Are Banks More Powerful Than Governments?

In this ZeroHedge article, Mollie Engelhart reveals that banks and payment processors wield extraordinary unchecked power over daily economic life, often surpassing government authority by freezing accounts, terminating services, and excluding dissenters under the guise of policy or convenience.

• During COVID, a Northern California shop owner had her credit card processing terminated and $30,000 frozen after a mild social media post praising CBD, crippling her business operations for months.
• Payment processors acted independently of social media platforms, demonstrating how financial gatekeepers can punish speech across unrelated channels without due process.
• Similar de-banking hit conferences, organizations, and the Canadian trucker protests, showing modern power often arrives via financial suspension rather than government edict.
• A growing number of businesses, including in Austin, are going fully cashless for efficiency and security, but this excludes the elderly, immigrants, privacy advocates, and the unbanked from basic transactions.
• Convenience and safety drive the shift away from cash, but it erodes freedom incrementally as people trade alternatives for digital dependency on unelected institutions.
• Alternatives like silver coins, cryptocurrency, and barter are quietly gaining traction at events and ranches to preserve voluntary exchange and build resilience against single-system control.
• Freedom rarely vanishes overnight but erodes through emergencies, justifications, and conveniences, making memory of past financial censorship essential to prevent recurrence.
• True resilience requires multiple forms of exchange so no bank or processor becomes the ultimate gatekeeper of economic participation, regardless of government power.

Read the full story:
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/are-banks-more-powerful-governments