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To the Editor
If the thought of a cashless society, government-issued digital currency, and the specter of some form of mandated medical passport cause you some concern, you have every right. Whether these concepts are currently on your personal radar screens, they will soon become an imperative for us all.
Starting with the familiar, we’ve all encountered small businesses that only take credit cards. The motivator there is convenience for the merchant and elimination of employee petty theft. If larger merchants join the trend, many necessary household purchases will be subject to digital approval by private banks and credit card companies at the point of sale – a concerning proposition. But if Congressman Himes has his way, our transactions will be settled in Fed-issued digital dollars, with the government inserted into the center of the transaction. Of course, Himes contends, it’s all for our convenience and security.
Himes heads a House Financial Services Sub-committee focused on the proposition of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Earlier this year Himes’s Committee issued a proposal recommending just that – the issuance of a CBDC by the Federal Reserve. To get the reader invested in the idea, the report is titled “Winning the Future of Money.” To inject urgency, Himes warns that the dollar’s continued role as the world’s reserve currency, and our standard of living, could be at stake, should we fall too far behind the development of digital Euros, Sterling or Yuan. But many of us sense that we are hurtling toward a financial future of the politicization of loans, online payments, credit scores, tax compliance, federal contracts, retail purchases and government surveillance of most all of our personal finances.
Should you be skeptical and acknowledge merely the capability of the government to insert itself between you and your money, but cannot fathom a realistic motivation, additional elements on the global scene are now coming into focus. The EU Digital COVID Certificate is currently in use in 67 countries, putting both payment systems and medical records on your cell phone. When digital passport holders scan their QR codes at airports and train stations gates either open or remain closed, depending on their vaccination status. So, western democracies have already surrendered freedom of travel to the determination of those programing the system. Overlay these capabilities onto the carbon credit predicates embedded in the Green Dream Act just passed by Congress, and we can be prevented from traveling or purchasing products depending on our personal medical status, or the carbon footprint exposed by our purchases. Viewed in this light, it really doesn’t take more than a tad of foresight to glimpse the dreaded Chinese social credit scoring system just over the horizon – a prospect we can all agree must not be allowed to be actualized in America.
Back to Mr. Himes. The CBDC is most assuredly a cornerstone for emplacing such a digital surveillance and payment system here in the U.S. And over the last decade, Himes has been a proven congressional vote for the agenda of the House Progressives. He’ll be their point man should they need him to push this treacherous over the finish line.
Bob MacGuffie
Fairfield, CT