https://www.kitco.com/news/2023-03-21/FedNow-rolls-out-in-July-paving-way-for-totalitarian-power-and-central-bank-digital-currencies-Richard-Werner.html
FedNow rolls out in July, paving way for โtotalitarian power' and central bank digital currencies - Richard Werner
The Federal Reserveโs FedNow instant payments system is rolling out in July, allowing retail banking clients to send bank transfers quickly, securely, and with minimum transaction fees using central bank funds. Richard Werner, Professor of Banking & Finance, and Author of Princes of the Yen, called the timing of FedNowโs rollout โsuspicious.โ
โThe timing is suspicious,โ Werner told Michelle Makori, Lead Anchor and Editor-in-Chief at Kitco News. โWhy do they roll this out now? The banking system has done its job well, in terms of making transfers of funds and payments, so why do we suddenly need to change it?โ
Werner, who has three decades of experience in banking and finance, including senior roles at Bear Stearns and Jardine Flemings, pointed to the recent failures of banks like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature as a potential reason for FedNowโs implementation. He suggested that central bankers would out-compete commercial banks through products like FedNow, in an effort to dilute competition in the banking sector, bringing about โtotalitarian control.โ
Werner pointed in particular to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), digital tokens issued and controlled by central banks, and which operate as fiat money. Analysts have highlighted the fact that CBDCs could replace commercial bank deposits.
Werner compared the central bank to an umpire policing a soccer game, who then decides to change the rules so that he can score goals himself.
โObviously the umpire will score and win games,โ he observed. โThatโs what happens when central banks issue CBDCs. Why? Because a central bank digital currency is an account at the central bank.โ
A recent slew of bank failures saw Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bankโs depositors bailed out by the government and Federal Reserve. Werner suggested that this ongoing banking crisis could be used to bring about CBDCs.
โWe canโt really trust them [central bankers] anymore to take the benevolent policies that are good for society and which create stability,โ Werner claimed. โMaybe thereโs a different agenda. Maybe itโs all about rolling out their Central Bank Digital Currency.โ
To find out why Werner thinks central banks want to out-compete commercial banks to create a Soviet Union style central-planning system, watch the video above
Central Bank Digital Currencies
The Atlantic Council reports that 114 countries are developing CBDCs, and 11, including Nigeria and the Bahamas, have fully realized them.
Werner warned that CBDCs could bring about โtotalitarian powerโ structures, due to the ability of central banks and governments to track, trace, and limit financial transactions through CBDCsโ programmability.
โOnce you put your money in the central bank, and the central bank issues your CBDC, legally they own the money,โ he said. โYou have a claim, but sadly this claim is subject to a number of conditionsโฆ So, maybe they will let you spend if youโre in the right place and youโre buying the right things, and you havenโt used up your carbon credits, or whatever scheme they want to enforce.โ
Cash, and other alternatives to CBDCs, would gradually be eliminated, Werner claimed, since non-CBDC forms of money would lack the programmability required for a โtotalitarian control systemโ to manifest.
โThe precondition for this to be so totalitarianโฆ is to eliminate alternatives,โ he said. โThey donโt want these alternatives, so they can just take your money. This is just the beginning, because the real totalitarian aspect comes into it when the programmability can be used, where it can be totally fine-tuned down to the person, and in real-time influence our behavior by restricting us from doing certain thingsโฆ youโll need the permission of the central planners.โ
To find out whether Werner thinks that the CBDCs can still be stopped in the U.S.A watch the video above
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