A New Dollar: The ICO the U.S. Government will Force on You
Something has broken in the capital markets.
After the U.S. stock market had one of its fastest drops in history during the month of March — catalyzed by the coronavirus pandemic — the United States Federal Reserve stepped in with trillions of dollars of stimulus to attempt and prevent a complete economic collapse.
But can they really save the U.S.? Never before in American history have we had such a large number of zombie companies (companies with no income and large amounts of debt), over-levered hedge funds and banks, and a nearly bankrupt citizenry. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed a structural issue in the U.S. markets and economy — and that issue is trying to be solved the same way we solved the 2008 financial crisis: through the extraordinary printing of new money.
Following the 2008 financial crisis, the U.S. stock market entered an 8–10 year bull market. The problem (they said) was solved! But most Americans know that the 2008 crisis was never really “solved”. The standard of living across the U.S. has decreased dramatically over the last 12 years, increasing the average individual’s cost of living and shrinking the middle class.
It’s been harder than ever to get ahead in the United States. Nearly every American can sense it.
The government metrics are bogus. Our capital markets are all smoke and mirrors. The stock bull market of the last 8–10 years has had less to do with improvements in the underlying U.S. economy, and more to do with stock buybacks, corporate socialism, and big-government cronyism. And now the Federal Reserve is prepared to save this broken system at all costs.
The result is the printing of money in amounts that the United States has never seen. An action that, when this is all over, may have more parallels to Zimbabwe or the Weimar Republic than 2008 or the Great Depression.
And this is the Fed’s only solution. Why?
Because of the United States’ 23 trillion dollars of debt (and counting).
If the Federal Reserve allows a market collapse, the interest rate paid on debt will skyrocket and the value of the USD will go through the roof. The U.S. Government relies on low debt payments and a weakening U.S. Dollar in order to stay solvent. Without that, they default.
The U.S. government defaulting on their debt would roil global confidence in the West. The fallout would be cataclysmic.
This sets up a situation where the only way to prevent the complete destruction of confidence in the U.S. — its government contracts, equities, and currency — is to administer a policy that seeks to stave off the inevitable for as long as possible.
But eventually, these actions will catch up to the Federal Reserve. Our dollar will inflate in value to a point where its value lacks any meaning and it will become worthless paper. But before this happens, the Fed has one more trick up its sleeve:
It can create a New Dollar to reset its monetary policy and seize control of its currency.
This isn’t an insane precedent. The U.S. did this most recently in the 1970s when we jumped off the gold standard. By choosing to de-peg the dollar from gold we effectively created a new currency and absolved ourselves from the debts we previously owed.
[The most pressing debt was a German tanker that arrived in the U.S. with the request that the U.S. — the holder-of-last-resort for global gold reserves — give them back their gold in exchange for cash. The U.S. left the gold standard instead of allow a run on their bank that would have exposed the fact that they didn’t have enough gold.]
Therefore, the precedent for this New Dollar will be set by a hyperinflation that threatens to bankrupt the U.S. Treasury. But what does this New Dollar look like? How is it packaged?
New-age tech! Digital-tismo! The blockchain!
The New Dollar will be a psuedoblockchain-based digital currency. And not the fun, cypherpunk kind.
Upon its mandated creation, all owners of USD will have to convert their USD into this New Dollar. We will effectively be forced participants in the U.S. government’s ICO.
Why forced?
Because most of our money today is already digital. You hold your money with an institution that just updates a spread sheet with 1’s and 0’s. By mandate of the Federal Reserve and U.S. Government, your bank will automatically convert your USD balance into the New Dollar. And even more of your financial freedom will be abolished.
This will force all payments into the digital realm, where it will be infinitely easier to track and record — and confiscate. The move to a digital currency would allow the US Government, the IRS, and even the Federal Reserve complete control (and direct access) to EVERYONE’S finances. You won’t be able to move the New Dollar out of this digital banking system — and cash will be mostly a relic of the past, outside of very small denominations.
Just like we used to have $500, $1,000, and $10,000 bills in the past, soon the issuance of anything over the cost of a “dinner for two” will not be printed.
This isn’t crazy paranoia! Cash is already hard enough to withdraw from your bank, with draconian reporting laws for cash withdrawals over $10,000 (a number that the government set long ago and refuses to adjust for inflation, by the way).
A New Dollar will effectively attempt to shore up U.S. monetary policy and help the United States reassert its financial dominance over the rest of the world… and your pocketbook. The best result will be a return to the post-2008 malaise, the worst will be the effective destruction of the middle class.
…if they succeed.
