Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary
An Associated Press article that ran in the September 17, 2022, edition of the Santa Cruz Sentinel was headlined as follows: "Treasury recommends exploring the creation of a digital dollar." Another name for a "digital dollar" is a "Central Bank Digital Currency." Click here for a definition furnished by the Investopedia website.
I am not thrilled by this recent announcement. As I have warned in a
couple of previous blog postings, there are some big problems with the
so-called "digital dollar." I encourage you to read:
- A Digital Danger, from April 28, 2021 and
- Speaking About Money, from May 19, 2022
Here is a list of dangers associated with so-called "digital dollars,"
as outlined by Charles Eisenstein, and found in that May 19th blog
posting:
Basically, beyond facilitating transactions, CBDCs offer an unprecedented opportunity for social engineering. Assuming that those in control are beneficent and wise, this is surely a good thing. But if, as many of us now believe, our authorities are foolish, incompetent, corrupt, or are merely fallible human beings incapable of handling too much power, then CBDCs can easily become instruments of totalitarian oppression. They allow authorities:
- To freeze the funds not only of terrorists and evil-doers, but dissidents, thought criminals, and scapegoated classes of people.
- To program money so it can only go to approved vendors, corporations, information platforms, and so forth. Those that fail to toe the party line can be “demonetized,” with consequences far beyond what befalls the hapless YouTuber who utters heresies about Covid, Ukraine, climate change, etc.
- Under the guise of rewarding good behavior and penalizing bad, to control every aspect of life so that it conforms to the interests of elite corporate and political institutions.
- To nip in the bud any opposition political movement by demonetizing its leaders and activists, either with no explanation at all, or under flimsy pretexts that their victims would have no way to contest.
The earlier blog posting documents how the Chinese government is already using the powers that Eisenstein lists above.
Like I say, I am not thrilled to hear that President Biden is now pushing this idea. We are all getting used to doing everything "online," but there are dangers ahead. We had best be advised!
Image Credits:
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/nation/story/2022-09-15/yellen-calls-for-modernized-irs-at-maryland-field-office
It will be interesting to see how this turns out. My wife don't have mobile phones of any sort and never had. We limit out online presence tom information and communications; we never conduct business or by anything online.
ReplyDeleteHow will CBDCs affect us? We only use cash, no credit cards, rarely a written check.
We will be forced to do banking online? We will be forced to have a mobile phone to buy groceries?
I can;t see this happening in the United States.