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Trump Says 'No' to Fed CBDC

Fed Coin not gonna happen under The Donald...
 
At a RECENT New Hampshire campaign rally, Donald Trump reiterated what he's been saying for months, writes Jim Rickards in The Daily Reckoning.
 
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are dangerous and he would never allow one if elected.
 
"Tonight, I am also making another promise to protect Americans from government tyranny. As your president, I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency...
 
"Such a currency would give...our federal government, the absolute control over your money. They could take your money. You wouldn't even know it was gone. This would be a dangerous threat to freedom."
 
Welcome aboard, Mr.President.
 
If you've been following my writings, you know that I've been sounding the alarm about what I call Biden Bucks for nearly two years. I've warned about Joe Biden's plan to control your money and take away your privacy rights completely.
 
I like to think that someone brought my warnings to Donald Trump's attention since I've been one of very few people to outline the dangers that Biden Bucks pose to Americans' freedom. I'd be very happy if I was at least partially responsible for stopping them.
 
To catch you up, Joe Biden is planning to replace your physical cash with new electronic currencies.
 
These new electronic currencies are called CBDCs – or, again, "central bank digital currencies" (I like to call them "Biden Bucks" because I want Biden to take full credit for what I consider to be crimes against American citizens).
 
And these Biden Bucks would have the full backing of the US Federal Reserve. They'd replace the cash ("fiat") Dollar we have now. And if Biden gets his way, they'd be the sole, mandatory currency of the United States.
 
What does this mean for you? It would make your money less truly your own. It would be subject to government control, as Donald Trump said in New Hampshire.
 
We're already seeing how many retailers are no longer accepting cash across America. What happens when physical cash is eliminated altogether from any payment transactions?
 
Imagine this. To further advance his Green New Scam, what if Joe Biden and his cronies decide that gasoline needs to be rationed?
 
Your Biden Bucks could be rendered useless at the gas pump once you've purchased a certain amount of gasoline in a week! You want gas, but all you get is a one-word message: Declined.
 
How's that for control?
 
Biden Bucks would create new ways for the government to control how much you can buy of an item, or even restrict purchases. It would keep score of every financial decision you make.
 
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 there to putting you under FBI investigation if you vote for the wrong candidate or give donations to the wrong political party. If any of this sounds extreme, fantastical or otherwise far-fetched, it's not.
 
Recently, the FBI and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) sent letters to US banks asking them to identify and provide a list to the government of customers using Zelle, Venmo and similar payment channels who mentioned "MAGA" or "Trump" in their message traffic.
 
They also asked for details on bookstore purchases of "religious" articles including Bibles. Finally, they asked for details on those shopping at Cabela's, Dick's Sporting Goods or Bass Pro Shops, presumably on the view that those are places to buy guns and ammo.
 
This is a clear-cut violation of the First Amendment (free speech, freedom of religion), Second Amendment (right to bear arms) and Fourth Amendment (no unreasonable search and seizure).
 
It's not a crime to write "MAGA" etc and therefore there's no reasonable basis for suspecting a crime, and therefore no right to get the information without a warrant, which requires a judge. Any judge would likely reject the warrant request since there's no probable cause.
 
This is an obvious case of profiling that may well involve AI. If you shoot someone and you're wearing a MAGA hat, you get arrested for the shooting, not the hat. In this case, the hat is enough to put you under surveillance because you have been profiled as "an enemy of the people" by the government's definition.
 
I predicted this kind of surveillance would arise with the use of Biden Bucks since the government would have your financial records and would not have to go to the banks or get a warrant. I'd like to say I was wrong, but unfortunately I was right.
 
It looks like the FBI is not waiting for CBDCs. They're collecting the same information we said they would directly from the banks. I specifically warned that "books" would be one category the FBI would want to know about since it helps with the profiling.
 
This goes hand in hand with prior revelations that the FBI was targeting traditional Catholics (especially those who go to Latin Masses) for surveillance as possible terrorists.
 
This is exactly why I sounded the alarm back in 2022. This administration is committed to not only taking control of your money with Biden Bucks, but also using the FBI and other government agencies to strip away your rights as citizens.
 
That shouldn't surprise you if you've noticed how the administration has weaponized these agencies to punish their political opponents.
 
FBI whistleblowers are also stepping forward to reveal that the FBI is lowering standards to recruit more candidates with "left of center" political views. They say the agency is attracting candidates who seek to be "agents of social change versus protecting the country."
 
One whistleblower said he (or she) rejected a special-agent applicant because the candidate's only work experience was "working two years as a coffee-shop barista and having a bachelor's degree in art history."
 
That's not exactly your stereotypical FBI agent, to say the least. But headquarters ordered the subsequent whistleblower to forward the application. It's not hard to imagine the abuses this type of FBI could commit under a system of Biden Bucks.
 
How far will this go? Some Republicans are beginning to act.
 
Senator Tim Scott is now demanding explanations from the Treasury Department (which runs the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FinCEN), which asked banks for information on customers' religious purchases, including Bibles, as evidence of domestic terrorism. The FBI was working side-by-side with FinCEN on this.
 
President Trump is right. Biden Bucks are a dangerous threat to freedom. They're a threat to our constitutional liberties and give the government total control of our private financial information.
 
A change in leadership is our last hope in stopping this madness from continuing. With so many of our freedoms at stake, every presidential candidate (outside of Biden, for obvious reasons) should be forced to take a stand on this critical issue.
 
Lawyer, economist, investment banker and financial author James G.Rickards is editor of Strategic Intelligence, the flagship newsletter from Agora Financial now published both in the United States and for UK investors. A frequent guest on financial news channels worldwide, he has written New York Times best sellers  Currency Wars (2011),  The Death of Money (2014) and The Road to Ruin (2016) from Penguin Random House.
 
See the full archive of Jim Rickards' articles on GoldNews here.

 

Please Note: All articles published here are to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it. Please review our Terms & Conditions for accessing Gold News.

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