My wife (far more left-leaning than I am) ahbors the current drift toward a cashless society. The stores in town vanish due to online competition, and any government run by a group with a control freak attitude (AfD-type facists or DDR-type socialists, it doesn't matter: control freaks are control freaks) LOVES the concept of a cashless society. They then have access to every last thing you eat, sleep in, drive in, every place you travel to--when and for how long--, what you eat, what entertains you, and what brand of toothpaste you use. She uses credit cards even less than I do, and I try to pay cash with every purchase where I have the seller in front of me, and the transaction doesn't require me to haul around a wad of cash that sticks out of my pocket.
Our pretty little old medieval town outside Düsseldorf used to have way more little small biz type shops lending a colorful old-work aspect to the town. Now, creeping disappearance of the old-style shops is giving way to rows of national chain shoe stores, mobile phone shops and discount travel agencies. Every town in the whole of Germany now has these places! They are worse than McDonald's. It's a depressing process to watch.
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