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Electronic Funds Transfer
converting the global economy into a true
cashless society
endtimestruth.com
At the
same time that the plastic money revolution was taking place, the rise of
electronics technology provided the way to take full advantage of the card
concept.
When
credit cards were first introduced, all accounting operations had to be done by
hand.
As
their use expanded throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s, it became apparent that
manual paper shuffling would never be efficient enough to handle the sheer
volume of transactions and information.
Just in
time, computer technology came to the rescue. Banks and lending
institutions became some of the first industries to computerize their
operations and realize huge benefits.
Since
they typically had to handle the recording of millions if not billions of
dollars in transactions every day, the microprocessor became the only option
for success.
By the
decade of the 1980s, Visa alone had developed a network of more than 13,000
participating banks.
Keeping
track of every cardholder and transaction would have been impossible without
computers.
So
efficient had their organization become that not much more than three hundred
people were needed to run Visa’s entire operation (The
Money Lenders, Anthony Sampson, p. 244).
At that
time, the only non-automated link in the whole network was in the extensive
mailing of bills to all the customers who happened to use their cards during
the previous month.
However,
as Sampson pointed out, this weak link was not being overlooked:
“The bankers still yearned for more automation, and they saw
their credit cards as only one stage in the development of Electronic Funds
Transfer (EFT), which could bypass people altogether with the help of an ATM
(automatic teller machine), an OLTT (on-line teller terminal), and a POS
(point-of-sale terminal).
“Their ambition was to build a system which would allow a
customer to make his purchase through a point-of-sale terminal in a shop which
would instantly debit his account in New York, or reject him if he had no money
or credit. It was a thrilling prospect.
“There were political complaints of course about Big Brother;
but President Ford appointed a national commission on Electronic Funds Transfer
which reported in 1977 that the system would benefit consumers by stimulating
competition, providing more outlets, and reducing costs, and which was
confident that there could be effective safeguards to prevent snooping” (Money
Lenders, Sampson, p. 247).
The
extensive computer network that is being developed will not only satisfy the
needs of an expanding credit and debit card system, but will soon allow the
complete elimination of all paper money and coins and convert the global
economy into a true cashless society.
The
slow transition from pure cash transactions to checks and finally to credit and
debit cards has only served to condition us for the coming
transformation.
The
globalist think-tank, the Club of Rome, has said,
“… the changes in the nature of society to be envisaged are
radical and will permit no mere return to ‘normality'” (Microelectronics
and Society, p. 25).
Never
has the world been in such a good position to allow the Antichrist’s system to
arise.
Governments
and corporations are feverishly preparing the necessary electronic networks and
financial systems to handle an electronic economy of cashless buying and
selling along with the very Mark of the Beast itself.
All
this is being done by the “partly strong and partly broken” (Daniel 2:42) world
empire (The Beast) that will soon spawn the Antichrist and his new economic
system.
One may
wonder why the banking industry would want to make these changes seeing that
the economy runs just fine using the present system.
In some
ways it’s almost as if people everywhere are treading down the path toward the
Empire of the Beast with blinders on their eyes.
Very
few in the world of finance know of the prophecies within the Bible and fewer
still would care even if they did know.
Nevertheless,
the world presses forward to the realization of the Antichrist’s system just as
if they were planning for it all along.
The
fact is, so much time and money has been invested in the movement toward the
ultimate electronic goal that there’s now no possibility of turning back.
From
Microelectronics and Society:
“It must be stressed that the potential benefits which will flow
from this new technology are so enormous that there will be no question of
avoiding or slowing down their actualization” (p.
25).
In some
ways, the changes that have already been made are like fuel for the fire.
Literally
billions of dollars have been spent to fund the development of the current
electronic systems.
Banks,
government agencies, and businesses around the world have committed themselves
to supporting the ever-expanding electronic financial networks.
They
couldn’t stop now even if they wanted to — far too much money has been invested
to turn back. The very real prospect of making further gains in efficiency
and profitability serves to drive the whole system forward.
The
first way to realize this increase in efficiency was through the development of
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).
The
U.S. Department of the Treasury openly advocates this technology and publicizes
that EFT payments are secure and cost effective:
“EFT is safe, secure, efficient, and less expensive than paper
check payments and collections. While it costs the U.S. government $1.03 to
issue each check payment, it costs only 10.5 cents to issue an EFT payment” (http://www.fms.treas.gov/eft/index.html).
In an
age of computer technology, it was only a matter of time before the processing
capabilities of microprocessors would be linked together through electronic
networks to provide instantaneous transfer of data and funds.
This
EFT network was being built even before the advent of the Web or the newer
wireless communication networks.
Just as
its name implies, EFT is simply the exchange of money through the medium of
electronic bits of information.
Instead
of writing a check or having an armored car transport cash to pay a bill, it
became possible to have a computer simply debit one account and credit
another.
All the
while nothing of actual value is exchanged — at least not in the sense of
physical transfers of currency or objects having worth.
There
is no transfer of paper dollars, Euros, or Yen (or any other paper money), no
gold bullion changing hands, nothing tangible — only electronic records kept on
hard drives within unseen computer servers.
This is
an incredible transformation that has totally altered the way business has been
done for thousands of years; however, most people only realized it was
happening through the way their own personal buying and selling changed over
the years.
The
invention and use of EFT grew side by side with the advances in computer
technology.
By the
mid-1980s, this new system of electronic commerce was being touted and pushed
by the media.
For
instance, one article published in many newspapers stated,
“… with electronic fund transfers, customers can arrange for
direct deposit of Social Security checks, Veterans Administration checks,
payroll and pension checks, and virtually any other recurring
payment. Without ever writing a check or licking a stamp they can make
their mortgage or auto loan payment, pay their YMCA dues and insurance premiums
and virtually any regular, recurring obligation” (Associated
Press, 1984).
What
was needed to make EFT a universal standard and transform the operation of
financial transactions throughout the world was to link all banking
institutions, governments, corporations, and ultimately individuals together
into a huge electronic network.
Not
surprisingly, this network has been developed over the same time frame as all
of the other developments related to the prophecies of Christ’s Return.
End
Times Truth
is about warning people that the Coming of Christ is near and that we are
living in the last days just before His Return. During our lifetime, Bible
predictions concerning the Second Coming have been fulfilled exactly as they
were described thousands of years ago. Jesus said that we could know that
his coming was near if we watched world events and compared them to what was
predicted. As the prophecies come true before our eyes, we know that we
are getting closer to the end. While it is true that the world is heading
toward a judgment day, individuals can escape through knowledge of the truth
combined with repentance and faith in Christ (see Escape to Safety).
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