The following Corbett Report video came from Off-Guardian via The Light Telegram group:
Episode 433 – CBDCs: Beyond the Basics (video 58 minutes 54 seconds)
We all know that central bank digital currencies are bad news. But do you know the difference between retail and wholesale CBDCs? And do you know why the American Bankers Association is against the implementation of retail or intermediated CBDCs? Today James takes you beyond the basics and begins introducing you to the split circuit monetary system as we dive deeper down the programmable money rabbit hole.
I posted the following in response:
An excellent analysis of where we are in the evolution of digital currency and CBDCs in particular.
While the middle management of Tech giants, Central Banks and Commercial banks will compete for their own interests, it’s vital to remember that all of these are owned and controlled by the same few people. Which is why we need our own distributed, self-organising currency system, independent of these centrally controlled entities
https://www.outersite.org/representative-democracy-is-kakistocracy/
Technology is a double-edged sword. As James Corbett is at pains to point out, the framing of discussion of “bitcoin”, “crypto”, “CBDCs” tends to conflate and distract from the real issues. James references his BitCoin Psyop video in the above episode and if you’re new to this or unsure of the terminology and distinctions between the different types of digital currency, distributed ledgers etc., it is highly recommended viewing.
Hitherto, crypto-currencies and related technologies have attracted much speculative interest and some people have made extraordinary profits as a result. In addition, there have been spectacular losses in this “wild west” frontier of money technology, the latest of which (FTX/Alameda) seems to involve the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), members of the US Democrat party and a money laundering operation using Ukraine as a conduit. It will take some time for the full story to be revealed.
What attracts much less interest is how these technologies are opening up a much more fundamental debate about money itself. “Exchange” money has become so embedded in our political economy and our psyches that it is hard to imagine any other way of accounting for the value created by transactions and relationships. Nonetheless, whether we recognise it or not, we’re on the threshold of a fundamental shift in perception driven by internet and related technologies.
Central bank digital currencies may, without many realising it, be a stepping stone to a new self-organising, distributed future in spite of the stated objective of Agustin Carstens (General Manager of the Bank of International Settlements or BIS – the central banks’ banker) to control every financial transaction to preserve centralised power and the status quo.
There is no agreement among central bankers as to how CBDCs will be implemented. Thus there is everything to play for. Ingenuity and our propensity to optimise resources will aid the transition to distributed, autonomous but interdependent organisation of economic activity and consequently everything else.