The Rush To A Cashless Society, by Brandon Smith

A fundamental pillar of true free markets is the existence of choice; the availability of options from production to providers to purchase mechanisms without interference from governments or corporate monopolies. Choice means competition, and competition drives progress. Choice can also drive changes within society, for if people know a better or more secure way of doing things exists, why would anyone want to stay trapped within the confines of a limited system? At the very least, people should be allowed to choose economic mechanisms that work best for their particular situation.

This is not how our society functions today, and free market do not exist anywhere in modern nations including the US. Whenever I hear someone (usually a socialist) blame free market “capitalism” for the oppressive ailments of the world, I have to laugh. The alliance between governments and corporate monopolies (what Mussolini called national socialism or fascism) makes free markets utterly impossible. What we have today is an amalgamation of socialist economic interference and corporatocracy. Our system is highly restrictive and micro-managed for everyone except the money elites, who do not have to follow the same rules the rest of us do.

Of course, I might be preaching to the choir when it comes to these issues. But, there are some underlying developments being pushed forward by globalists hell-bent on a one world monetary system and a one world government that even many liberty activists are not fully aware of.

In alternative economic circles, the US dollar is seen as the end-all-be-all of fiat currency dominance. Many activists see it as the key to the power of the global elites and they think the Federal Reserve is the top of the globalist pyramid. This is not exactly true.

The US dollar is itself just another tool of the banking cabal, and tools sometimes lose their usefulness over time. While it could be said that for the past several decades the dollar as the world reserve currency was the core of globalist influence, this is about to change and we can see the signs today. The rush towards a cashless society in the past few years is startling and unfortunately too many liberty activists have been suckered into thinking that it’s is a good thing.

There are a number of reasons for this. As mentioned above, activists see the dollar (or Fed note) as fuel for the globalist machine, and so obviously they would like to see it go down in flames. They also are generally proponents of free markets, and the exploding trend of cryptocurrencies has given them the illusion that “choice” is returning to economy through “monetary competition”. I understand the basis for this attitude, and I appreciate where it’s coming from. I also have never been a proponent of the dollar or any other central bank fiat system. This article should not be misinterpreted as a defense of dollar hegemony.

That said, there is a much bigger agenda at play here, and the dollar is only one fading part of it as it is being quietly replaced by a completely digital framework. We have to once again ask ourselves – Who really benefits from a sudden shift in the economic and monetary world? Who gains political and social power through a cashless society? Is it the public? Or, is it the same banking elites and globalists that have always held sway over our economic structure?

In 2017 I published an article called ‘The Globalist One World Currency Will Look A Lot Like Bitcoin’. In it, I warned that the trendy marketing of cryptocurrencies to the general public by the mainstream media was extremely suspicious and contrary to the notion that the establishment was “terrified” of Bitcoin or blockchain tech putting them out of business. I also warned of the deep involvement of international banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan in the progress of blockchain infrastructure and more specifically Goldman Sachs and the IMF’s love affair with digital monetary systems. Goldman Sachs even referred to the blockchain as “the new technology of trust…”

Clearly, the banking elites are not worried about this technology. In fact, they have been investing in it heavily. But why?  I have long held that current popular cryptocurrencies are nothing more than a beta test for a global digital currency system controlled by the elites.

This is not to say that many people are familiar with using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. In fact, only a tiny percentage of the population ever comes into contact with or trades crypto. What I am saying is, the terminology, the idea of cryptocurrencies, is now widespread.

Thanks to a vast amount of media attention, Bitcoin is a household brand even though most people have never owned a bitcoin (or a portion of a bitcoin). Whale investors have hyperinflated the price of Bitcoin and certain other coins to levels beyond all reason as demand by the investment world and average people for the mechanism is minimal at best. These price explosions, though brief, have spurred public curiosity. And, in the minds of many if something is considered valuable, no matter how ethereal or arbitrary the measure, there must be a reason…right? Therefore, in the minds of bitcoin cheerleaders high market prices prove by default that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are necessary and desirable and anyone who is critical or skeptical is merely “upset” that they “missed out on the opportunity”.

I have always said when asked about my position on Bitcoin and crypto that if you want to try to make money on one of these coins and think you can play the market, then by all means, the more power to you. But, for those who thought that cryptocurrencies are a tool for activism and fighting the central banks, all I can say is you have been duped.

Over the course of a decade, the masses have been acclimated to the idea of a digital currency system. They are now being acclimated to the idea that physical currencies should be done away with and replaced with the “more efficient” blockchain tech – Death to the dollar, death to the Fed and death to the globalists say activists as they cheer for the new digital landscape! But this is not what is really happening. The death of the dollar and physical cash is only the primer for a new and even more invasive world order.

In the past two years the agenda for a cashless system and a one world currency has gone mainstream. The plans that liberty analysts were once called “conspiracy theorists” for talking about ten years ago are now out in the open. The latest barrage of propaganda was launched by the governor of the Bank Of England, Mark Carney, who openly warned of the end of the dollar’s world reserve status, comparing it to the end of the Pound Sterling’s reserve status after WWII. He also noted that the dollar could be replaced by a new digital currency system and that this would be advantageous the banking system.

This piggybacks on comments made by globalist and PIMCO CEO Mohamed El-Erian in 2017, who stated in an op-ed that the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket system could be used to replace the dollar as world reserve and that this would help to “fight the rise of populism”.

Next, Facebook introduced the concept of the “Libra” digital currency, which Mark Carney also suggested central banks would be watching closely. Libra, in my view, is a test designed to lure wider public into using digital currency on a regular basis. As noted, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies gained exposure but not preference. Where they failed to infiltrate the daily trade of the average citizen, Libra could eventually succeed.

So far I think the reaction is not what the globalists hoped for. Instead, Facebook is taking it slowly by introducing a new internal payment system called “Facebook Pay” similar to Paypal. Libra, or something like it, will likely make a reappearance in the next couple of years on Facebook and on other platforms.

Next, former ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet argued in favor of a digital version of the SDR basket system at the Caixin conference in Beijing, arguing that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were not stable enough or “legitimate” enough to take on the role of central bank currencies. Many argue that this is proof that the globalists are afraid of cryptocurrencies. On the contrary, I see this as yet another example of the ongoing fake battle between bankers and crypto. They criticize certain aspects of the technology while at the same time investing in it and promoting it. Like the false left/right paradigm, there is a kind of false central bank/crypto paradigm as well.

Trichet’s argument for an IMF dominated crytpocurrency was surely welcomed in Beijing, where the Chinese have long supported the proliferation of the SDR and have called for the SDR to replace the dollar. The Chinese are not the only one’s. The Russian government has also called for the IMF to take over the global monetary system with the SDR basket.  Russia has all but decoupled from the dollar, dumping it’s US treasury holding, stockpiling a large supply of gold and removing the dollar in bilateral trade agreements with other nations.

Last year Europe began establishing a new alternative to the US controlled SWIFT payment system. Germany in particular criticized the US system as a geopolitical weapon. Now, an association of major banks in Germany and in the EU is calling for a digital Euro based on the blockchain ledger.

The IMF has been openly publishing white papers that agree with the assessment that a global digital currency is needed, and with former IMF head Christine Lagarde now in charge at the ECB, it is likely that a Euro cryptocurrency system will soon make a public appearance.

In the meantime, multiple central banks are pursuing a cashless system and digital currencies of their own. China has announced a national digital currency system will be realized in the next 18 months. The Swiss central bank is exploring digital currency options, and Russia is considering launching a cryptocurrency as well.

The rhetoric coming from the mainstream media and the banking establishment is that physical methods of payment will soon disappear. This is being called the “democratization of money”, and the “multipolar world order”; I’m sorry to say that it’s the exact opposite.

The claim is that the end of cash and specifically the end of the dollar will result in more choice in the monetary world. But the end of physical cash is actually a removal of choice and the result is MORE centralization. The banking elites are so excited about the digital currency model because it removes all privacy from trade. As I have outlined in past articles, cryptocurrency and blockchain tech have no anonymity whatsoever despite claims originally circulated by proponents and cypto-activists. It is also clear that central banks intend to introduce their own highly managed currencies and most other coins will be buried in the process.

The multipolar and multilateral world order memes are also a fraud. China, Russia, Europe and other nations are demanding an alternative to the dollar, but if that alternative ends up being a digitized version of the SDR basket under the IMF’s control as these countries have suggested, then this means total global centralization, not decentralization.

Real decentralization would mean the removal of bureaucratic oversight and micromanagement. It would mean that physical currencies backed by gold and silver could be offered as an alternative option, not just cryptocurrencies or fiat backed by nothing. After all, gold and silver have far more individual investors worldwide than cryptocurrencies do. How about some real competition instead of price suppression of metals by the likes of JP Morgan?

It would mean localized currencies and payment systems backed by hard commodities, not one worldwide currency and payment system backed by nothing. It would mean nations breaking from dependence not just on the dollar, but also breaking from globalist institutions like the IMF, BIS and World Bank. The globalists are attempting to sell us on slavery by packaging it as “free markets”. The solution is to not use the systems they promote and be ready to fight tooth and nail for real decentralization.

This article was first posted at Alt-Market.com, and is re-posted with permission.




31 Comments

  1. As someone who also follows this sort of thing, yes, it does indeed look like we will be forced into a digital currency. We will become a cashless society. It will be a part of a total surveillance system, with a social credit score. Eventually they will require us to be ‘chipped’. All you gotta do is accept the ‘chip’ to participate. No ‘chip’, no job, no medical, no money, no nothing for you except perhaps a homeless facility. Oh, but wait, a chip would be require for that too. The Beast System is rising fast. Do not take the ‘chip’. Tipped off by the Bible, I’ve been working for years to learn how to deal with this. Yes, I believe I can live by bartering, and will not be tempted to take the ‘chip’.

    1. Tunnel Rabbit, your predictions will come true and faster than folks think. ‘Beast System’ is a good term to describe what is headed our way.

      Liberty requires self-reliance. I see it every time folks barter, or use silver in exchange for goods and services. Yes folks, silver is used as money in many parts of the American Redoubt.

      1. Yes, junk silver dimes, silver eagles, and common caliber ammunition, such .22LR has all been discussed as possible currency. And there will be other desirable, and essential items and services that will be exchanged. We are already cash poor, and already barter. I recently exchanged radios, antennas, and programming for ammunition. And there will be a black market. This ‘culture’ does not exist much elsewhere.

        And if you are in the Redoubt, MURS is the radio service that most like minded people have in their radios, as well as the Ham bands. And radio will suddenly be in wide use. I know of one major business that is installing radios again. Be sure to have at least one open banded VHF mobile radio capable of at least 25 watts. Many Hams in your area will be monitoring 146.520 Mhz. At some point amateur licenses will be revoked. Gas will be expensive, but radios are still inexpensive.

        1. Can you explain how we are going to pay our mortgages and car payments in old silver coins and bullets?

          Large purchases will be almost impossible on any large scale using barter, unless there is a total breakdown of society and current government.

          Maybe then you can pay for your mortgage in cows.

          1. JW,
            I do not know how mortgages might be paid. I do not have a mortgage, or any debt. No one knows exactly what is on the other side, and when a reset, if there is a reset, and will occur, yet we can see the trends and the trajectory. If they go digital as I believe they will attempt to do, that does not mean we will be required to be ‘chipped’ at that time. I would certainly start working on a plan B, and C. They have lost control over the financial system, and so now they only slow the process of the collapse down. It could easily slip out of totally out control, and collapse over night.

            I am prepared to live without digital money, yet some will be able to continue in a digital world. But when it comes to the chip, that is where I would draw the line for sure. I will not risk loosing my salvation.

          2. JW,,,,,I was told as a young man If you have a mortgage you are living beyond your self ,and I was a slave , my forefather came here as a indentured ,sold part of his life for freedom ,(1650)
            Most people I interview to come to ‘valley ‘ are rejected , Most common reason is they can’t give up “stuff” odds are your house is just “stuff ” in the long run.

            Learn to live well with less

            And yes cows will pay things off ,some times one steak at a time ,want to know how I know?
            If just the talk makes you angry ,is time to rethink some things

            Not being snarky just honest

          3. I don’t know about paying a mortgage with cows, but I know a local rancher that barters for beef. Labor and other goods can be paid for with whatever commodity is available and in demand. I trade labor all the time: “work for me for a day and I’ll work for you for a day”- this is very common. If the US goes fully cashless with a requisite microchip to participate, I think many of us will refuse to participate. This will be problematic for large purchases requiring a lender, but a boon to existing barter networks. All the more reason to strive for a debt free lifestyle.

        2. A concern that I have about getting a ham license is the possibility of the government confiscating my equipment. I can see big brother going to the houses of every licensed ham operator and taking their radios so that they don’t spread information through the country and tell people what is going on in the nation. I think that an intrusive and domineering government wouldn’t want the citizens to know what evil deeds they are up to and since they will have the main stream media in their pockets the only real threat is ham operators.

          1. To M-ray,

            That’s is correct. Those with licenses registered the fact that they radio equipment. I would have spare radio equipment purchased with cash, well hidden with your spare rifles. It is almost standard procedure for governments to revoke, or ‘temporarily’ suspend amateur radio licences during times of war. Heck, this was done not so long ago by own government, during WW2. All that said, the primary reason to get a license is to get on air and develop skills. Without knowledge and skills, radio will not be nearly as useful, and you will not be as likely to get on air without some experience, once things go ‘south’. However, you do not need a license to operate on MURS. I started at age 8. It is child’s play! No one to talk to? Find a kid.

  2. This article and comments make me so sad. This is the truth. If you’ve been paying attention at all over the last 30 years, the playbook is clearly unfolding.
    There will be false flags where innocents die. Fighting terrorism and drug trafficking will be the banner causes, and they will even tickle the Patriotic Duty notion – because nothing says sovereignity like handing your national currency over to a bunch of unelected beaurocrats in a foreign land!
    Truly, weep for our cause, because the future is there for you to see.

  3. The chip: To buy and sell, work and medical etc, etc, How many have thought about paying your morgage and your TAXES. How does one survive if you must chip to own land ??? Will someone chip to be the landowner and have tenant farmers/workers on the land? Technacialy you can’t rent without a chip, and your bank accounts will be gone so you will have to work off your room and board. Food for thought.

    1. That is going to be a serious problem for those outside the Redoubt. Around here, land owners are not giving up their land, and I am certain all parties will eventually come to an understanding….

      1. Tunnel Rabbit,
        I am in the redoubt and as a land owner I must pay taxes to government. I don’t see any way to evade the government system.
        Dicey times .

        1. Bluesman,
          If it is possible, pay many years ahead, and save up in silver. In my county, one can get 3 years behind before the county takes it. Because the county is so poor, I believe that a large percentage will not be able to pay, or will refuse because they will not be chipped. In my estimation, there would be no way the Sheriff will be able to remove all these people.

          1. T R,
            Thanks for the pre pay idea. I will check with the county and see about a prepay program. Yes , the sheriff’s department would be very busy. Our county is on the poor side as well.
            Just a thought, perhaps silver/gold would be unlawful to have like in the Roosevelt years.

  4. As long as you sit at home this can come true. Look at what the citizens of Virginia are doing in response to their governor and legislature choosing to trash the 2nd amendment. The paid left wing protestors are the only ones demonstrating on national issues. If you don’t stand up and make your voice heard than indeed the elite will walk all over you.

  5. Thx very much for the great article JWR.
    Tunnel Rabbit, can you recommend a course of action for those outside the Redoubt and too poor to buy land in the Redoubt?

    1. Nathan ,,,why buy ????most in our ‘valley’ rent ,, we have seven stake holders that own 28,000 ac (old ranches) we rent to like thinkers for a’ dollar ‘a day per acre ,yes we have some rules,
      There other places you can rent ,
      The day that you wait is the day that you lose

  6. Taking out the grid is a moral problem as it would cause suffering for those that are dependent on it (electricity). Too bad, because everything the globalists are doing is only possible with juice. What’s less wrong: Allowing the continuation of mankind to be reduced to enslaved, surveilled robots ?
    Or destroying the #1 thing that makes it possible ?

    1. Hoot ,,,life with out grid is More than possible ,DW and I have been ‘off’ 40+years ,yes you do some things differently ,you must take responsibility for your needs and wants ,it’s not a good match for bubble heads. You learn to judge the time of day and act accordingly, but you have a freedom that city critters will never know , you can live far enough out that you have a dark sky and can see ALL of the stars ,and if your out far enough the tv won’t work and you can learn to talk to the folks with you ,

      Cows need feed ,, and its getting dark

    2. You know, Hoot, I’ve always wondered whether the Tower of Babel was planned to be some kind of high tech communications transmitter or other related device. Perhaps it’s time for history to repeat itself?

  7. Correct in that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. We must be involved or liberty fails as Ben Franklin stated all those years ago, “A Republic, if you can keep it”, meaning everyone from every generation must work at it or it will slip away. Remember boys & girls, they only have power over you (in the case of chipping everything under the sun) if you give it to them. Simply say NO! Think logistics here! They will soon dance to a different tune once they realize the shelves in their grocer are bare, and the local gas station hasn’t had a delivery in over a week and is not about to get one and all the other items they ir lives revolve around having delivered to them from someone else are no longer available.
    Remember also in this so called cashless society it’s all about control over you and what/where/how you go and live your life. Unless you have physical control over your assets, you have nothing. The push appears to be increasing, soon I fear it will be the time of the great burning….. B ready!

  8. Tunnel rabbit,,,at my trading post in the redoubt we do not use even 90percent. Only silver rounds or barter ,,,,yes it works ,everyone understands and things work well ,might add web and any web transaction are also banned no ifs and or buts. Folks that don’t like it can leave,,
    As for land tax we use a trust to hide some things
    Tea time

  9. Nathan ,,,read Atlas Shrugged, then ask again ,We are scattered in five states outside the ‘valley’ ,,,the valley is home to about 200 like thinkers full time ,our numbers have grown over time ,last news letter was mailed to over 500 addresses outside of the ‘valley’ ,, north central Idaho ,
    The road in is not used much in winter , most bug out boxes are shipping cans ,
    Enough for now ,,,,read the book for insight ,and think about what skill can /will I bring if you were welcomed

  10. We lost the Republic on April 12th 1861 (The first round fired in the Civil War) from that point on States were subject to the dictates of the Federal government, we were no longer a Constitutional Republic.

    We lost our National Sovereignty December 23,1913 with the establishment of the Federal Reserve. We sold our birthright of Liberty for a false sense of security, a thought that there would a total currency stability. Our government became slave to the International Banking system, the International Elite. Isn’t it interesting that within 5 years we were involved in WW1…..something that was in total violation of the Monroe Doctrine!! To me the greatest Foreign Relation blunder in U.S. history. From that point on it has been a downward spiral into total slavery. Debt is Slavery, just not with pretty shiny chains!

    Governments are only here to control population bases. They have no control in the grand scheme of the Internationalists. The ONLY thing the Internationalist fear is a True Constitutional Republic or a strong Dictator {outside their control). The only reason Hitler came
    to power was because of the entry on the U.S. into WW1. If we would have maintained the support of the Monroe Doctrine the entire coarse of world history would have been changed.
    I have no ‘crystal ball’, I have know idea how the coarse of history would have gone, BUT, there would have been NO HITLER, NO WW2 (as we have suffered it). OUR ACTIONS OR IN ACTIONS have results far beyond our ability to conceive. We are ALWAYS at the cusp of changing the coarse of history, our current times will be noted, for good or evil, for many centuries to come. May God direct our steps, as we have proven throughout history, we are very poor at directing our own path.

Comments are closed.