11 Comments
Apr 26Liked by David McGrogan

Cornerstone of corporate feudalism managed via social credit. We're already in it (in case anyone hasn't noticed), so I'm guessing that's why the language is so mealy and the intention is to go ahead without any democratic conversation. What seems odd to me (and this is historically consistent) is how easy it is to get enough folks on board with clearly destructive ideas and behaviours. It ought to give one pause when the words *inclusion* and *community* make your skin crawl.

Expand full comment
Apr 26Liked by David McGrogan

I read the article and I wondered, at first, if CBDC was a 'Nineteen Eighty Four' play to underpin Big Brother.

But on reflection, if there are enthusiasts, I have come around to the idea that CBDCs are a step, a big step, on the long march to Utopia. Progressives have already practically completed the long march through the institutions and have now raised their eyes to distant Utopia. Getting there will require a second long march and there will be literal or figurative corpses cast by the wayside. People who don't follow the leaders of the march (those outside financial inclusion) will be regarded with suspicion and eventually compelled to join the march.

Since Utopia is an ideally perfect state, especially in terms of social, political and moral aspects (all defined by our Glorious Leaders) it will never be achieved. Humans are too variable in these aspects to abide such a straightjacket.

To quote from another song:

There may be trouble ahead

But while there's moonlight and music and love and romance

Let's face the music and dance

Some nifty footwork may be required.

Expand full comment
Apr 26Liked by David McGrogan

"A sense of trust to encourage adoption": have the elusive mindbenders-the behavioural psychologists complicit in the Covic Control fest been coopted by HMG to treat us to some more right think I wonder?

The bland corporate phraseology with creepy undertones suggests so.

Here is an exposé by Dr Gary Sidley of the various movers and shakers responsible for the lockdown's LTITE:

https://dailysceptic.org/2024/04/24/who-was-responsible-for-the-look-them-in-the-eyes-campaign/

Admittedly, this link is not directly pertinent, but it provides a critique of the enthusiastic use of nudging ; nudging which will no doubt be employed to soften us up for the advent of CBDC.

Has Tony Blair involved himself yet?

Expand full comment
Apr 26Liked by David McGrogan

What is HMRC's opinion? Will CBDC facilitate taxation and make evasion more challenging? Will staff cuts ensue as taxation is automatically deducted?

Will a lively black -off the radar-economy expand, as resourceful types with sufficient expertise find ways tomoutwit the technocrats?

Expand full comment

Restore Magna Carta to reinstate trial by jury then we can hold the usurpers to account and annul treasonous statutes.

Expand full comment

"if anybody alive in the world in 2024 is unable or unwilling to avail themselves of a bank account or to make digital payments for things, ‘How about storing what little wealth you have in a completely untested digital currency which only exists online and which can only be transacted on the central bank’s core ledger?’ is somewhat unlikely to be a winning proposition."

If you are in and out of prison, of no fixed abode, got a terrible credit rating, got no ID, the list goes on, then you are in the "unable to avail" category. The financial services available to these people are somewhere between non-existent and criminal. 40% APR anyone? Using a BoE provided system that is secure and has no fees may indeed look like the winner relative to these crappy alternatives. Even to physical cash: how do you stop it being nicked when you are sleeping in a public place or in a coercive relationship? I am not saying the CBDC proponents really care about these people (other than taking care to step over them when leaving the opera / management consultancy offices) but because of the BoE's negligence in keeping cash relevant, the people who need it can't spend it online and spending it in person is getting harder and only heading in one direction.

Expand full comment

"every single person’s every financial decision included in the central bank’s core ledger, is clearly the trajectory which these people are on". I can't work out if you are saying they wish this were the case but it illustrates their delusion because for practical and technical reasons it is as likely as actually leaving the ECHR, or they are working on it and sooner or later they will make it a reality. If it is the latter, how? The ledger would have CBDC transactions, not "every financial decision", so not include physical cash, credit cards, bank transactions, asset transfers etc. Or are you saying they would somehow be copied onto the ledger?

Expand full comment