The younger generations certainly like their cards. I keep telling my 17 year old to have a bit of cash just in case, as sometimes things go wrong. If she loses her metro card she can only use cash on buses. The attitude is that if somewhere has a card marching machine breakdown then they'll just go somewhere else.

Australia is planning cashless by 2020. That's next year and issues with card readers losing contact with the bank are still common. If the power goes out all electronic transfers are out with it and blackouts are common in South Australia. It feels like Australia is becoming the testing ground for everything the US wants to implement. Carp herpes virus? Test it in Australia. Cashless? See what happens in Australia. Gun laws? Use Australia as the example.

When a crash happens (Argentina, Weimar etc) cash is king. In a cashless society, you're screwed. I don't honestly think they give a damn though. So the poor starve, that's less of a population they have to reduce. How do the homeless cope in a cashless society? Any business can't be shut down, just stop them being able to accept cards.