I recently watched an interview of Richard Werner, an Oxford educated economist, who is critical of the CBDC, the Central Bank Digital Currency. His concern is the degree of control that a CBDC would allow over citizens, such as, blocking someone from buying a particular book, or deactivating a person’s account if they leave their home area, etc. giving the central bank almost total control of citizens’ spending. Coupled with AI and a digital ID, this would be relatively easy. Add the fact that data centers are being built at a rapid pace, all our internet and cell phone activity could potentially be stored, and then AI could be programed to be the watchdog. I believe one difference between a CBDC and current use of digital currency, which I have used for years, paying bills online for example, is illustrated by a story of truckers in Canada who, in 2022, were protesting Canada’s covid policies, setting up numerous blockades. An elderly woman had made a small donation of $25 or so, to a Go Fund me like account, and the Canadian government asked the bank to freeze her account, which they did. Many other accounts were also frozen. With a CBDC policy in place, the government wouldn’t have to ask the bank to freeze her account, they would have direct control of her account and all other citizens. Even without a CBDC in place, the Canadian government was able to identify the donors and their banks. This level of control is what economist Richard Werner is warning us about, and why he is critical of both a CBDC and digital IDs. Werner believes power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and he doesn’t trust people at the highest level of government to always do the right thing, and I agree. He says you just have to look at history. With the coming together of surveillance, digital IDs, cameras, CBDC, AI and data centers, control becomes much, much easier. This is the potential danger we face. Whether or not there is a group of global elites trying to use these technologies to bring about a new world order or a one world government, or, if it’s individual countries and their governments with the same goal, total control, we lose either way, the freedoms we have grown accustomed to may be long gone. There is a link below to a short 4 minute video that describes the dangers of CBDCs very well, much better than I can. I highly recommend watching, Catherine Austin Fitts, Hillsdale College guest speaker, explains the dangers of a CBDC.
The loss of freedoms in our digital future is why it’s so important that we become aware of the dangers of digital technology, especially AI and a CBDC. If you are familiar with the Snowden Files released back in 2013, you’ll realize AI could help the people running the bank know our exact location and track all our internet and cell phone activity, and if we are required to have a digital ID, this would be even easier. You can watch the documentary film about Snowden, Citizen Four, on Tubi or Prime Video and possibly other platforms. The movie Snowden can be watched on Sling, Prime Video, Apple TV and other platforms. If you want to see the dangers of digital technology and the degree of government surveillance, I highly recommend watching at least one of these two films.
A name that pops up regularly among independent journalists is Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corporation, maker of cloud software, database and AI applications. Oracle’s first customer is reported to have been the CIA, the two working together to produce their applications, including surveillance software, and the name Oracle came from an earlier CIA project. I watched a video clip of Ellison saying that it’s inevitable that we become a total surveillance state, and that citizens will be on their best behavior. This is a gross violation of our constitutional right to privacy.
Another company to keep an eye on is Palantir, a company that makes data analytic software used by governments and militaries. I have heard that one of their projects is to create an app that will “predict” when a person is likely to commit a crime. This would require data centers capable of recording just about everything we do on the internet plus our cell phone activity. Add AI to the mix to run the show, it would be relatively easy for their app to single people out. This raises the question, could we be charged with a crime that AI says we “will” commit, even though we haven’t actually committed the crime? Using data centers to store our digital activity would be AI’s database to search through looking for potential criminals. Again, this would be a gross violation of our constitutional right to privacy. It seems that most criticism of AI by people who come on the major television networks discuss the fear of jobs being replaced by AI, not the danger of AI being used against citizens in the way of surveillance. Palantir and Oracle are mentioned quite often by independent journalists and podcasters, not so much on the major TV networks.
The good news, in January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order banning federal agencies from creating a central bank digital currency. I would feel better if Congress codified the order into law. Trump could change his mind at any time, if not, the next person in the White House could create a new executive order overriding the ban.
I agree with the British economist, that power does something to people. I bet Joseph Stalin would have loved to have all these digital tools. Power can bring out the worst in some people. War does something similar, but on a bigger and nastier scale. So no, I don’t trust that people with power will always, or even mostly, do the right thing.
I think the real danger is the bringing together of all these digital technologies, with the potential of giving the government almost complete control of its citizens, us. The one that scares me the most is a CBDC, coupled with AI. If the government can control when, where and how we spend our money, we may be doomed. How do we fight back at that point?
I know it might be naive to say, but our power is in numbers. As voters, and additionally, as union members for others. Maybe it’s time to exercise that power.
P.S. Last November I wrote an article called “Is America Divided” that made the case that we’re not as divided as the media makes us out to be. I still believe this, mainly by looking at the polls. Most of us want basically the same things: To live in peace, and if we have kids, to provide for our children, we want a decent income, a roof over our head and food on the table, and access to medical care when needed, and along the way, we want to find some joy. If we do have an enemy, I don’t think it’s those people who belong to “the other party”, but those who promote surveillance, and CBDCs, and digital IDs. To be fair, maybe there are some who promote these technologies without realizing the dangers. Maybe.
Link to a 4 minute Video explaining the danger of CBDCs
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