I had originally intended to write this in the style of Aldous Huxley: Brave New World. But then learned that the title was on several banned book lists, so have altered my approach and will present it as an exercise in logic.
That style suits me, because, you see, I am a scientist. My particular area of study was in a little-known field: successional ecology. Now, what a successional ecologist does is to evaluate an ecosystem, hopefully a stable one, and then predict what changes will occur if that system is subjected to various ecological pressures that induce change.
The pressure could be the introduction of a species from another area, or an increase or decrease in rainfall. The easiest example is what happens if a tree grows in a prairie.
The tree creates shade, changes the soil characteristics, and then the plants that used to live in the open sun, are subject to shade from the tree.
What I learned is that the same sorts of dynamics apply in socio-political situations as well. If a particular idea, a pressure, becomes popular, and perhaps is embodied in a new law, society changes. Many times, as with the tree in the prairie, the change is local and not really substantive. In other situations, such as with Prohibition, or the adoption of Social Security, the pressure would be equivalent to the eruption of a new volcano or the construction of a new dam.
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The change is dramatic, far-reaching, and often permanent. With that in mind, consider the intent of the Federal Government to adopt a federal digital coin. We start, unfortunately, with a system that is not as stable as we would like, but the process of pressure and reaction is the same.
The difference being that when a new pressure is added, others are already at work. The same complexity occurs in ecological succession. We will begin our journey with the announcement that the Federal Government will be introducing digital money of its own. The announcement has already been made.
A co-existing pressure is that created by the government-issued government debit cards, known as EBT cards or welfare.
Once the Federal Digital Dollar is in place, the government decides that Article 1, Sec 8, Para 5 gives it the power to Nationalize all private digital money. The cited sentence, which gives Congress the authority to mint coins, has already been found to be preemptive. Another pressure in play is so far largely in the hands of private enterprise.
Signatures on purchases using credit cards have all gone by the wayside, at least as far as the signature actually matching that of the user. The mounting pressure, however, is the use of a palm-print reader instead of any signature at all.
The obvious implication is that somewhere, there is a computer with a database of palm prints. At this point in our logic train, a new pressure is likely to arise.
With the advent of the Federal Digital Dollar, printing money is seen as a waste of money. The Federal Government issues a Recall of all physical money.
This has been done before with gold and other currencies: 1933, Executive Order 6102.
The same restriction on the use of private digital dollars can then be applied to debit cards and even credit cards.
Both of those systems rely on a de facto digital exchange system. Credit card companies are forced to use government digital money to back the cards.
With no physical money at all, and a universal federal digital dollar replacing all sources of exchange, many banks can be expected to fail, thus creating a lending crisis that only the Federal Government can solve.
The solution will be the nationalization of all banks, credit unions, and debit and credit card systems.
It is highly probable that mortgages will be the next to be nationalized, particularly since there are already Federal mortgage programs in place.
The immediate change due to these sorts of pressures will be felt in two places: street beggars and community markets.
The markets will fare better for a while because of enterprises like PayPal and Square, but with the same pressures as noted for private digital systems, these too will be nationalized.
At the other end of the monetary spectrum, we find the street beggar. He probably already has an EBT card, but without printed currency, his ability to beg is destroyed.
One result of this is that many of these people may choose to turn to crime instead of begging. The new exchange system, however, is far from stable and far from acceptable to a portion of the citizenry. Others will see all of these pressures and changes in a positive light.
There is no longer a need to actually manage your money. No need to balance an account. No need to keep track of anything. Your employer will send your earnings to the Federal Bureau of Digital Exchange and you will get a notification on your cell phone.
At tax time, the IRS already has all your records, so they will simply remove what you owe in taxes.
For those who don’t like this system, however, the change is the establishment of a black market for barter. In fact, this is already happening in response to the relatively light pressures on our monetary system.
Time-trading exchanges are already in use. One person may mow a lawn and bank the hours to use later with a third person to buy eggs.
That system, and all other systems of barter, will be found to be contrary to the Federal Tax Code. Barter systems are not subject to sales tax, withholding tax, social security tax, and Medicare contributions.
The government will determine that all of these practices constitute tax evasion. Another pressure, already in play, is the myriad government policies, in particular regulatory ones that depress the economy, especially tourism and business travel.
The change is underway, but somewhat cyclic. The response by the government, however, is easily predicted, again based on what is happening with our immigrant population.
The Federal Government nationalizes some hotels in order to house the homeless street beggar. They have to take the entire property, and do so under eminent domain, because a mixture of homeless and business or recreational travelers would be unacceptable to the general public.
However, in communities which are already economically depressed, laws are passed which allow the hotel or motel owner to retain ownership as long as they reserve 50% of their rooms for homeless walk-ins. Still another pressure that is already in play is that of the National Health Insurance.
The logic here is that there is a general principle that an insurer is not liable for damages created by the insured. You can’t burn your house down or purposely drive your car into the lake and file a claim. The National Health Insurance people will issue a list of approved and forbidden foods.
They already limit what a person can purchase with an EBT card. Medicare programs also come with what is known as a ‘healthy food benefit.’ The benefit can only be used for specific items approved by the government. Extending these policies and restrictions to the universal Federal Digital Dollar will follow.
A parallel pressure exists with respect to insurance. In high-hazard areas, many companies are cancelling policies and the Federal Government has responded by increasing FEMA support.
Unfortunately, when considering not just hurricanes, but forest fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, blizzards, and mudslides, there really aren’t very many areas that are not able to be classified as high-hazard zones. Once FEMA itself is overburdened, the government will respond with universal insurance of all types..
The list of pressures goes on, including rent controls, price controls, range and energy leases, and it is within reason that the Energy Sector and Food Supply Sector, both of which are already subsidized, will be nationalized for the public good. In one state, there are already plans for government-owned grocery stores, which, of course, would only offer government-approved foods in compliance with the guidelines in the health care rules.
The final response of this new society under these pressures is with respect to what to do with the burgeoning homeless population. In return for housing and meals at the government hotel, the formerly homeless people are required to work under a skill development program, putting them in the position of servitude: maintaining parks, roads, and government buildings, or perhaps working in government mills, grocery stores, or in the fields of the government run farms. The alternative would be arrest, or starvation.
The logic is similar that of having inmates make license plates or learn to weld.
Putting all of these pressures together creates a class of absurdly wealthy elites and government employees, contrasted by a class in servitude.
And those in the first class will take pride in the fact that they are caring for all these unfortunate homeless people, providing food, shelter, skills, and jobs, while those in the latter class will take comfort in their job security, and the knowledge that they will never go hungry or be homeless again.
DISCLAIMER: I am not predicting that these events will happen, only that they are possible. It’s only logical.
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