Remember, opinion pieces in the NYT are not fact checked and the authors can be lying through their teeth, or should I say, expressing a heart-felt opinion.<p>&gt; But these are relatively minor burdens compared with the potential benefits of reducing criminal activity and tax evasion.<p>The same justification which complicates my life, as an overseas American, since I have a bank account and retirement savings in the country I live in, and which costs me several hundred dollars each year to get a US accountant to handle my taxes.<p>Obviously I want a more concrete justification than &quot;potential benefits.&quot;<p>&gt; There are now so many ways to pay for things, and eliminating big bills should create few problems.<p>What are the other options for the 10 million unbanked or underbanked American households?<p>Or those who travel overseas and don&#x27;t want to depend on the credit&#x2F;debit card working? For example, I was in Germany once and the ATM ate my card, because my bank back in Sweden had issued a fraud alert. I had to borrow money from my co-workers because I wasn&#x27;t going home for a couple of days and, silly me, hadn&#x27;t brought extra cash with me to change into Euros.<p>Of course, the NYT reported on problems with US credit cards when traveling overseas, eg, at <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;07&#x2F;03&#x2F;travel&#x2F;credit-card-problems-abroad-readers-respond.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;07&#x2F;03&#x2F;travel&#x2F;credit-card-problem...</a> , so it&#x27;s not like this is an obscure issue.<p>And as everyone has pointed out when this topic comes up, cash is king in the German speaking countries. The last few times in Switzerland I stayed at B&amp;Bs, where the practice is to pay in cash on arrival. 4 nights @ ~$120&#x2F;night is about $500. But that&#x27;s okay, since the Swiss ATMs give out 100 CHF (about $100) bills. Which are accepted everywhere I tried.<p>So yes, if you are a rich business traveler (like an editor for the NYT) then there are many options for you. But that&#x27;s the 1% speaking.