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https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/84272/fednow-instant-payments-are-coming-and-cbdcs-will.html

FedNow Instant Payments Are Coming and CBDCs Will Follow

There’s absolutely no doubt that our financial system is in flux right now. We’re watching a storm approach, and it’s about to envelop the entire nation in chaotic conditions. If you think things are crazy now, just hang on to your halo…it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

Remember how we talked about CBDCs a few weeks ago, and lots of people in the comments said never, no way, and heck no? Well, unfortunately, it’s being rolled out and soon.

Of course, they’re not calling it CBDCs. Not yet.

It’s under another name, and it’s not quite a federal digital currency. I’m sure this, too, will be called a conspiracy theory, but the Federal Reserve is launching FedNow, an instant digital payment system. This in itself is not a Central Bank Digital Currency, but it puts into place the framework needed to make the idea a reality.

FedNew will be launched in July, according to a press release from the Federal Reserve.

What is FedNow?

On March 15th, in the midst of the banking collapses, the Federal Reserve issued a press release detailing a new instant payment system that will be launched in July. That system is called FedNow. Here’s what they said about it.

The first week of April, the Federal Reserve will begin the formal certification of participants for launch of the service. Early adopters will complete a customer testing and certification program, informed by feedback from the FedNow Pilot Program, to prepare for sending live transactions through the system.

Certification encompasses a comprehensive testing curriculum with defined expectations for operational readiness and network experience. In June, the Federal Reserve and certified participants will conduct production validation activities to confirm readiness for the July launch.

“We couldn’t be more excited about the forthcoming FedNow launch, which will enable every participating financial institution, the smallest to the largest and from all corners of the country, to offer a modern instant payment solution,” said Ken Montgomery, first vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and FedNow program executive. “With the launch drawing near, we urge financial institutions and their industry partners to move full steam ahead with preparations to join the FedNow Service.”

Many early adopters have declared their intent to begin using the service in July, including a diverse mix of financial institutions of all sizes, the largest processors, and the U.S. Treasury.

This has all the hallmarks of a government strategy. First, they offer it as a “convenience” or a “safety measure.” Lots of people will jump on board in order to take advantage of this.

Of course, we’ve heard this song before.

Next, it will be pushed harder, and those who don’t adopt it will be mocked, thought of as backward, and treated with suspicion. After that, it’ll be darn near impossible to do anything without it. Sound familiar?

The Federal Reserve Banks are developing the FedNow Service to facilitate nationwide reach of instant payment services by financial institutions — regardless of size or geographic location — around the clock, every day of the year. Through financial institutions participating in the FedNow Service, businesses and individuals will be able to send and receive instant payments at any time of day, and recipients will have full access to funds immediately, giving them greater flexibility to manage their money and make time-sensitive payments. Access will be provided through the Federal Reserve’s FedLine^® network, which serves more than 10,000 financial institutions directly or through their agents.

You can find more of the Fed’s sales pitch at FedNowExplorer.org.

This is NOT the digital dollar…yet.

So let me be perfectly clear. This, in itself, is not the implementation of CBDCs. Instead, it’s the payment network needed to implement CBDCs. An infrastructure, in a manner of speaking.

There’s a clear benefit to the system that will make people want to participate, especially those who do business online or who transfer large amounts of money. Who wouldn’t want the proceeds from the sale of their home to be instantly available?

This is just the system that allows payments to be made via a federal government network using existing banks. FedNow could quickly lead to FedCoin and it wouldn’t take much effort at all.

There is a precedent for federal payment networks turning into federal digital currency.

Just last week, Marie wrote about the digital identity service that is funded by the US and is being used in Ukraine. It’s a mechanism of digital control, plain and simple, being portrayed as something to make the lives of Ukrainians easier.

But that’s not the only digital program out there we need to be concerned about as a precedent. A writer for the website BeinCrypto reported several other incidences that could show us our future:

According to global data, the instant payments ecosystem was valued at $100 trillion in 2021. And Asian countries like India and China are leading the sector, with the U.S. slightly late to join the club.

India employs a payment infrastructure based on the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) to offer instant payment services to customers and merchants. Global data show India is the most active market, with transaction volume hitting $39.8 billion in 2021. With that, India has expanded its e-rupee pilot as part of its CBDC trials.

China, which ranks second in that category, has widely used Alipay and WeChat for instant mobile payments. The nation has also pushed to adopt a digital yuan as its centrally-backed digital currency.

So, to be clear…they instituted instant payment services, then a federal digital currency followed shortly thereafter.

Infrastructure.

Introduction.

It’s a pattern.

Here’s what The Department of the Treasury says about CBDCs.

The Department of the Treasury has a “CBDC Working Group” exploring the feasibility of the project. It is coming. And they’re being completely open about it. Here’s some information from the Dept. of Treasury website:

CBDC is one of several options for upgrading the legacy capabilities of central bank money.  Another is real time payment systems:  The Federal Reserve has indicated that it expects to launch the FedNow Service this year, which will be designed to allow for near-instantaneous retail payments on a 24x7x365 basis, using an existing form of central bank money (i.e., central bank reserves) as an interbank settlement asset.  In contrast, a CBDC would involve both a new form of central bank money and, potentially, a new set of payment rails.  Both real time payment systems and CBDCs present opportunities to build a more efficient, competitive, and inclusive U.S. payment system.

In the United States, policymakers are continuing to deliberate about whether to have a CBDC, and if so, what form it would take.  The Fed has also emphasized that it would only issue a CBDC with the support of the executive branch and Congress, and more broadly the public.^[3] Even as policy deliberations continue, the Fed is conducting technology research and experimentation to inform design choices so that it is positioned to issue a CBDC if it were determined to be in the national interest.

The entire article bears reading. You will have no further doubt this is the plan when you do.

They also mentioned that this will help us to do business with other countries that have CBDCs.

…jurisdictions around the world are exploring CBDCs.  According to the Atlantic Council’s tracker, 114 countries, representing over 95 percent of global GDP, are exploring CBDC.  11 countries have fully launched CBDCs, while central banks in other major jurisdictions are researching and experimenting with CBDCs, with some at a fairly advanced stage.  The Bank of England (BOE) and HM Treasury (HMT) recently published a consultation paper assessing the case for a retail CBDC and outlining a proposed technological model.^[12]  BOE and HMT now are entering the design phase of their work, estimated to take two to three years, after which the BOE and the UK government will decide whether to build a “digital pound.”  In addition, there are multiple cross-border CBDC pilots, which involve central banks, international organizations such as the Bank for International Settlements, and private financial institutions.

Global currency, anyone?

Here’s what has to happen to make this widely accepted.

The banking crisis of the past few weeks feels like part of the plan to me. While I know we had many poor economic decisions that have led us to this point, pulling the plug now seems rather timely.

To make CBDCs widely accepted and even welcome, a few things have to happen first.

1.) Cryptocurrency has to fail. Several of the banks involved in this crisis have been highly invested in crypto. Silvergate, which hasn’t been mentioned as much, advertises itself as having “industry-leading banking and payments solutions for innovative digital currency and fintech companies.” The banking crisis is devastating cryptocurrency, which is one of the most anonymous and regulation-free payment methods in the modern world. Anything outside of government control has to go. This video talks more about “killing crypto.”

2.) Inflation has to continue. Keeping the “value” of digital dollars stable would be a way to “fight inflation.” Do you want to buy a box of mac and cheese for $3 cash? Or would you rather pay 1 FedCoin instead? Making a FedCoin an option that “fights inflation” would get a lot of people to adopt it voluntarily.

3.) People have to be desperate. If your bank account was suddenly emptied and you had nothing left – no retirement fund, no savings, no checking, nothing – what would you agree to in order to restore it all? What if you were offered a bailout but it was in the form of a different kind of dollar – a CBDC to replace the dollars you lost, but that you can only use digitally? I’d say yes, and I think that most of us would. We’ve got bills to pay, we owe on our mortgages and our taxes, we need groceries, our kids have tuition due…hell, yes, we’d nearly all say “yes” no matter how grudgingly.

If those three things happen, we’re in a perfect position for CBDCs to be forced upon us. It could very likely turn into our only legal tender, as I’ve written before.

Steve Forbes shares his rather terrifying thoughts on the potential abuses in a country based on CBDCs, calling it a “formula for tyranny.”

And if it’s our only legal tender, we’re looking at a cashless society and all the controls that such a thing allows. I wrote about it here. It would affect nearly every facet of our everyday lives, and every dime we spend would be subject to surveillance. The potential for abuse of power and lack of privacy is breathtaking. The government would literally hold a monopoly on money and financial transactions.

What are our options?

I hate writing about problems without offering solutions. This one is very difficult, though, because it may become something nearly impossible to escape. But I do think there are a few things we can do.

Stock up. Use your current money to stock up on essentials. Everything you get now is something you won’t need to get using that looming system of digital surveillance.

Become debt-free. Owe as little money as possible so you have less that absolutely must go through the system.

Create a network. Marie wrote a great article a while back about having a barter network already in place. Have people you can trade with for skills, goods, and services.

Invest in precious metals. If you have savings that you don’t want to see made digital, one way you can protect them is by purchasing physical gold and silver. You can go here to talk to an expert for free about a metals strategy that will work for your unique situation. It’s very educational, and there’s no pressure whatsoever to buy.

Learn skills. Not only will these help you with the ability to barter, but it means you have to spend less money through the system to get things done.

Prepare to live without the system but know that it may not be possible to be fully outside the system. I’d love to say that every single person can live 100% free of the system, that’s not realistic at all. There will be some things that you can’t avoid that are within the system, whatever that system may look like. Taxes, purchases of property, vehicles, pay from your job, medical care – most, if not all, of these things will require some participation in the system. Think about what you are giving away about yourself and participate wisely and only when necessary....

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https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2023/03/18/stop-calling-the-iraq-war-a-mistake-notes-from-the-edge-of-the-narrative-matrix/

Stop Calling The Iraq War A ‘Mistake’: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

Stop calling the Iraq War a “mistake”. When you make a mistake, you make changes to ensure that mistake is not repeated. Nobody responsible for that invasion suffered any consequences of any kind, zero policy changes were made, and the unipolarist ideology which led to it has become more entrenched than ever.

If the invasion of Iraq was a “mistake”, western government officials would be residing in prison cells at The Hague, countless pundits and journalists would now be working behind cash registers in retail shops, and US foreign policy would have undergone a massive, dramatic overhaul. Instead the exact opposite has happened — the western officials who launched the Iraq War are esteemed members of elite society, the pundits and journalists who manufactured consent for it are at the top of their field, and securing US unipolar hegemony by any means necessary is the accepted status quo norm in mainstream politics.

This is because the Iraq War was not a “mistake”. It was a cold, calculated decision which had precisely the effects it was intended to have: the advancement of western energy interests, greater geostrategic control, and the expansion of the US war machine in key geostrategic regions. Someone who makes a “mistake” doesn’t get everything they always wanted as a result and suffer zero consequences for the damage it caused. That’s what happens to someone who took a deliberate, calculated action in their own interests.

You can only pretend the Iraq War was a “mistake” if you accept the official reasons for starting it: getting those WMDs, spreading freedom and democracy to those poor Iraqis who we love, and making the Middle East a safer and more peaceful place for everyone. It’s not okay for grown adults in the year 2023 to believe those were the real intentions behind the invasion of Iraq.

If the invasion of Iraq was a mistake there would have been changes put in place to make sure nothing like it ever happens again. Those changes were never made because they thoroughly intend to do similar things in the future.

It’s not a “whataboutism” to say it’s absurd to charge Putin with war crimes without charging George W Bush, it’s a completely devastating argument against the claim being made. If the law doesn’t apply to everyone, then it’s not the law, it’s just corruption. It’s a tool of the powerful.

It’s hilarious that Putin has been hit with an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court not only on the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, but also a few days after the Pentagon intervened to stop the Biden administration from helping the ICC compile evidence of Russian war crimes because it might lead to ICC prosecution of American war crimes.

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One of the funniest empire narratives we’re being asked to believe today is that the US is militarily encircling its #1 rival China, on the other side of the planet, defensively.

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I hear people say, “I oppose the Chinese GOVERNMENT, not the Chinese PEOPLE!”

Oh cool, so sort of like the exact same thing literally every warmongering neocon has said about literally every country they wanted to destroy since the turn of the century?

You’re not making an important or interesting distinction when you say you oppose a foreign government and not it’s people, you’re just painting the same pretty picture over the same ugly agenda as every war slut since 9/11. Shut the hell up.

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China should start arming Mexican cartels so they can defend themselves against the coming US invasion. Per the US playbook Washington should have no problem with this.

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I’ve seen people use Marxist-sounding rhetoric to justify NATO expansion and US proxy warfare. I’ve seen people use anti-imperialist jargon to justify encirclement of China. It’s like how people used the Bible to justify racism and other ugly things. Your beliefs don’t matter if your heart’s in the wrong place.

Reading all the right books and having all the correct concepts won’t protect you from error; only clarity of vision can keep you on the straight and narrow. And that takes hard, dedicated, rigorously honest inner work. No amount of accumulated knowledge will substitute for this.

We’ve all known people who share what we think of as noble ideological beliefs but are actually garbage human beings once you get to know them. Having the right beliefs won’t make you a better person, and it won’t protect you from applying those beliefs in a very unwholesome way.

Having all the right political opinions is no substitute for being a good human being. Ticking all the right conceptual boxes is no substitute for psychological health. Reading all the right books is no substitute for real inner work. Concepts are worthless without inner clarity. You’ve got to do the work.

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https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/this-has-got-to-stop/

This Has Got to Stop

“As the evidence mounts of an even broader censorship effort by the Biden administration, the Democrats’ attacks have become more unhinged and unscrupulous. After shredding any fealty to free speech, they now are attacking journalists, demanding their sources and claiming their reporting is a public threat.”

And it will stop because, as the old wag Herb Stein laid down in his law years ago: Things that can’t go on, stop. Which raises the question: which things? And the answer is the things Western Civ is doing in its attempted suicide: inciting war, recklessly running up debt, persecuting its own citizens and stealing their liberties, subjecting them to medical malfeasance, destroying their goods production and food-growing capabilities, and subjecting the public to incessant mind-fuckery in a campaign to falsify and disfigure reality.

     A consortium of public and corporate bureaucracies has institutionalized the falsification of reality under the pretense of saving the human race from a pack of hobgoblins.... They have been driven insane by the actual reality of pending economic collapse, which has only been accelerated by their own suicidal activities. What they apparently really want to save is their own positions, perquisites, and power. Their enabling mechanism is the digital computer and its many ways of assembling and controlling information, and thus controlling people, especially those who object to totalizing control. They do it because they can.

      You can see how bad it got by reading the Twitter Files #19, assembled by independent reporter Matt Taibbi and released on March 17: The Great Covid-19 Lie Machine, Stanford, the Virality Project, and the Censorship of “True Stories” . The thread tells of the campaign led by Stanford University called the Virality Project, marshalling government agencies, academia, Big Pharma, and NGOs, such as several financed by George Soros, to suppress “misinformation” on social media, including “stories of true vaccine side effects.” Hence, truth became misinformation.

     You might see in that how anyone on the side of falsifying reality is playing at a disadvantage. If that is your first principle in a political struggle, you are fighting not just against your opponents but against the laws of the universe. The only recourse of a faction at war with reality is tyranny, forcing the people to accept your bullshit and do your will, whether they like it or not. That is exactly what you get in America’s Democratic Party and other regimes currently in power around Western Civ. Being at war with reality places them at war against their own citizens.

      The Covid-19 release seems to have been an act motivated by multiple players for their own reasons which, combined, amounted to crimes against humanity. Anthony Fauci, America’s infectious disease czar, apparently sought a crowning career triumph, which would have been a successful vaccine against a dangerous virus. So, he arranged to engineer the organism that he could then triumph against. Like all of Dr. Fauci’s projects over the roughly forty years that he ran the NIAID agency, the mRNA vaccines — subcontracted to the US Military and manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna — turned out to be an epic fiasco.

     Covid-19 also happened to be a convenient device for ridding the government of the troublesome President Trump, who threatened to disassemble major parts of the permanent US bureaucracy. If you revisit the many videos of Mr. Trump appearing in the White House Covid crisis room in early 2020 with Dr. Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, and other public health officials, I’m sure you will notice his discomfort, as if he suspected he was being played (he was). And conveniently, right after that, the locked-down public’s attention was galvanized by the George Floyd, BLM, and Antifa riots until the 2020 election was upon us. (Another grotesque prank against the people, never adjudicated.)

      It took more than a year after the “vaccines” came out for the disturbing actuarial data to emerge from the life insurance industry that many non-elderly people were being killed and disabled by the shots’ adverse effects. (I think the censors were caught by surprise that the truth leaked out from there.) Meanwhile, any able investigator could understand how the half-assed “vaccines,” along with the denigration of off-label early treatment medicines, the reckless use of dangerous remdesivir combined with enormous government payments to hospitals for mis-treating patients with it, the gaming and hiding of CDC statistics, and the obvious censorship of all that information in the corporate news and social media (with help from the CIA and FBI), all added up to a monstrous criminal offense against human decency.

     The government, now led by the career criminal “Joe Biden,” needed another distraction from intrusive reality in 2022 — including the emergence of the Biden family’s crimes — so it arranged to start a war in Ukraine by threatening to turn that country into a forward NATO base on Russia’s border. Russia was exceptionally clear and straightforward that it wouldn’t accept such an arrangement and the US proceeded anyway. Our country was exceptionally dishonest in its positioning for this conflict. (And our NATO allies were astoundingly credulous going along with it, even after we fatally damaged the EU’s economy.)

     Now, entering the spring of 2023, all of this sordid untruth is unravelling along with something else that the news media will have trouble lying about: the collapse of the money system in Western Civ. Unlike Covid-19 and the Ukraine War, a banking collapse has no propaganda value to the regimes in power. There is no narrative they can concoct out of it to their advantage. The public will do what they always do to a government that plunges them into penury and hardship. They will turn it out or pull it down.

      Since money and banking are subject to the laws of physics, we are going to get the ultimate payback for messing with reality. A lot of things that can’t go on will stop.