Like many governments around the world, the Biden administration seems determined to limit Americans’ monetary freedom by taxing it away, and by manipulating and controlling how they store and spend their money. Here are a few examples of how this is happening.
Let’s start with the most obvious, which is the loss in purchasing power Americans have experience over the past two years. Inflation is a hidden tax levied on Americans. Inflation is a regressive tax, in that it hurts the working and middle classes the most. The government’s official Consumer Price Index data indicate that the U.S. dollar has lost 14 percent of its value since 2020. Yet anyone who has bought groceries, filled up their gas tank, or paid their electrical bill knows full well that this number grossly underestimates the true rise in the basic costs that comprise everyday life for most Americans. Using the same calculator back to 2000, the loss of purchasing power is 43 percent. Because there is a limit to how much taxes can be raised, inflation becomes an alternative means to an end.
Then there is the push to eliminate cash as a form of payment, given new wind during the pandemic panic. The reasons usually given for a cashless society are to reduce crime, to reduce the costs and effort of printing currency and coins, and, especially during 2020, to eliminate use of a possible carrier of contagious germs.
But who benefits from the shift to a cashless society? Not the individuals who would like to use it. Financial institutions greatly benefit from the billions of dollars made every year on credit card and payment transaction fees. Government agencies certainly also benefit, as the tax authorities, intelligence agencies, and other three letter entities are able to fully surveil digital transactions, not just for tax compliance but, more ominously, for political compliance. The greatest danger here is that total surveillance of all financial transactions provides governments with enormous persuasive power over its citizens. Social credit scores are the next step. Thinking of spending on opposition political parties or perhaps buying a firearm? Only if you’re allowed to, and then at great risk to yourself.
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