Money?

So why do we need money any more? I don't mean the idea of money, root of all evil it may be I like it and wish I had more myself, rather I mean the the crinkly bills and clanky coins we carry in our pockets. I tend to pay for almost everything with a bank card these days, very few transactions involve a transfer of bills. Isn't it only a matter of time before the greenback (or whatever color it is these days) goes the way of the penny (fading fast) or the mill (gone so long I never even knew ya)?

Now I don't want to bring credit cards into this (true eeevill!) but bank cards really do represent money I have available to spend today. Why can't they completely replace paper duckets in the not so distant future?

While there is a good case to be made for the anonymity inherit in a dinero based economy a lot of problems might also dry up in an society with electronic only transactions. How would dealers on the corner operate? I suppose underground economies would be able to use phat loot scanners like any retail business eventually but these transactions wouldn't be so underground any more would they?

I know that any move away from paper money would take a long time but it seems the societal trend is in this direction. I pull dough out of my wallet for maybe one in five transactions, how will folks be buying and selling in 25, 50 or 100 years?

Do I want financial institutions and the government following my every deposit, withdrawal or purchase? To a large degree for all in the legal economy they already do. Getting rid of physical moolah might force a lot of illicit crap out into the open. Those shit heads dealing on the corner might even have to pay taxes if they can just find customers willing to swipe their card and enter their pin.