This YouTube interview (host Richard Canfield with guest David Morgan) centers on a warning about central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and ‘programmable money.’ Morgan argues programmable money enables granular controls on individual spending (e.g., carbon credits, limits on purchases or travel), eroding freedom and anonymity. He cites China’s social credit systems and biometric/digital-ID usage as a real-world ‘beta test,’ notes the steady decline of cash (e.g., inability to pay cash at some merchants), and describes grassroots responses such as using silver coins at farmers markets as a form of informal, tangible payment.
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I'm trying to teach that you're losing your freedom and anonymity. I mean, it's nobody's business having a confidence in mind.
My guest today has dedicated his life to showing people the storm that's building beneath the financial system. Welcome to the show. David Morgan, he's the author of the Silver Manifesto and he publishes the hugely popular Morgan Report.
China's basically the beta test for the world banking system in the future. This is the direction we're moving and that scares the heck out of me. Programmable money, that's the problem.
One of the things that I was curious about, central bank digital currencies, they're being pitched as innovation, but you argue they're a Trojan horse for control. So what do you see? Very curious to know, what do you see as the real end game of central bank digital currencies?
Programmable money. They'll be able to take that cbdc and it could be a private one, but it has the same function. So it could be issued by, you know, JP Morgan, for example, or some other bank or maybe Amazon. It really doesn't matter. Even though it's private, doesn't mean they don't program it. And so in the programming they could say, you've got so many carbon credits, and based on your driving history or how much meat you bought or how many times you flew or how long you're on the Internet, I mean, they can make up any parameters they want, put an algorithm in it. The end of the month doesn't matter if you're billionaire. If you're only allowed to spend so many carbon credits, hey, you're out of luck. You can can only buy this amount of meat next month, or you can only travel this far, or you can't get on an airplane for six more months. Now that sounds extreme, but it's already taking place in China with their social credit score. So will it come here? Certainly looks like it. China is basically the beta test for the world banking system in the future. And then remember how big China is. One out of every five people on the planet is Chinese. So it's not like it's a small sample size of 1%. We're looking at about 20% now. Is a 100% of China in the system? No, they're not. But it's all the major cities are. Basically, it's a cast of society in the major cities. If you don't have your phone, no problem. But you're still using a digital ID because you can use your Palm without a chip in it. Go in China and many places and just use your palm print, which is like a fingerprint or an iris scan. It's unique to you. And check out if your phone ran out of power or you forgot it for that day. So this is the direction we're moving. And that scares the heck out of me because freedom means freedom to choose. And if you don't have the choice of where to go, when to go, what to say, where, what you want, you don't, you've lost.
And some argue that these central bank digital currencies will coexist with cash and crypto. But do you see that as realistic or is it just a narrative to kind of ease people into acceptance?
You said it's a narrative that will be accomplished because these people are extremely good at the boiling frog syndrome. I don't know what that is. You can look up on the Internet, but it'll change and you'll see Euros. Cash flowed along, but slowly but surely it'll be taken away. And it's already being taken away. I mean, I cannot go to my Starbucks and pay cash.
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That's right.
And I've, I've made a scene that not. I mean, I don't want to like yell or scream at anybody. And these are just people. I mean, I get that. But you know, it's like, you mean that's, you know, I act like I play what I call dumb Dora. I'm not trying to offend anyone named Dora. But you know, and I just say, well, that's funny. This thing says, you know, redeemable for all debts, public and private. And I just want. It is a debt that I'm paying for the six dollar Starbucks, right? I can't use this. Of course, I already know. But you know, there's somebody hearing that and more importantly, they're hearing it. I go, okay, well let me get you my app, you know, and I kind of slow it down.
Make sure the lineup takes much Longer for everyone getting their coffee.
Right? Yeah. And then they hear me behind and I'm not yelling, I'm. Well, you know, it's one of those old school guys, he wants to use cash, you know, like. No, I'm trying to teach that you're losing your freedom and anonymity. I mean, I don't. It's nobody's business how many coffees to buy in a month or where I buy them. You know, people. Who cares? I care. Well, why would you care about coffee?
I don't.
It's the principle. It's the ability to have freedom. What if you can only get so many coffees a month? Because that carbon credit, that's many paper cups you use that month. David, you can't go to Starbucks this next month. And that's what we're looking at. So that's the answer. Programmable money, that's the problem among others. But the control titans and then you can program it.
Well, one of the things you mentioned about the farmers markets is that you attempt to try to pay in silver. So I'm guessing like silver eagles or a coin denomination because you can carry them around easily. And you know, we have people, you know, hey, they go get a silver bar, well, that's great. Or a gold bar. But it's pretty hard to lug that down to the farmer's market and bring your own scale and shave some of it off based on the market price to pay for your tomatoes. It's like, it's not feasible, but like you got some silver eagles or some Canadian Maple Leafs, maybe it's a little bit easier denomination to carry on. Adds a little weight to your pocket, of course, mind you. But you know, and so I'm picturing this future time when we've got these CBDCs, but then you're still going to go to the farmer's market and go to some people. And if you're showing up with your app to pay or I show up with this shiny silver and it says 9999% pure. Like my gut tells me that they're going to be more inclined to want to take the shiny silver for the thing that I'm. That they want. And so, you know, I envision that there would be, you know, I guess, you know, the equivalent of an underground economy of currency because the one to one interaction, a person looking at the two elements, this digital thing that, you know, isn't helping me in my life right now or this thing that I have, that's real intangible, I think I'M going to take tangible one.
You know, it can be a little, I won't say true, I'll say tricky to negotiate, but really it hasn't been for me personally and I think it's this would work in most cases. So for an example, let's just take the silver prices being 40 even I didn't check the 20 price today, but it's in that range. And what I want to buy from this guy is 45. Okay? I go, well, this is $40. You can look it up. If you buy it, you're gonna have to buy their premium. It's going to cost you 45. Will you accept it? And the answer is almost always yes. In the meantime, some of the innovators in the industry have come out like these gold backs and that's 1/1,000th which means this thing melted down and go, it's been tested many times, is about $4 worth of oil. I mean you could cut that in half for two putts if you wanted. But you get my idea. Especially at a farmer's market. It's kind of a bid kind of a situation anyway. And barter's not all that uncommon, but not very common, but it can happen. So anyway, it's just, it's just a wake up call. And most of these guys, especially this one that's known me for a while, I mean they start smiling and soon as I start walking over there, because they're going to get money and not fiat, it's that guy. So it's just kind of fun.
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