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by Clint Siegner
July 12,
2021
from
ActivistPost Website
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Clint Siegner is a Director at Money Metals Exchange, a
precious metals dealer recently named "Best in the USA"
by an independent global ratings group. A graduate of
Linfield College in Oregon, Siegner puts his experience
in business management along with his passion for
personal liberty, limited government, and honest money
into the development of Money Metals' brand and reach.
This includes writing extensively on the bullion markets
and their intersection with policy and world affairs. |
Image credit
There is no doubt that 'central bank digital currencies'
(CBDCs) are one of the key narratives of crypto 2020.
Every day it seems like another country throws its hat
into the ring to begin research or even trials of a new
digital currency.
Today, seven central banks and the Bank for
International Settlements put out a 26-page report on
how CBDCs should be designed.
As you can see from
this image, the report
goes deep on specific features.
Perhaps even more significant, however, is the caliber
of the banks involved:
Bank of Canada
Bank of England
Bank of Japan
European Central Bank
Sveriges Riksbank
Swiss National Bank
Federal Reserve
What's clear is that this isn't just a small government
thing. The partners here represent some of the largest
central banks in the world.
For
better or worse, CBDCs are coming.
The General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements
(BIS)
- the central bank of central bankers - is planning for "absolute
control" of the money we all spend.
Augustín Carstens recently gave
a talk entitled "Cross
Border Payment - A Vision for the Future" in which he
outlined the problem as central planners see it, as well as their
solution.
"We don't know who's
using a $100 bill today and we don't know who's using a 1,000
peso bill today.
The key difference
with the CBDC is the central bank will have absolute control on
the rules and regulations that will determine the use of that
expression of central bank liability, and also we will have the
technology to enforce that."
Carstens views
CBDC, Central Bank Digital
Currency, as a tool,
Dozens of central
banks around the world are working on CBDCs, including the
Federal Reserve.
The effort represents
a major escalation in the
War on Cash.
It is one thing to discourage people from using cash.
It is something else entirely to introduce digital money which
gives bureaucrats the power to monitor and
control the spending of everyone who adopts it.
Novel ideas are already
being floated.
For example, the
Federal Reserve could issue stimulus funds with an expiration
date, forcing people to spend rather than save.
Officials could limit spending to certain geographic boundaries,
and thereby impose a restriction on travel.
They could pick
winners and losers, favoring some merchants or industries or
crushing others.
The only fly in the
ointment is that mistrust in government is rising
quickly in the US.
Getting people who fear
giving officials that much control and who care about privacy to
adopt the new digital money could be a challenge. Many will actively
seek alternatives, such as
Bitcoin or
gold.
Central banks and governments do
have some powerful levers to pull.
It is easy to imagine government transfer payments being converted
to digital currency.
Social Security,
Medicare, welfare, food stamps, and other benefits could be paid
using the new CBDC.
Government could also
insist vendors and contractors take payment exclusively in the new
token.
We can also expect plenty of assurances from people like
Carstens.
They will promise to
be 'fair' and 'protect' people's liberty...
They will say the
goal is to make central bank policy 'work better for
everyone'...
They will also insist
they are trying to 'protect society' from criminals, tax cheats,
money launderers, and terrorists...
The only question is
whether the public will buy what central bankers are selling...
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