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(Kitco News) –
Fiat currencies fracture the global economy and enslave citizens, while Bitcoin is the sound money solution, according to Robert Breedlove, host of the What is Money podcast, and Mark Moss, host of the Mark Moss Show and partner at the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund.
“If one group of people must trade their time for money, and another group of people can print the money, where does that lead?” Moss asked. “[The Fed] is stealing from their time, stealing from their life.”
Moss and Breedlove spoke with Michelle Makori, Lead Anchor and Editor-in-Chief at Kitco News at Bitcoin Miami. They said the world’s many currencies represent regional monopolies that inhibit trade, investment and wealth accumulation.
“The world wants one money,” Breedlove said. “Money is a technology that intermediates trade. The deeper our trade networks are, the deeper the division of labor is, the more wealth we can create, the more problems we can solve.”
Fiat fractures trade and enables oppression
Breedlove said the world has over 200 nation-states, each with their own money, enabling internal repression while disabling truly free trade. “We have these little fractured pockets of monetary monopolies around the world,” he said. “That inhibits trade. It inhibits the free flow of goods. It enables taxation, oppression, inflation, all these things that are not good for individual liberty.”
He said the fractured monetary system also confuses entrepreneurial activity, induces people to over-borrow, and causes misallocation of capital. But it takes a human toll that extends far beyond economics.
“In this world where people are being robbed all the time, they’re so desperate to keep up with a rat race that they don’t really take time to discover what they’re best at,” Breedlove said. “What does the world need? What can they do profitably? They’re not as free to explore their entrepreneurial impulse because they’re just trying to stay ahead of inflation and oppression all the time. Everyone’s trying to outrun the theft.”
Price-fixing always fails
Moss said that history shows that price-fixing always fails horribly, but central banks continue to make this approach the cornerstone of their monetary policy.
“The Fed’s whole purpose is to manage the supply of money, or more importantly, the price of money,” he said. “But when you’re setting the price of money, you’re setting the price of everything. Every single month we all look to Jerome Powell coming out of the FOMC meeting. I compare it to waiting for the groundhog to come out and tell us if spring is going to come. We’re waiting for one guy to tell us what our fate will be.”
“Bitcoin, going to sound money, will negate that,” Moss said. “We’ll take away the need.”
Central banks are the core problem
Breedlove said that in order to address the fundamental problems of fiat currencies and central banking, it’s necessary to step outside the box and think critically about the top-down centrally-planned system itself.
“When people are intelligent enough to understand the macroeconomic landscape and how it works, if you only speak about, what is the inflation rate going to be adjusted to? What is the interest rate going to be adjusted to? What is the current CPI? You’re speaking a language that is within the paradigm of centrally-planned money,” he said. “You never step outside of the box and say, ‘Hey guys, how about we stop centrally planning the money?’ If you just stay in the box and you only speak their language, then you’re implicitly justifying the scam.”
Moss pointed out that the real advantages that fiat currency used to deliver to society have disappeared thanks to out-of-control borrowing. “When they used to print $1, they could get $3 or $4 worth of growth,” he said. “Once we’ve gotten past 90% debt to GDP, those dollars are now not earning enough growth. So we’re maybe getting 80 cents of growth for a dollar, or 50 cents. Now we’re up to 1.25 [debt to GDP]. So we’re seeing the law of diminishing returns, the money printing is working less and less.”
“Central banking is the culmination of a gold standard,” Breedlove said. “And with that centralization of money, money is power, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, we get the most corrupt institution man has ever had, which is the central bank. I think the only reform that’s effective for central banking is to totally abolish it. There’s no incremental reform that will ever work.”
CBDCs are the ultimate tool of control
Moss and Breedlove see central bank digital currencies (CBDC) as the most extreme and most ominous form of this concentration of financial power, because it can also be used to exert control beyond the economic sphere.
“The government can already freeze my bank accounts if they want, they can already surveil my transactions if they want,” Moss said. “But this [CBDC] is pre-emptive, now it’s pre-crime. You’ve exceeded your carbon score, so maybe you can’t buy gas… That’s the ultimate form of control, it’s the ultimate form of stripping private property.”
“I would say it [CBDC] is the ultimate mechanism of social engineering as well,” Breedlove said.
Moss said that despite recent moves by U.S. lawmakers to push back against the digital dollar project, he believes central banks will get their way. “80% of transactions are digital anyway” he said. “What type of software do these banks use? How do they move that money from ledger to ledger? I don’t know so if they change that and they use a different type of ledger system, how would I know?”
Moss said the problem is that even when unpopular legislation like CBDC is shot down, it just gets rebranded or inserted into an omnibus bill at the last minute. “This is where we’re going,” he said. “They have to put this in because it’s the final piece that they need for censorship and control.”
Bitcoin offers an escape
Moss said that centrally-controlled fiat currency is like a sinking ship. “Now, we could just blow a hole in the boat and let it sink, or we could slowly start getting people off onto lifeboats and then somewhat cushion the blow when the inevitable happens,” he said. “I think that’s the path that we’re on.”
“And of course, Bitcoin is the lifeboat.”
To hear more from Moss and Breedlove about central banking and to find out their price target for Bitcoin, watch the above video.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
