It's bad enough that banks have virtually unlimited insight into my spending habits that we need to give the Feds the same access. I should have the right to buy a big mac without some government server getting pinged.
Another concern I have heard voiced is that CBCD could be programmed - eg. you can't buy X, or you can only buy Y at certain times, or for certain prices, etc. and has the potential for reduced liberty vs. cash.
It could also be geofenced. Can't use your phone to buy fireworks from out of state because it's illegal in your state. Or you can only spend this money at a local store, but not at a store in another town.
I doesn't give the Feds access to anything. Suppose I bank at Wells Fargo and my favorite coffee shop banks at Capitol One. If I pay the shop $4 for a latte, the fed will have NO IDEA who sent that money to whom or for what. All the Fed sees is $4 moving from the Wells to the Cap One Federal Reserve master accounts -- amid a blizzard of millions of other transactions. The difference from ACH is just that these payments are settled in big batches rather than one by one. The Fed will get new and better data on payment volume, but that's all, really.
How will they protect us though unless they know the nature of every transaction we participate in? Are you really responsible enough to take care of yourself? A CBDC would combine the best aspects of company scrips with those of wartime ration tickets!
I don't think the government is trying to protect drug dealers or tax evaders from themselves. You intentionally chose a weak argument to fight against.
Thanks, I forgot about all the new taxes this technology could enable. Why not put a tax on every private transaction? Maybe have it increase the closer it gets to the expiration date.
The amount of people rooting for big brother here on HN lately is frankly terrifying.
I'm not rooting for or against anything other than shitty arguments. I come to this site to read smart takes, not half-baked sarcastic nonsense. Based on what I'm reading, maybe that's asking too much.
I have so many problems in my personal life, and I don't know how else they could be solved except for the government to carefully micromanage that for me.