The fight against “government-controlled programmable money” happening in Senate
The fight against “government-controlled programmable money” happening in Senate
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) will give massive power to central authorities overnight
It’s the end of the economy (and in many respects society) as we know it. CBDCs are indeed “programmable money”. In a CBDC regime anonymity in transactions will be over. Your transactions will be visible to the Federal Reserve (and who knows who else) instantly and recorded in a digital ledger called the blockchain. The Federal Reserve will have access to every transaction in the economy in real time.
Central bankers have expressed that they are interested in using AI programs with CBDCs to block certain transactions, which could be for anything. For instance imagine a time of crisis when the government determines that we should all remain in our houses or in our immediate neighborhoods. (Not that this would ever happen. Ahem.) Under a CBDC system our central bank could make it so our money was useless outside of a specific area. Go too far from your designated shelter-in-place spot, and guess what? You can’t buy anything and your attempted transaction is then relayed to the Artificial Intelligence entity that is enforcing this “geofence”.
So long as cash is still in use one has a solution to this problem. But in a CBDC regime this little pocket of freedom would likely be closed. Already there are moves afoot to make whole countries cashless. According to CorePay.net these countries include, Sweden, Finland, China, South Korea, The UK, Australia, The Netherlands, and Canada. And don’t worry if they do end up going cashless the US will very likely follow. Though it should be noted that there is some push back from the public in the United States. (In a moment of blinding common sense.)
Fundamentally CBDCs are about control. They will be used to regulate what you buy, where you buy, when you buy, and from whom you buy. It has long been the dream of central planners and a certain type of economist to implement such a system. If the central planners can control every facet of the economy they can then construct the “just” or “efficient” or whatever kind of economy they think is best and the everyday person will be powerless to do anything about it.
This is very much a real immediate concern though the general public is largely not aware of the fight. Thankfully CBDCs are starting to get some attention in Washington with Senator Ted Cruz leading the effort against them with his “CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act’’.
Currently there are seven other senators behind the bill, Bill Hagerty, Rick Scott, Ted Budd, Mike Braun, Keven Cramer, Katie Boyd Britt, and Cindy Hyde-Smith, all of them Republicans. But this should not be a partisan issue and we hope that Senator Wyden the Democrat from Oregon who has been very good on a number of digital privacy issues will also sign on at the very least. But the public needs more senators to step out on this issue.
Once CBDCs are instituted they aren’t going away and a giant door to future tyranny (and yes we think this is the appropriate word) will have been opened.
The legislation has also gotten endorsements from prominent associations, including Heritage Action for America (HAFA), the Blockchain Association, the American Bankers Association (ABA), the Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA), and the Club for Growth (CFG).
Meanwhile, former United States President Donald Trump recently weighed in on the CBDCs debate. Expressing his opposition to such initiatives, Trump labeled CBDCs as a “threat to freedom” and pledged to prevent their launch if re-elected to the presidency.
On this one Trump is absolutely correct.
