculiar and rich and sophisticated as
the minds of people themselves. Whatever supplements we
have as computers and banks and bank money and the very
interesting thing called currency trading, the foundation
of good economy is green paper money. And with the dollar,
the world found its greenback.