The government is already tracking all transactions over $10,000 for IRS Cheating purposes.

I get the free pre-approved card because they have a ton of data on me to show that I'm a good credit risk. People who are unknown to the credit system (like terrorists) don't get these kinds of offers.

BTW, the preapproved card offer situation may change soon because of the easy potential to steal someone else's offer and identity. Just sign the offer with the person's name and change the address. My mother is actually considering joining a class action suit to prevent the sending of pre-approved credit offers because of the risk of their identity being stolen simply by someone looking in your mailbox.

Some rental car agencies already don't accept cash. Actually, they will take the cash, but you still must provide a valid credit card and driver's license to rent the car. I know Hertz and Avis won't rent without a credit card because about 4 years ago, we took a trip to Colorado and forgot to take our credit card. We got to DIA and found that we had to use all of our traveller's checks AND rent from Alamo. Then we did have our debit card, so we just drew down our checking account to take our vacation, then took an advance on our credit card when we got home to cover our bills.

I realize that many people want to make their transactions "anonymous" but that just isn't possible anymore. Terrorism will drive us to an entirely electronic banking system within 5 years. Count my words.