Results 1 to 21 of 21

Thread: Big Brother Libertarians: Cato Institute Sells Out for the Cashless Society

  1. #1

    Big Brother Libertarians: Cato Institute Sells Out for the Cashless Society

    The Cato Institute, a Washington D.C. think-tank funded in part by globalist oligarchs David and Charles Koch, has formally endorsed the notion of a cashless society that would enable centralized government control over the entire economy on an unforeseen scale.
    Economics professors Michael D. Bordo and Andrew T. Levin wrote a white paper for the Cato Journal titled, “Improving the Monetary Regime: The Case for U.S. Digital Cash.” They argue that digital cash is necessary so the “Federal Reserve can provide sufficient monetary stimulus to preserve price stability.”
    “Our analysis indicates that the Federal Reserve should take active steps to establish digital cash as the fulcrum of the U.S. monetary system,” the Cato analysts wrote.
    Although they do not propose explicit banning the use of paper cash, they admit that their proposal would phase it out and eventually lead to a digital-only system where paper currency becomes a thing of the past.


    They wrote: “Once digital cash becomes convenient and ubiquitous, the demand for paper currency will rapidly diminish.”

    The analysts confusingly claim that digital paper money would “foster true price stability” while admitting that a cashless system would allow the central bank to inflate currency instruments limitlessly.
    “Paper cash pays zero interest and hence limits the extent to which a central bank can provide conventional monetary accommodation by reducing nominal interest rates in the face of weak aggregate demand and persistently low inflation,” they wrote.
    The Cato economists argue that there should be a market of sorts for digital cash competitors competing among each other to secure deposits, but with government regulation playing a role as well.
    “In effect, the provision of digital cash would be similar to that of many other public goods such as water, electricity, and transportation,” the analysts wrote.
    The economists argue that “digital cash accounts can bear interest at essentially the same rate as Treasury bills, thereby serving as a secure store of value.”

    They also wrote: “Digital cash would facilitate the systematic and transparent conduct of monetary policy, thereby facilitating the effectiveness of the monetary transmission mechanism and enhancing the central bank’s accountability to elected officials and the public.”
    Not much evidence, if any, is provided for these and other claims made throughout the corporate think-tank’s white paper. They readily applauded moves that the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank are making toward the implementation of digital cash (ie. the status quo), and urged these monolithic institutions to move even faster.
    The analysts also proposed a taxation regime to charge fees punishing individuals not ready to comply with the new monetary authority.
    “Small transfers — say, up to $100 per week for an individual or $10,000 for a small business — would be completely exempt from such fees. Moderately larger transfers would be subject to a nominal fee (e.g., 2-3 percent), roughly similar to the size of withdrawal fees at many ATMs and cash service fees incurred by many small businesses. And the largest transfers (say, over $5,000) would be subject to an even larger fee (e.g., 5-10 percent),” the economists wrote.
    They also claim that the ability for central planners to easily enact negative interest rates would ensure “financial stability.”


    “The central bank would be able to reduce the digital cash interest rate below zero, thereby preventing runs from other financial assets into digital cash,” the analysts wrote.
    This commentary flies in the face of what is preached by adherents to Austrian economics, the school of economic thought commonly associated with libertarianism.
    Ryan McMaken of the Mises Institute pointed out that a cashless society would result in mass chaos and calamity if the power grid and other key infrastructure were to go down.
    “Going cashless makes an economy more fragile, and makes ordinary people sitting ducks whenever there is a natural disaster, or even worse disruptions such as wars,” McMaken wrote.
    Austrian economist Thorsten Polleit noted that the cashless society would ruin freedom of choice for consumers in the marketplace.
    “Banning cash is infringing on the freedom of citizens on a massive scale. In withdrawing cash, the citizen is bereft of choice for his payments. After all, the state has the monopoly on the production of money. There is no competition on cash. Thus, nobody but the state can satisfy the demand for money by citizens,” Polleit wrote.
    The libertarian icon, retired Texas Congressman Ron Paul, has spoken out frequently about the evils of the cashless society for many decades. Virginia Fidler is another commentator who has cogently explained why eliminating paper money is so dangerous to privacy and liberty.
    “The government, of course, is extremely interested in your spending habits. The taxing authorities use an electronic money trail to monitor your spending and ensure against tax evasion,” Fidler wrote.
    “Your electronic purchase trail is nirvana to large corporations. Knowing your spending habits allows them to customize their ads to an ever-larger consumer base. They know what you need before you do and are ready to entice you with specials, sales and “act now” deals,” she added.
    The Cato Institute, once an organization that was considered libertarian, has joined the dark side, perhaps quite literally.
    Revelation 13:17: “And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.”
    Whether wittingly or unwittingly, Cato is proposing a new monetary authority that would give central planners authority on a level never before seen. It cannot be supported by libertarians with an interest in limiting government power.

    https://libertyconservativenews.com/...hless-society/


    Corpratist
    American
    Traitors
    Organization
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



  2. Remove this section of ads by registering.
  3. #2
    Another Trejo article, and another post pointedly splitting Libertarians into factions.

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by angelatc View Post
    Another Trejo article, and another post pointedly splitting Libertarians into factions.
    All Hail the Mark of the Beast!

    Heil Koch!
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    All Hail the Mark of the beast!

    Heil Koch!
    CATO has always been the voice of beltway Libertarians. How wonderful is it to see the self-anointed purists again take up the talking points of the left in order to destroy any semblance of party cohesion as we enter the 2020 election season.

    You should get a room with DonnaY.

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by angelatc View Post
    CATO has always been the voice of beltway Libertarians. How wonderful is it to see the self-anointed purists again take up the talking points of the left in order to destroy any semblance of party cohesion as we enter the 2020 election season.

    You should get a room with DonnaY.
    CATO is literally pushing for expanded powers for the Fed to steal from everyone and to implement the Mark of the Beast system.

    They may have been marginal allies before but they are now enemies who may work with us on some things like anti-war Demoncrats.

    You can't possibly defend their actions but you either worship anyone who labels themselves a libertarian or you have just decided to hate me so you make this about me instead of the issues.


    Speaking of people trying to stir up trouble among libertarians:

    Today in Libertarian Dramaworld, a Pedo is Exposed

    Started by angelatc, 03-22-2019
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  7. #6
    Banned


    Blog Entries
    1
    Posts
    7,273
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Quote Originally Posted by angelatc View Post
    $#@! the left. They only use the antiwar effort as a recruiting tool.
    Remember this quote?

    Remember this one?

    Quote Originally Posted by "me"
    Yes, yesss. let the hate flow!
    Now look at this one:

    Quote Originally Posted by angelatc View Post
    Another Trejo article, and another post pointedly splitting Libertarians into factions.
    Your arguing is stopping the division, I see.

    Something big happened tonight.

    I will join in the division:
    "you are dumb because paper money is better than fake money because I am more Libertarian than you"

    See how easy that was?

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by angelatc View Post
    You should get a room with DonnaY.
    Hey!

    What the $#@!?
    Another mark of a tyrant is that he likes foreigners better than citizens, and lives with them and invites them to his table; for the one are enemies, but the Others enter into no rivalry with him. - Aristotle's Politics Book 5 Part 11

  9. #8
    State-O
    Another mark of a tyrant is that he likes foreigners better than citizens, and lives with them and invites them to his table; for the one are enemies, but the Others enter into no rivalry with him. - Aristotle's Politics Book 5 Part 11



  10. Remove this section of ads by registering.
  11. #9
    Cato has never been "libertarian". They have called themselves this to confuse people.


    Anyone who has an ounce of sense- and some reading skills- should know this.
    There is no spoon.

  12. #10
    http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?486499

    http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?486164



    Quote Originally Posted by angelatc View Post
    Another Trejo article, and another post pointedly splitting Libertarians into factions.
    To be fair, Trejo has a track record of breaking informative America-First stories and among other things has also done great work in exposing anti-semitism of some US Congress members hiding behind non-interventonism:

    Rashida Tlaib’s Social Media Account Traffics in Anti-Semitic Hate


    Published
    2 months ago on
    Mar 9, 2019
    By
    Shane Trejo

    Jewish Consultant Attempts to Whitewash Ilhan Omar's Anti-Semitic Reputation
    qwiket.com
    Apr 4, 2019
    Shane Trejo

  13. #11
    Screw cashless society. I always pay with cash whenever I can.
    "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."

    Calvin Coolidge

  14. #12
    Notice something?










    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by angelatc View Post
    Another Trejo article, and another post pointedly splitting Libertarians into factions.
    It also pointedly ignores that this is an article form the Cato Journal, which bill itself as an "Interdisciplinary Journal" -i.e. it will contain people on conflict viewpoints presenting their best argument in order to prevent itself form becoming an echo chamber.

    This issue is a good example of that. It contains this article: “Improving the Monetary Regime: The Case for U.S. Digital Cash” which argues that digital currencies are a great economic tool for the Federal Reserve. The same issue also contains this article: "On Money, Debt, Trust, and Central Banking," which does a deep dive on what constitutes what good monetary policy and concludes that digital currencies ARE NOT a good tool for economic stability. Then there is this article: "The Fed’s New Operating Framework: How We Got Here and Why We Shouldn’t Stay," which is all about how the Federal Reserve helped cause teh 2008 crash and why what the Fed is doing now will only make things worse.

    These articles directly conflict with one another and in doing so illustrate my point. The Cato Journal isn't trying to push a single narrative here- but allow education through debate from people of opposing narratives and stances.

    This of course is something Comrade Sock Puppet doesn't understand. Or perhaps he does and simply wishes to lie to everyone here to push the narrative his handlers are paying him to push.

  16. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by PierzStyx View Post
    It also pointedly ignores that this is an article form the Cato Journal, which bill itself as an "Interdisciplinary Journal" -i.e. it will contain people on conflict viewpoints presenting their best argument in order to prevent itself form becoming an echo chamber.

    This issue is a good example of that. It contains this article: “Improving the Monetary Regime: The Case for U.S. Digital Cash” which argues that digital currencies are a great economic tool for the Federal Reserve. The same issue also contains this article: "On Money, Debt, Trust, and Central Banking," which does a deep dive on what constitutes what good monetary policy and concludes that digital currencies ARE NOT a good tool for economic stability. Then there is this article: "The Fed’s New Operating Framework: How We Got Here and Why We Shouldn’t Stay," which is all about how the Federal Reserve helped cause teh 2008 crash and why what the Fed is doing now will only make things worse.

    These articles directly conflict with one another and in doing so illustrate my point. The Cato Journal isn't trying to push a single narrative here- but allow education through debate from people of opposing narratives and stances.

    This of course is something Comrade Sock Puppet doesn't understand. Or perhaps he does and simply wishes to lie to everyone here to push the narrative his handlers are paying him to push.
    That's a nice spin but it doesn't work.

    This kind of garbage shouldn't be anywhere near any "libertarian" publication, you don't "debate" whether we should launch the Mark of the Beast system any more than you would "debate" the idea of cannibalism in a food magazine.

    This is an obvious case of globalists attempting to insert the thin end of the wedge and begin normalizing their evil endgame.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    That's a nice spin but it doesn't work.

    This kind of garbage shouldn't be anywhere near any "libertarian" publication, you don't "debate" whether we should launch the Mark of the Beast system any more than you would "debate" the idea of cannibalism in a food magazine.

    This is an obvious case of globalists attempting to insert the thin end of the wedge and begin normalizing their evil endgame.
    It wasn't spin but a good point. I think you lost this one.

  18. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Grandmastersexsay View Post
    It wasn't spin but a good point. I think you lost this one.
    Never stopped him before.
    "The Patriarch"



  19. Remove this section of ads by registering.
  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Notice something?










    Looks to me like theres some resemblance.
    "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."

    Calvin Coolidge

  21. #18
    Beltway Libertarians should be ignored. They're part of the club.
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing."-Ron Paul

    "We have set them on the hobby-horse of an idea about the absorption of individuality by the symbolic unit of COLLECTIVISM. They have never yet and they never will have the sense to reflect that this hobby-horse is a manifest violation of the most important law of nature, which has established from the very creation of the world one unit unlike another and precisely for the purpose of instituting individuality."- A Quote From Some Old Book

  22. #19
    The Cato Institute and beltway libertarians are why paleo conservatives like Tucker Carlson are confused on what libertarian actually means.

  23. #20
    I now despise CATO, but was a big fan of Robert Levy and Alan Gura during Heller and McDonald SCOTUS battles...

    So I'm not really challenging the CATO sell-out (Boaz is a f'n d!ck) - I do have to wonder if using bitcoin, or crypto in general, also shows support for the cashless society? Bitcoin users, please stand up.

    Gulag Chief:
    "Article 58-1a, twenty five years... What did you get it for?"
    Gulag Prisoner: "For nothing at all."
    Gulag Chief: "You're lying... The sentence for nothing at all is 10 years"



  24. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by revgen View Post
    The Cato Institute and beltway libertarians are why paleo conservatives like Tucker Carlson are confused on what libertarian actually means.
    I like Mises and Cato. Both serve a useful role. Mises tends to be a little more philosophical. Cato puts out policy papers that are sometimes worth reading.

    Both offer a libertarian perspective that is different from what you see elsewhere.

    Tucker is entertaining and offers good critiques of the political left on cultural issues but I saw George Will called him something like an agrarian socialist which I agree with. Tucker thinks anyone who believes in textbook economics is a libertarian extremist.



Similar Threads

  1. Are There Dangers in a Cashless Society?
    By DamianTV in forum Privacy & Data Security
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 07-28-2018, 09:21 PM
  2. Replies: 9
    Last Post: 07-20-2018, 06:28 PM
  3. Why You Need to Prepare for the Cashless Society
    By DamianTV in forum Economy & Markets
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 03-01-2016, 11:38 PM
  4. THE CASHLESS SOCIETY – HOW DID WE GET HERE?
    By Smaulgld in forum Economy & Markets
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 02-17-2016, 04:31 AM
  5. Cashless Society: The Rushcard?
    By AGRP in forum U.S. Political News
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 07-10-2011, 04:37 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •