Those are very important questions, but most of the time both sides of the issue are not presented in a balanced way in the mainstream media. Instead, most mainstream news articles tend to trash cash and talk about how wonderful digital currency is.

So will we see a completely cashless society in the near future? Of course not. It would be wildly unpopular for the governments of the world to force such a system upon us all at once. Instead, the big banks and the governments of the industrialized world are doing all they can to get us to voluntarily transition to such a system. Once 98 or 99 percent of all transactions do not involve cash, eliminating the remaining 1 or 2 percent will only seem natural.

Most governments around the world are eager to transition to a cashless society as well for the following reasons....

-Cash is expensive to print, inspect, move, store and guard.

-Counterfeiting is always going to be a problem as long as paper currency exists.

-Cash if favored by criminals because it does not leave a paper trail. Eliminating cash would make it much more difficult for drug dealers, prostitutes and other criminals to do business.

-Most of all, a cashless society would give governments more control. Governments would be able to track virtually all transactions and would also be able to monitor tax compliance much more closely.

But is a cashless society really secure? Of course not. Bank accounts can be hacked into. Credit cards and debit cards can be stolen. Identity theft all over the world is absolutely soaring. So companies all over the planet are working feverishly to make all of these cashless systems much more secure. In the future, it is inevitable that national governments and big financial institutions will want to have all of us transition over to using biometric identity systems in order to combat crime in the financial system.Many of these biometric identity systems are becoming quite advanced.

For example, just check out what IBM has been developing. The following is from a recent IBM press release...

You will no longer need to create, track or remember multiple passwords for various log-ins. Imagine you will be able to walk up to an ATM machine to securely withdraw money by simply speaking your name or looking into a tiny sensor that can recognize the unique patterns in the retina of your eye. Or by doing the same, you can check your account balance on your mobile phone or tablet.

Each person has a unique biological identity and behind all that is data. Biometric data - facial definitions, retinal scans and voice files - will be composited through software to build your DNA unique online password.

Referred to as multi-factor biometrics, smarter systems will be able to use this information in real-time to make sure whenever someone is attempting to access your information, it matches your unique biometric profile and the attempt is authorized.

Are you ready for that? It is coming. In the future, if you do not surrender your biometric identity information, you may be locked out of the entire financial system.

A television show in late January on an independent network first revealed letters addressed last year to Pope Benedict XVI from the then-deputy governor of Vatican City, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.

Vigano complained of corruption within the church and protested orders to remove him from his post and send him to be the papal nuncio, or ambassador, to Washington. Under Vigano's watch, the Holy See balance sheet went from $10 million in the red to almost $45 million in the black in just 12 months. By being kicked upstairs, Vigano wrote, his efforts to clean up the Vatican would be stopped and would also tarnish the pontiff's image by bringing into question his resolve to establish transparency inside the Vatican.

The TV program later broadcast an interview with a man it said was a Vatican insider who had leaked some of the documents. The man, whose face and voice were disguised, said he was motivated by anger "because there is a complicity of silence in the Vatican to prevent the truth from coming out."

The Vatican Bank was enmeshed in scandals 30 years ago involving allegations of money-laundering and mafia connections. Today, it wants to join the list of countries that share financial information. That would help rid the Holy See of its reputation for shady transactions and as a tax haven. The U.S. State Department has put the Vatican on a list of countries of concern for money laundering or other financial crimes.

Italian authorities are investigating the origin of $33 million in Vatican funds deposited in Italian banks. The Italian media have reported that JP Morgan Chase is closing the Vatican Bank's account with its Milan branch because it felt the Holy See had failed to provide sufficient data on money transfers.

Last year, under orders from the pope, the Vatican passed internal legislation to bring it in line with international standards to prevent money laundering. But one of the leaked documents claims the Vatican Bank is sidestepping full compliance with international regulations concerning past transactions. The Vatican has never denied the authenticity of the various leaked documents.