Money can be designed in ways that are 'democratic or dictatorial.'
The Bank of Canada Central Bank Digital Currency survey.
As usual, it feels as if we're in a race against time.
Over the past few weeks I've spoken to numerous groups (in Uxbridge, Port Perry, Newmarket, Parry Sound and elsewhere.) about the Bank of Canada's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Survey. I've been encouraging people to weigh in with their own thoughts on the subject. Most people, sadly, are not familiar with CBDC, but those who do understand what this is, almost without exception, are strongly opposed. Happily, this seems to be the typical response. My goal here (in part) is to show that the issue is rather more nuanced. Unfortunately, most people are not familiar with conventional ‘money mechanics’ either. The battle will not be over with the close of this survey though (on June 19th), and the Bank of Canada will likely move ahead as it intended all along. The public, therefore, needs to have a better understanding of how money actually works.
I have shared much of this material with folk on my regular mailing list already; but I wanted to post it here on Substack too, for the record, and I hope you will set aside an hour or so to take the survey:
https://www.bankofcanada.ca/digitaldollar/
If you'd like to dig deeper, I've linked a draft document (below) to provide some background, and to walk you (step by step) through some of the BoC’s trick questions.
Perhaps the most important point to consider when the Bank of Canada asks us how a CBDC should be designed (the title of this piece notwithstanding) is that central banks go to great lengths to assure us they are ‘independent’ and ‘neutral.’ It is equally important that the 'money' they create is also independent and neutral; that is: 'not subject to political whim and special interest agenda.'
I was moved to expand on this in light of the current Bill S-243:
https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/s-243
'An Act to enact the Climate-Aligned Finance Act and to make related amendments to other Acts'
(Please write to your Senators and MPs in opposition to this Bill)
This too would be the end of money as we’ve known it and, quite literally, the end of the world as we know it. I know this sounds melodramatic, but it isn’t. As I've often said in my presentations:
“The history of the world is the history of money.”
Even more melodramatic, but equally true (from the introduction):
'It should never be forgotten that the most deadly force in history (the thing that has killed more people than any natural disaster) is rogue governments.'
I probably don't need to remind anyone here that 'reality' has already left the building, where government is concerned. Governments routinely disregard (go out of their way to ignore) their own inconvenient statistics and data (MP Andrew Bridgen's recent presentations in the UK Parliament, for example). They act, rather, in accordance with narratives handed down to them from supranational organizations (The WHO, UN, BIS, WEF), not actual facts (even their own facts), and this leaves us in an exceedingly dangerous situation.
I hope you will find the following (working) document of interest:
Bank of Canada CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) survey Q&A
Thank you.
David