So what are CBDCs? The acronym CBDC effectively will result, over time, in a cashless US society. Think of the badness and privacy concerns that will bring. When Drew Cline decided to open up questioning of Vivek to the audience, this was the first question asked.
CBDCs:
I was surprised as this is a rather wonky area, and not many folks even know it’s a “thing.”
In my opening “quick talk” for the event, my answer to his question at the Beyond the Soundbite Lecture of “what was the most important idea that came from our Founding Fathers was “That WE were the sovereigns and not Government” – a radical, almost heretical idea at the time. Worthy of a death penalty back in those times of Monarchies and Kings reigned supreme. Just like when Jesus told the Pharisees and Sadducees, “I and my Father are one” type of deal. Then they consorted with the Government of the time (the Roman Empire) to have him put to death on a Cross.
Yes, that big of a deal.
While your bank can track every single one of your expenditures now with your debit card and the credit card processors (Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, Discover) via your credit cards, it will be Government instead. It will most likely put almost all of the banks out of business – GOVERNMENT will be the banking system, and it will be able to track every dollar you spend.
Do YOU want your Government to know that – and then abuse that information? Trust me. Some bureaucrat will; remember Joe the Plumber disagreeing with Obama that “spreading the wealth around” wasn’t a good thing. Yeah, Illinois bureaucrats broke the Law and policies and put out restricted information against Joe – can’t let ANYONE disagree with the LightBringer!
This idea is already in place. China, as part of its state surveillance system on everyone, has already implemented this. And as we know, if you do not act according to their precepts, you can be denied a job, a visa, a train ticket, or other things. A Despot’s complete control system – the East German Stasi could only envy such a system. Imagine going to the ATM to take out some money and being told “You had three Big Macs, got drunk, failed your college exam, got arrested for beating your kids, and disagreed with our Supreme Leader — NO cash for you!! Remember, Government owns your money – not you!”.
And the US Federal Reserve and some large US banks are already doing a pilot program on this!
Sarbanes-Oxley:
Another question that was asked of Vivek by an attendee was the general idea that when Government passes laws to regulate activities (and us), they should also apply them to Government as well. Unfortunately, that seldom happens now and is creating the perception that those in Government believe they are “above the rest of us” – and we’re back to the notion of a Neo-Aristocracy. The example that was brought up was that of Sarbanes-Oxley which was a new large accounting set of regulations that was passed after the financial disasters of a few companies, most notables Enron and WorldCom (some might remember it as MCI – the company that broke AT&T’s monopoly hold on long-distance telephone calls) whose fraudulent financials amounted to 10s of billions of dollars each. You don’t think that, at times, Government DOESN’T commit fraud itself?