The idea of a cashless society has long been one of the Left’s brass rings, in accordance with the incrementalist strategy which facilitates their Marxist takeover of America that Was—a so-far successful soft coup which is now in its very last stages.
Central bank digital currencies (CBDC’s) have been spoken of in theoretical terms for many years, but they’re now becoming reality. Three nations, including China, have already introduced them on a limited scale, and the USA is actively considering it too. They promise (or should that be “threaten”?) a whole new way of managing our money – or, rather, letting the powers that be manage how much we have and what we do with it.
CBDC is effectively the most sweeping control measure yet considered by a government over its citizens – so much so that they may devolve from ‘citizens’ into ‘subjects’, because their spending (and thus their actions and freedom of expression) might be subject to far stricter control, if a government wishes to exercise it. That’s what China has done with its social credit system. If the “woke” mentality prevails in this country, you can imagine how much power CBDC’s would give to those who want to crush individual rights and freedoms.
The trouble is, the sheer size of modern populations may make something like a CBDC inevitable. Take, for example, the growing pressure to introduce some form of Universal Basic Income allowance. In an era of massive unemployment, with little prospect of enough jobs being created to absorb people back into the workforce, UBI may be unavoidable – although one hopes it would fold into itself all the other allowances, grants, benefits and entitlement programs currently proliferating all over the sociopolitical landscape. If UBI were to incorporate and replace Social Security, welfare payments, and they many other government payments and allowances out there, it would be both easier to fund and produce a greatly streamlined system of state assistance. However, to do so, it would have to be centrally controlled, with measures to limit fraud and ensure prompt distribution of benefits. A CBDC is probably the single most efficient way to do that, and politicians and bureaucrats will emphasize that. (Also, of course, politicians and bureaucrats will consider a CBDC’s potential for social control to be a feature, not a bug. Their minds work that way.)
Well, naturally. An insatiable lust for boundless power and control over others is the central cog in the psychological machinery of such people. It’s what drives them to seek work in government at any level, what gets them out of bed every morning—their raison d’etre, the fundamental motivation for everything they think, say, and do. It’s the heart’s blood of every bully, every thug, every despot. If they didn’t think that way, they’d be something other than what they truly are. And the rest of us would be soooooo much better off for it, too.
Plus the Sociopath believes they are Intellectually and Morally Superior and thus entitled to exercise boundless Power and Control over the rest of us. It’s for Our Own Good. They know better than us what is best for us.
Back in the early 80’s I first went to Ireland. Ireland was in the midst of a severe economic depression at the time. The cause was the same cause it usually is, government. In this case very high tax rates to support the socialist state. So high, that possibly half or more of the Irish were working in the black market, escaping the high tax rate. Doom and gloom.
The Irish that were productive got around it through the black market. With a digital currency and control of business that possibility ceases to exist. If you cannot purchase food except with govco digital…