Dems Tried to Use Coronavirus Relief to Create a Digital Currency
Dems Tried to Use Coronavirus Relief to Create a Digital Currency
By Daniel Greenfield
How extreme was the House Dem pigout on coronavirus relief? So much that they literally tossed the kitchen sink in. Beyond hundreds of millions for the arts, a ton of money for somebody’s charter school, ballot harvesting, and assorted wish list stuff, there was this.
The bill establishes a digital dollar, which it defines as ‘a balance expressed as a dollar value consisting of digital ledger entries that are recorded as liabilities in the accounts of any Federal Reserve Bank or … an electronic unit of value, redeemable by an eligible financial institution (as determined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System).’ Additionally, a digital dollar wallet is identified as ‘a digital wallet or account, maintained by a Federal reserve bank on behalf of any person, that represents holdings in an electronic device or service that is used to store digital dollars that may be tied to a digital or physical identity.’
A mandate also requires all ‘member banks’ establish a ‘pass-through digital dollar wallet’ to all customers eligible for the stimulus. Member banks include those banks that are ‘members’ of the Federal Reserve and regulated by the Fed. Additionally, ‘Non-Member’ state banks – those that not members of the Federal Reserve and regulated by the FDIC – could opt-in to offer pass-through digital dollar wallets as well.
The Federal Reserve banks themselves would also make available a digital dollar wallet to any U.S. person eligible for the payments as well. Additionally, the U.S. Postal Service would aim to help unbanked individuals and/or those without proper ID to establish their identity be provided a digital dollar account, and would set up ATMs for customers to access their funds.
The actual bill has since jettisoned this strange proposal, which contains a usual lefty policy obsession, turning the Post Office into a bank, but anything involving financial services and bailouts with Rep. Maxine Waters’ name on it ought to be closely scrutinized.
In the midst of a national financial catastrophe, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) used her position as a senior member of Congress and member of the House Financial Services Committee to prevail upon Treasury officials to meet with OneUnited Bank. She never disclosed that her husband held stock in the bank. This outrageous conduct has led Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to include the congresswoman as one of the Most Corrupt Members of Congress.
What’s her angle this time?