Date: August 24, 2023
Host: Jim Schneider
Guest: Rebecca Terrell
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According to a column written by the guest, “You won’t be able to buy anything without permission from the government. Every dollar you earn, spend, or save will be monitored by autocrats, who, with the click of a button, can turn off your earning, spending, or saving potential at any time. You’ll be forced to buy food, clothing, shelter–and everything else you need or want–according to tyrannical dictate. Or you will be prevented from purchasing by the same oligarchs, who control not only what you buy, but when and from whom you but it.”
What would ever give any government such power? We’re speaking of the Central Bank Digital Currency, and our guest indicated that if this is not resisted, this programmable money could signal the demise of financial freedom.
Joining Jim to outline this issue was Rebecca Terrell, senior editor and regular contributor to The New American.
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is programmable money. The reason it’s different than transactions through credit or debit cards is because under CBDC, each dollar can be turned on or off.
One example of this might be the government putting an expiration on your money so that you have to spend it or you lose it by a certain time. How would the government know this? Some of the information would come from a person’s electronic payment history.
This may sound like science fiction and we may want to believe that will never happen here. However, we know it’s already happening in China. They’ve incorporated a social credit score that labels a person. Rebecca cited examples that might lower someone’s score such as purchasing cigarettes and alcohol or maybe they were caught “jaywalking.” Such behavior thus determines what they can do with their funds such as renting an apartment, where they send their kids to school, travel, start a business, etc.
Exactly where does this stand worldwide? Rebecca noted how the BRICS nations are talking about it. These nations include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. On the first of April, China and Brazil announced they were completely bypassing the American dollar and creating their own currency between themselves. Russia has announced that by the end of this year they will have launched their own CBDC as well.
Rebecca described how the catalyst for this actually goes back to 1913 and our Federal Reserve. Then as the conversation moved along, she also looked at whether or not CBDC demands a digital I.D., the E.S.G. (Environmental, Social, & Governance) factor, involvement of the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland, states that are bucking the trend and more.
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