Comment by lp0_on_fire
3 years ago
It's bad enough that banks have virtually unlimited insight into my spending habits that we need to give the Feds the same access. I should have the right to buy a big mac without some government server getting pinged.
Another concern I have heard voiced is that CBCD could be programmed - eg. you can't buy X, or you can only buy Y at certain times, or for certain prices, etc. and has the potential for reduced liberty vs. cash.
It can also be programmed with an expiration date to encourage you to spend it to stimulate the economy instead of saving it.
It could also be geofenced. Can't use your phone to buy fireworks from out of state because it's illegal in your state. Or you can only spend this money at a local store, but not at a store in another town.
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It is called EBT and it already exists and the thing is people demand this for welfare payments all the time.
I doesn't give the Feds access to anything. Suppose I bank at Wells Fargo and my favorite coffee shop banks at Capitol One. If I pay the shop $4 for a latte, the fed will have NO IDEA who sent that money to whom or for what. All the Fed sees is $4 moving from the Wells to the Cap One Federal Reserve master accounts -- amid a blizzard of millions of other transactions. The difference from ACH is just that these payments are settled in big batches rather than one by one. The Fed will get new and better data on payment volume, but that's all, really.
How will they protect us though unless they know the nature of every transaction we participate in? Are you really responsible enough to take care of yourself? A CBDC would combine the best aspects of company scrips with those of wartime ration tickets!
I think you should reconsider your stance.
I don't think the government is trying to protect drug dealers or tax evaders from themselves. You intentionally chose a weak argument to fight against.
Thanks, I forgot about all the new taxes this technology could enable. Why not put a tax on every private transaction? Maybe have it increase the closer it gets to the expiration date.
The amount of people rooting for big brother here on HN lately is frankly terrifying.
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That’s what cash is for. You never had any privacy for electronic transactions, might as well nip the idea in the bud.