We live in the age of deception.
Big Lies, Bad Outcomes, and No Consequences
For example, the Biden administration’s “Inflation Reduction Act” actually raised prices on fuel and utilities, hurting middle-income Americans the worst. The law did exactly the opposite of what the administration and the media said it would. It’s a lie any way you look at it.A Big New Plan for Your Money
Now, another quasi-government agency, the Federal Reserve, will soon be rolling out the “digital dollar.” But don’t let the name fool you. It’s nothing less than a virtual chain around our necks.You’re going to love how it works. First, know that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) aren’t a currency at all. Rather, CBDCs are a programmable permission slip.
Or not.
If you say or even think the wrong thing, the wonderful humanitarians at the Fed and at the top levels of our government can decide not to permit you to buy groceries or simply decide which food you can buy and which you can’t.
Digital Dollars Means Zero Freedom
For instance, your personal digital dollars may be programmed so that you can only use them in stores within, say, a five-mile radius of your home.Your digital dollars may let you buy oat milk but not real milk, tofu but not eggs, crickets but not beef.
Does the digital dollar sound like “currency” to you?
“But hold on a second,” you’re thinking, “who voted for this?” You didn’t.
Is the move toward a CBDC concerning because it replaces physical dollars with digital ones that could potentially increase the federal government’s control over individuals’ financial transactions?
I don’t recall that being on the ballot. And by the way, who or what gave the Fed the power to coin and mint money?
Certainly not the Constitution. Only Congress has that power. Age of deception, remember?
Biometric IDs Are Here
JPMorgan has announced a pilot program introducing a new, cashless biometric digital payment method that scans your palm and your face. No doubt its sole purpose is to improve the user’s shopping experience and minimize payment processing.It’s utterly frictionless. No cards to slide, insert, or tap, and certainly no cash to dig out of your wallet or purse.
What a coincidence.
The federal government announces the soon deployment of a digital dollar and then—Shazam!—a major bank rolls out a biometric digital scanning payment system to enhance your shopping experience.
Care to wager how soon the rest of the banks in the country—if there are any left—will be adopting the JPMorgan payment system?
You Won’t Own Your Money—or Anything Else?
But what happens to your money in the bank? Your savings and your retirement accounts?Who knows?
What seems obvious is that no central bank goes to the trouble of creating a digital currency if, sooner or later, it wasn’t intended for widespread use and adoption. The absolute level of power and control is just too tempting to not do it.
It may well result in wealth confiscation of one sort or another, especially given that equity is top of mind for far too many policymakers. Think how content everyone will be, knowing that the only rich people in society are those in power.
CBDCs Will Be Global
Now imagine if all or even most or many of the world’s central banks issued CBDCs.When you start to put the pieces together, it looks like the freedoms we all claim as Americans soon won’t mean much.
Oh, wait.