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Dispatches From the War on Cash
TND Guest Contributor: Paul-Martin Foss |
It appears that the French government is taking Rahm Emanuel’s advice and not letting a good crisis go to waste. Using the Charlie Hebdo attacks as a pretext, the French government wants to urge the European Union to enhance monitoring of anonymous money transfers. In other words, the government that was actively tracking terror suspects and decided to stop, the government that could easily monitor the bank accounts and communications of a terrorist cell, has decided instead to try to throw the other 65 million residents of France and the other 500 million residents of the EU under the bus and subject them to yet more government regulation.
Governments already have the power to monitor extremists and suspected terrorists, but they don’t want to have to do that because it takes too much time and effort. It’s far easier to cast out a dragnet that ensnares everyone and then sift through what comes in. And if they fail to prevent another terrorist attack? Well, guess you’ll just have to give them more power.
Of course the real reason for cracking down on anonymous monetary transactions isn’t to combat terrorism, it’s to ensure that as much economic activity as possible is taxed. Withhigh income taxes, high value-added taxes (VAT), and inflexible labor regulations, the incentive to engage in black market work and cash transactions grows all the time. The Charlie Hebdo massacre just happens to be a convenient excuse to continue pushing for more regulations to sweep as much of this sector of the economy into the light as possible.
Expect to see proposals that further limit the maximum monetary amount of cash transactions, as well as proposals to crack down on Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Businesses that deal in cash or digital currencies, or services such as Paypal that allow transfers between individuals will probably also see themselves subject to greater scrutiny. And just like with the Patriot Act, which was passed under the guise of “anti-terrorism”, any new regulations will be applied primarily to non-terrorist-related activities. The many will once again be punished for the misdeeds of a few.
The end goal of course is eventually to eliminate the use of cash altogether and force all transactions through a government-overseen banking and financial system. Forcing transactions to take place within the banking system and criminalizing transactions made outside the system enables the government to keep an eye on everything that’s going on, ensures that the government is taking in as much tax revenue as possible, and allows the government to determine what type of economic activity may take place. Greater control is the real reason for these proposals, not anti-terrorism. Will the citizens of France and the EU see this power grab for what it is and rise up in opposition, or will they allow the bogeyman of terrorism to further erode their freedoms?
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About Paul-Martin Foss:
Paul-Martin Foss is the founder, President, and Executive Director of the Carl Menger Center for the Study of Money and Banking, an Arlington, VA-based think tank dedicated to educating the American people on the importance of sound money and sound banking.
Prior to founding the Menger Center, Mr. Foss worked in the U.S. House of Representatives for seven years, including six years as Congressman Ron Paul’s legislative assistant for monetary policy and financial services, and one year as Deputy Legislative Director for Congressman Thomas Massie.
As Congressman Paul’s legislative assistant, he assisted the Congressman in his duties as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy by helping to develop hearing topics, agendas, and briefing Congressmen and their staffs on monetary policy topics. Mr. Foss also was responsible for the management of Dr. Paul’s monetary policy and financial services legislation, including the “Audit the Fed” and “End the Fed” bills, and was co-editor of Ron Paul’s Monetary Policy Anthology, a multi-thousand page compilation of hearing transcripts, lecture transcripts, and other documents related to Dr. Paul’s chairmanship.
Mr. Foss received his Bachelor’s degree from The University of the South (Sewanee), and Master’s degrees from the London School of Economics and Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
This article appeared on the Carl Menger Center for the Study of Money and Banking and is reprinted with permission, “Creative Commons 4.0.”
Source: http://thenewsdoctors.com/dispatches-from-the-war-on-cash/
