Free Republic

World reserve status allows for amazing latitude in terms of monetary policy. The Federal Reserve understands that there is constant demand for dollars overseas as a means to more easily import and export goods. The dollar’s petro-status also makes it essential for trading oil globally. This means that the central bank of the US has been able to create fiat currency from thin air to a far higher degree than any other central bank on the planet while avoiding the immediate effects of hyperinflation. Much of that cash as well as dollar denominated debt (physical and digital) ends up in...

“Banking is slightly illegal,” says world-renowned economist Richard Werner, who is leading the charge against CBDCs. In this episode of "The Glenn Beck Podcast," Richard teaches Glenn that “banks don’t take deposits, and banks don’t lend money.” That begs the question, “What do banks actually do?” This discussion may make you realize that all you think you know about money is wrong. That’s not all we don’t know about the economy. We also have no clue which banks make up the Federal Reserve, who created Bitcoin, or the real relationship between inflation and interest rates. But we do know that...

[…]Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), tie the financial freedom of citizens to the government and the banking establishment. The central bank issues its centralized digital currencies, and essentially creates a new monetary system, "fiat on steroids", a system that takes everything that is bad in the fiat system, and adds more of it; surveillance, control, censorship, and enforcement capabilities. A modern prison? Indeed, the CBDC is the ultimate prototype of a prison without physical chains. By connecting CBDCs to digital identity cards, and to government systems such as universal basic income, social credits and more, we get the ultimate control...

Global bank messaging network SWIFT is planning a new platform in the next one to two years to connect the wave of central bank digital currencies now in development to the existing finance system.. The move, which would be one of the most significant yet for the nascent CBDC ecosystem given SWIFT's key role in global banking, is likely to be fine-tuned to when the first major ones are launched. 90% of the world's central banks are now exploring digital versions of their currencies. Most don't want to be left behind by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but are grappling with...

Australians made $746 million in digital payments in 2018—that number soared to $93 billion in 2022.. A new all-in-one mobile app will offer what its developers claim is Australia’s first end-to-end digital banking platform for the country’s 2.4 million businesses with fewer than 10 employees. The announcement comes a day after Bankwest announced that it is closing 45 of its branches and transitioning the remaining 15 to Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) branches, going digital-only by October 2024. Bankwest is a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank, which trades on the Australian Stock Exchange. ... The new app, called Business+, was...

Satisfied with IAM systems after a six-team trial last season, the U.S. National Football League appears ready to go league-wide with biometric ID verification. The pilot came at the end of 3.5 years of digital IAM testing by the NFL. No sports leagues like to lose money when people get unpaid-for stadium access, but NFL owners are particularly upset by it compared to others. League owners are expected to set up a centralized facial recognition IAM service based on its Express Access authentication platform in the 2024 season. That would be for all 30 stadiums for the 32 teams, beginning...

I imagine life can often feel pretty difficult for today’s high school students. On top of dealing with classic teenage drama like homework, hormones, pimples, parents, driving, dating, university selection, and more, students these days have to contend with a host of new challenges. They suffered long periods of brutal Covid lockdowns. Active shooter drills are a normal part of student life. And, of course, there’s the nonstop anxiety and peer pressure of social media. Plus, on top of everything else, students today have also been force-fed some pretty bizarre ideas. Classical literature, advanced mathematics, and hard sciences have taken...

A Massachusetts woman has been charged with trespassing, assault on a court officer and disorderly conduct and is now facing jail time after trying to enter the State House without showing proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Michelle Efendi, a 37-year-old mother of four, could spend six months behind bars after her non-violent attempt to get into the State House in Boston. The incident took place shortly after the State House reopened to the public following its COVID-19 closure. She explained the reason for her visit to radio host Dr. Drew Pinsky, saying: “I wanted to meet my elected officials. No one...

A Florida man has chosen the next cultural wars flashpoint he will rally behind in an effort to mobilize the 2024 US presidential electorate: central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). "Such a currency would give a federal government, our federal government, the absolute control over your money," the former Wrestlemania star declared of CBDCs from a rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Wednesday. "They could take your money – you wouldn’t even know it was gone. This would be a dangerous threat to freedom." The busy former reality television host and American president took a moment away from his E. Jean...

Donald Trump has doubled down on his opposition to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) at a rally in Laconia, New Hampshire Monday Night. “Vivek wanted this: I will never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency,” Trump said, referring to crypto-friendly candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a critic of CBDCs, who recently suspended his campaign after a disappointing showing in Iowa. “This would be a dangerous threat to freedom, and I will stop it from coming to America,” he has previously said. “Such a currency would give a federal government, absolute control over your money. They could take your money,...

The keynote speaker of the World Economic Forum’s 2024 annual conference in Davos was Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President. She stated the top global risk for the EU is disinformation and misinformation, declaring disinformation destroys trust and limits the ability to “tackle the big global challenges.” In plain English, trust can only be restored by censoring inconvenient facts and evidence. Below is a short clip (1:39) highlighting her disinformation sermon. The top risk in the WEF’s 2024 Global Risk Report is disinformation. If not controlled, societies will be polarized, elections will be disrupted, and there will be mistrust...

One of the things I keep pointing out about the transnational elite is that, for the most part, they aren’t hiding who they are and what they want. It’s not some deep, dark conspiracy. They are proud of what they are doing. You can go to the websites of major corporations, universities, our federal government, or most conveniently the World Economic Forum and see what kind of dystopia they have planned for you. Basically, it boils down to this: let your betters run your lives, and by the way, we are your betters. If you find it surprising that people...

owever bad this year might prove to be, it might also be tremendously liberating. It is difficult for any American who loves this country to watch its political, economic, and military “leaders” destroy it. Part of the political theater propping up the illusion of electoral choice in this Kabuki dance that the State-controlled press calls “democracy” is the lie that officeholders from different parties are at each other’s throats. More Americans than ever finally see through this convenient fiction and understand that a single Uniparty acts as a guild of political thespians who are the face of a permanently entrenched...

“Society lives and acts only in individuals…. Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. ” —Ludwig von Mises Remember, you are a sovereign individual and the blob in our nation’s capital city is an undifferentiated mass of feckless protoplasm. You contain a cosmos of ideas and aspirations. The blob is an agglomeration of sham and failure. The blob stands for itself, not for our country. You and I can stand...

With the new “50-in-5” program, the United Nations, the Gates Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation are attempting to get 50 countries within 5 years to go fully digital on all information. This includes payments, tracking, tracing, recording, and monitoring of every citizen. Censorship, surveillance, and a retaliation mechanism are the three primary components the elites are implementing to trap all who seek freedom in a digital prison. Once a digital ID, CBDC, and a global data-sharing network are added to their arsenal of weapons, all resistance will be easily crushed. Now is the time to prepare and set up parallel...

America in the twenty-first century has been on an accelerating descent not unlike what befell ancient Rome. For some four centuries Rome’s Senate and constitution provided continuity which sustained the Roman Republic through various challenges. But in the end, what befell Rome from barbarian invasion, political corruption, and mobs that were manipulated and used by its Caesars, was a rampage against reason and freedom, leading to the Republic’s demise and transition to a centralized imperial authority under emperors. America's style and state of political decline and cultural degeneration differ in many ways from that of ancient Rome, but the big...

Ten members of the banking community are working with the New York Innovation Center (NYIC), which is part of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to explore the feasibility of the regulated liability network (RLN) — an interoperable digital money platform. The proposed RLN would use distributed ledger technology to improve financial settlements and would include central banks, commercial banks and regulated non-banks, the participating firms said Tuesday (Nov. 15) in a press release. “The 12-week PoC [proof of concept] will test a version of the RLN design that operates exclusively in U.S. dollars where commercial banks issue simulated...

Central bank digital currencies can push the world away from depending on the U.S. dollar, the organization said. . The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a handbook for global central banks regarding the development and implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The IMF’s “Central Bank Digital Currency Virtual Handbook” published last week pointed out that the increased use of CBDCs can “reduce dollarization” of the global economy—a situation where countries move away from relying on the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency. De-dollarization would push up borrowing costs in the United States, making loans expensive for businesses and individuals,...

The European Union (EU) is advancing plans to introduce a new “Digital Identity” that will be directly linked to a central bank digital currency (CBDC), a top Euro official has revealed.The plan was exposed Wednesday on social media by Dutch Member of the European Parliament Rob Roos.Roos posted a video on Twitter/X to reveal the outcome of a closed-door meeting between top Eurocrats about the plan to roll out the system to the public.After leaving the meeting, the MEP took to X to warn the public about the “very bad news.”Roos told his followers that one of the unelected bureaucrats...

DENVER (KDVR) — Some people are not getting their paychecks Friday due to a banking system issue. Deposits are reportedly delayed at multiple banks across the U.S. The Federal Reserve is reporting an issue with the Automated Clearing House, which is the primary system agencies use for electronic funds transfers. Customers of Bank of America, Chase, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and other banks have been reporting issues with deposits on X, formally Twitter, and Downdetector. Both Chase and Bank of America gave statements to CNN, confirming that some deposits may be delayed. The Fed reported a batch of transfers had...