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February
02
2023

Warning Shot Fired!
James Rickards

Another warning shot across the bow just happened…

I warned my readers a few weeks ago about how the Federal Reserve, in cooperation with giant global banks, has launched a 12-week pilot project to test the message systems and payment processes on the new CBDC dollar.

A pilot project is not research and development. That’s already done. The pilot means that what I call “Biden Bucks” are here, and the backers just want to test the plumbing before they roll the system out on the entire population.

That project is due to be completed next month. In other words, Biden Bucks are getting closer to becoming a reality for us all. Now there is another big development to keep you up to speed…

This month, the Digital Dollar Project (DDP) released an updated version of its white paper called “Exploring a U.S. CBDC.”

The project expanded the paper in order to examine central bank digital currency projects internationally, though its focus is still on the United States. Since its original white paper release in 2020, CBDC projects worldwide have increased from 35 to 114.

Here is one statement in the updated paper:

It [is] imperative that the U.S. government consider ways to maintain the use of the dollar in digital global payment systems and develop a strategy related to the use of alternative payment systems.

Pigs in the Digital Slaughterhouse

“Alternative payment systems” is simply a technical term for Biden Bucks, which means replacing the cash (“fiat”) dollar we have now. What’s this mean for you?

Let’s first consider the kind of freedom that physical cash offers you. Above all, cash is untraceable and anonymous. When you buy something with cash, there’s no way to trace the purchase to you individually. In that sense, cash is like gold or silver. It doesn’t leave a digital fingerprint.

And that’s why the government wants to eliminate cash — with cash out of the way, it can trace anything and everything.

At that point, the pigs (all of us) will be in the slaughterhouse ready for the digital slaughter of negative interest rates. All of your money will be locked in the banking system. If you don’t want to spend your money, the government can punish you by imposing negative rates. It doesn’t want you saving your money.

And in a completely digital world, what would stop the government from having individualized interest rates for every citizen?

Biden Bucks would also allow for account freezes, tax withholding and outright confiscation in some cases. After all, this is a government-approved digital wallet without any access to physical cash as you know it now.

You’re Just a Pawn

When the government is in full control of your money, it opens up the door for manipulating the economy by using you as a pawn and your assets as chess moves.

If they need to slow down the economy (as they are attempting to do now with increasing interest rates), they could freeze a certain percentage of your cash so you can’t spend it.

If they feel the economy is too slow and needs a jolt of spending, they could punish people who are saving too much with a “spend it or lose it” policy. That’s the reality behind negative interest rates.

It would make your money less truly your own and under government control. We are already seeing how many retailers are not accepting cash across America.

Another thing about physical cash: It’s not hackable.

Under Biden Bucks, all the data that the government will have on every aspect of your life would be a dream come true for hackers. Identity theft would become commonplace.

And forget privacy. That would be a thing of the past.

“Sorry, We Really Don’t Want to Do This to You, But We Have No Choice”

What happens when physical cash is eliminated from any payment transactions? Imagine this alarming possibility…

To further advance the climate change agenda, what if Joe Biden or his successor decided that gasoline needed to be rationed?

Your Biden Bucks could be made to stop working at the gas pump once you’ve purchased a certain amount of gasoline in a week! They could justify it based on “national security concerns” or whatever, and that it’s something they just have to do.

They’ll say, “We really don’t have a choice. We have to do it!”

In other words, Biden Bucks would create new ways for the government to control how much you could buy of an item, or even ban certain purchases altogether. Government would keep score of every financial transaction you made.

In a world of Biden Bucks, the government will even know your physical whereabouts at the point of purchase. It’s a short step from putting you under FBI investigation if you vote for the wrong candidate, buy the “wrong” reading material or give donations to the wrong political party.

The Slippery Slope

They may deny that this is part of some grand plan to control the population, that it’s just a way to make the financial system more efficient. The rest of it is just a conspiracy theory that only kooks believe. And they may mean it. They may not have bad intentions.

But history clearly shows that once the government acquires a specific power, it will eventually use it to the fullest extent it can. And when corrupt people are running the government, they’ll use that power for political purposes, even if they might not set out to originally. The temptation is just too strong.

If any of this sounds extreme, fantastical or otherwise far-fetched, well, it’s not. I simply invite you to look at what’s happening around the world.

China is already using its CBDC to deny travel, employment and educational opportunities to political dissidents. Canada seized the bank accounts and crypto accounts of nonviolent trucker protesters last year. Nigeria put a cap on ATM cash withdrawals at $45 to promote digital payments.

Don’t think that other governments, including the U.S. government, haven’t noticed. They have.

The simple fact is “social credit scores” and political suppression will be even easier to conduct when Biden Bucks are completely rolled out in the U.S. With Biden Bucks, the government will be able to force you to comply with its agenda, like with the climate change example I mentioned above.

Because if you don’t, they could turn off your money. But you can fight back. How?

Get Physical

One, I recommend keeping some physical cash at home or in a safe place. I wouldn’t recommend too much cash because the time may come when cash is declared illegal and you have 60 days to hand in your cash for digital credit.

Handing in too much cash may cause you to be put on a watchlist from a tax or money laundering perspective, even though the money is yours and you obtained it legally.

Second, buy some gold. Gold is a non-digital, non-hackable, non-traceable form of money you can still use.

Also, one-ounce silver American Eagles are the best form of money for day-to-day transactions.

These are ways to protect your freedom and your savings. The time to prepare is now, before it all hits.

James G. Rickards is the editor of Strategic Intelligence. He is an American lawyer, economist, and investment banker with 35 years of experience working in capital markets on Wall Street. He was the principal negotiator of the rescue of Long-Term Capital Management L.P. (LTCM) by the U.S Federal Reserve in 1998. His clients include institutional investors and government directorates. His work is regularly featured in the Financial Times, Evening Standard, New York Times, The Telegraph, and Washington Post, and he is frequently a guest on BBC, RTE Irish National Radio, CNN, NPR, CSPAN, CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox, and The Wall Street Journal. He has contributed as an advisor on capital markets to the U.S. intelligence community, and at the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon. Rickards is the author of The New Case for Gold (April 2016), and three New York Times best sellers, The Death of Money (2014), Currency Wars (2011), The Road to Ruin (2016) from Penguin Random House.

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