The author's argument is most vulnerable to which objection?
As cash use declines, some argue that societies should embrace a fully digital economy: payments are faster, crime is easier to trace, and shops save the cost of handling coins. These benefits are real, but the case for abolishing cash is weaker than it appears. Cash is the one form of money that works without electricity, a bank account or a network connection. It is used by people with no accounts, by those who find technology hard, and by everyone during a power cut or a system failure. A society that gives up cash gives up a fallback, and the cost of that loss is borne chiefly by the least advantaged. The argument is not for cash everywhere, but for making sure that it remains possible to use it.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. That cheap and reliable back-up systems for electronic payments might provide a fallback without the need for cash
- Step 1: The argument is that abolishing cash removes the only fallback.
- Step 2: If other reliable fallbacks existed, the claim that cash is needed as fallback would be weakened.
Answer
That cheap and reliable back-up systems for electronic payments might provide a fallback without the need for cash.
Why not the others: Use of cash, preference for cards, loss or theft and shops' dislike do not address the claim that a fallback is needed.
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