While you weren’t looking India has banned cash
This is going to be a crushing disaster. In November India demonetized (banned) cash. Out of the blue, on the same day Trump was elected, India’s president got on TV and declared to the entire population that the rupee in their hands had 50 days until it was worth nothing. Even India’s engraving agency was caught off guard and had to literally stop the presses.
India’s consumer economy runs on cash. Its agricultural economy runs on cash. People are often paid in cash. Hell, even Uber takes cash there. So the chaos that ensued is difficult to fathom. (These comments were posted by Dan McCall of Liberty Maniacs. Please follow him on Twitter.)
What your crazy uncle has been warning was coming since you were a kid is happening now in India.
The lie they floated for doing this was to fight black markets and corruption. That hasn’t happened. They knew less than 10% of black market money is kept in cash, anyhow. The real reason was Orwellian and terrifying. India is biometrically scanning every single citizen biometrically and assigning them with a 10 digit unique government identifier. With this ID the government and financial system will be able to track everything they do, and all financial transactions will require a retinal or fingerprint scan. Absolute big brother/ Complete lockdown. Basically what your crazy uncle has been warning was coming since you were a kid is happening now in India.
Guess who was there to push it, too. Bill Gates partnered with the United States government under what’s called the “Better Than Cash Alliance”. The USAID “Catalyst” program has been spearheading this as a test run for the rest of the world. Others involved are US-based NGOs, banks, and credit card companies looking to cash in on India’s new financial slavery.
It’s madness.
(This was posted by the graphic artist, Dan McCall of Liberty Maniacs and reposted here with permission. If you haven’t already, please follow him on Twitter.)
Note: I consider myself a liberty activist and I was unaware of this. Were you? I’m just going to post a few more thoughts, but I want to encourage you to share this article and others (are there others?) so we can keep the liberty community up on this issue.
1: You’ll notice in almost all of the articles an effort to package this for the American people. This is a test case, because who cares about the civil liberties of India’s people? Just look at these quotes from the Washington Post.
(Look, it’s so easy!) In India, it often took days to produce all the documents that the government required. With the new “know-your-customer” procedures that are part of India Stack, all that is needed is a thumb print or retina scan, and an account can be opened within minutes….
…the United States should follow Modi’s lead in phasing out currency and moving toward a digital economy, because it would have “benefits that outweigh the cost.” Speaking of the inequity and corruption that is becoming an issue in the United States and all over the world, he said: “I believe very strongly that countries like the United States could and should move to a digital currency so that you would have the ability to trace this kind of corruption…
…We are not ready to become a cashless society, but there are many lessons that Silicon Valley and the United States can learn from the developing world…
Statement of Ambassador Jonathan Addleton, USAID Mission Director to India, four weeks before the currency ban:
India is at the forefront of global efforts to digitize economies and create new economic opportunities that extend to hard-to-reach populations. Catalyst will support these efforts by focusing on the challenge of making everyday purchases cashless.
2: Watch out for President Donald Trump. I see no evidence that President Trump gives a rip about civil liberties. Don’t get me wrong—it’s delightful to watch him upset the establishment and pull back from WWIII with Russia—but Pres. Trump is a utilitarian/marketing animal. If he can be fooled into supporting this in the U.S. he’ll do it. Who will withstand him?
Let’s keep our eyes on this story…
Links:
The Results From India’s Demonetization Campaign Are In
India’s billion-member biometric database raises privacy fears
Very little U.S. coverage of this story.
Washington’s role in India’s harsh experiment with abolishing cash