Banks are crashing and the government is scrambling to find a solution. Over the weekend, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank both collapsed, sparking cries for more government regulation of banks.
While the debacle is still playing out – with the possibility of more bank failures to come – it’s a perfect time to remember the digital currency system the government is on the brink of incorporating into the U.S. money and payment landscape.
SEE ALSO: What do we learn from the SVB collapse?
The central bank digital currency (CBDC) is a way to transform the entire U.S. payment system online, departing from paper money. The Federal Reserve has been considering the move for years, saying that it “could potentially serve as a new foundation for the payment system and a bridge between different payment services.”
Currently researching and experimenting with digital currencies, the Federal Reserve claims it would expand payment options, not replace paper money. But as skeptics note, everything would become trackable and controllable by the government.
As mentioned in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last month, “A CBDC Dollar Would Empower the Fed, Not Americans.” The article goes on to say that “anyone who believes in limited government should not support a central bank digital dollar.”
The author asserts that it will “compromise Americans’ freedom,” which brings up the question, why would we ever willingly compromise our liberties to a government outrageous in every financial decision?
With a little digging, the warning signs are everywhere: freedom doesn’t align with digital currency. Looking at China’s digital currency revolution, as an example, this idea rings true.
China has experimented with expiration dates on personal finances. How daunting to think the government could one day tell us that our money will be regulated by D.C. bureaucrats, how much we must save, and when our funds are no longer valid.
Maybe you can only access your money at certain times of the day, or maybe you are required to spend certain percentages of your total assets to ‘fairly’ contribute to the economy.
In China, 50 percent of point-of-sale payments are made with a mobile wallet or app, while cash accounts for just 13 percent of POS payments, the Federal Reserve notes. It adds that if these payment trends emerge in the U.S., consumers may open up to digitalized central bank money.
Covid-19 led to many businesses rejecting cash altogether for ‘health.’ Apple Wallets, one-tap credit cards, and other easy forms of payment have pushed us closer to the CBDC.
We’re not there yet, and maybe it’s time we start using cash more frequently to counter this agenda.
Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer warned last week that CBDC technology could expand “financial control” over Americans. He recently introduced the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act “to halt efforts of unelected bureaucrats in Washington, DC from stripping Americans of their right to financial privacy.”
In 2021, the Biden administration rolled out a cybersecurity executive order that encourages the private sector to adapt to cyber changes in partnership with the federal government. The order adds that trust in digital infrastructure systems should be balanced with how trustworthy that infrastructure really stands.
What about trust in government? According to several recent polls, Americans hold little trust in the government.
At the end of the day, it’s about independence from the government. It’s about personal freedom, which is the entire purpose of the Convention of States movement.
We are working to call a Convention of States to tell the government to “back off” and let us live a life free from excessive government oversight. Please sign the petition below to let us know you support a COS.
