Editor’s Commentary: It’s a good thing that more conservative and alternative media outlets are warning people about Central Bank Digital Currencies. Unfortunately, most are not offering recommendations on what to do about them. Thankfully, Dr. Joseph Mercola, show host James Corbett, and financial expert Catherine Austin Fitts are filling the gap.
In a recent article and video, they recommended 10 ways people can work to both stop CBDCs and to prepare for them if and when they become a full-blown reality. With the totalitarianism inherent in such forms of money, it’s important that we do what we can now before it’s too late. I discussed this on the latest episode of The JD Rucker Political Report. Here’s the article I referenced…
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- In 2023, 11 countries have fully launched a digital currency while more than 20 more will move toward starting one
- 114 countries, which represent more than 95% of global GDP, are looking into CBDC — up from just 35 countries in 2020
- Finance guru Catherine Austin Fitts details 10 practical steps individuals can take to stop implementation of CBDCs
- Tips include using cash as much as possible and minimizing your use of digital systems, including avoiding biometric technology and QR codes
- Doing business with local people and entities you know and trust, and ditching large, multinational banks in favor of trustworthy local banks or credit unions will also help
Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, are government-backed digital currencies issued by a central bank. They’re being rapidly rolled out to bring about a new economic transaction system that could lead to a new form of modern-day slavery.
CBDCs are promoted as digital tokens that can simplify monetary policy and bring about convenient cashless societies. They’re also sometimes said to be similar to cryptocurrency1 due to their digital nature, but there are important, and major, distinctions.
While cryptocurrencies are decentralized and allow anonymous transactions, CBDCs are centralized and can track every transaction. They can also be controlled by the powers that be — meaning all your CBDC assets could be taken away or turned off by a central power, and there’d be nothing you could do about it.
CBDCs Are Part of the Plan to End All Currencies
Finance guru Catherine Austin Fitts — publisher of The Solari Report2 — warns that a slavery system, steeped in the ideologies of transhumanism and technocracy, is being created right before our eyes. The complicated, “messy” plan used the pandemic to engineer a total remake of world currencies and our entire way of life.3
Comparing the move to herding sheep to a slaughterhouse, Fitts explains how the pandemic lined people up to depend on their governments for protection from an invisible enemy (COVID-19) and then used fear to keep people from living what once was considered a normal life.
The herd mentality includes encouraging debt entrapment to the point that people become desperate for any type of cash flow that can help them meet their day-to-day living expenses, until they willingly give up their rights in exchange for any relief offered to them.
In The Corbett Report video above, you can hear Agustín Carstens, executive director of the Bank for International Settlements, describe the chilling truth about CBDCs. Corbett describes the Bank for International Settlements, by the way, as the “central bank of central banks — the apex of the financial monetary pyramid, identified by Carroll Quigley in ‘Tragedy and Hope’ — and others as the capstone of the Pyramid of Power.”4 Carstens says:5
“We don’t know, for example, who is using a $100 bill today. We don’t know who is using the 1,000-peso bill today. A key difference … with the CBDC is central bank will have absolute control on the rules and regulations that will determine the use of that expression of central bank liability. And also we will have the technology to enforce that.”
CBDCs Instrumental for Social Control
CBDCs are an integral part of a social control system. By removing paper currency and replacing it with CBDCs, your ability to engage in transactions can be monitored and turned on and off. What could this look like in your day-to-day life? British activist Maajid Nawaz put it into simple terms, likening CBDCs to vouchers instead of currency — vouchers that have a finite limit for certain purchases, and once your quota is met, you can’t obtain any more:6
“They want to replace fiat paper money with digital money as a competitor to Bitcoin and crypto money, right?
But instead of being decentralized currency, it will be controlled by a government … So instead of having a bank account with … HSBC or Bank of America, you’ll have a bank account directly with — in the American context, with the Fed — in the UK, directly with the Bank of England. You have a personal bank account, and you’re given digital money in that bank account.
… This money that you will earn from work, instead of having paper money, you have this digital money. It’s programmable so that you can’t buy certain foods, or if you do something that your employer doesn’t like … you won’t be able to spend your money. In other words, it’s not money, they’re vouchers.
They’re like food vouchers. And they can be programmed. So that, like the Chinese social credit system, if you try and use them on a certain thing, it won’t work. Say you want to buy a burger, and they want you to buy a box … if you start to try and buy unhealthy meat, it just won’t work … you tap your card, you can’t buy the thing, because you’ve met your quota that month, for burgers.”
“We’re talking about a world where most people are under 24/7 surveillance and then their financial incentives and their financial power are related to how well-behaved they are,” Fitts explains. Corbett uses parking tickets as another example of how CBDCs may come to dictate your every move:7
“Do you remember that parking ticket you forgot to pay last month? Well, your central bank issued CBDC, it remembers, and it will just subtract those funds plus a late payment fee from your account when you’re not looking.
Got caught supporting the wrong fundraiser or the wrong political cause, like the freedom convoy in Canada? Don’t worry. In a world of CBDC transactions, you wouldn’t have even been allowed to donate to that cause in the first place because your wallet wouldn’t let you.”
Let’s say, for another example, that you miss an appointment to get a vaccination. The system will know and your access to banking might be cut off until it registers that you got your shot. According to Fitts:8
“It is essential to understand the proposals underway. In my opinion, CBDCS (central bank digital currencies) are an essential part of the ongoing financial coup d’état which — if successful — will end constitutional government and human liberties in the U.S. and G7 nations. You need to take this seriously.”
10 Actions You Can Take to Stop CBDCs
Implementation of CBDCs is moving ahead, fast. In 2023, 11 countries have fully launched a digital currency while more than 20 more will move toward starting one. All G7 nationals are now actively developing CBDCs, including the U.S. Further, 114 countries, which represent more than 95% of global GDP, are looking into CBDC — up from just 35 countries in 2020.9
However, widespread CBDCs are not yet inevitable. “It is important to recognize that there is a great deal that each one of us can do to take action,” Fitts says. “In a highly leveraged financial system such as we have, a single individual counts for a lot.”10 In response to the many requests she’s had from people wondering how to stop CBDCs, Fitts compiled these 10 top actions.11
1.Use cash — Fitts recommends using cash as much as possible — and not frequenting shops that don’t accept it:12
“Walk out on establishments that refuse to accept cash. When using remote facilities where cash is not possible, use checks if you can. We understand from one subscriber that check companies are scrambling to fill the orders of all of the bank customers who have requested checks recently. Whether the indicator is banking statistics or anecdotal reports from our subscribers, cash use is clearly rising.”
In addition to using cash, Fitts recommends keeping a stash of cash on hand, safely stowed in several locations. “Think small, and start thinking about all the ways you can spread your cash around and put it in different places, including outside of the banking and brokerage system,” she says, “but also how you can use your cash to permanently lower your expenses and permanently lower your risk.”13
Think like a squirrel does when stashing away acorns for the winter. You want to have your cash spread out, in “little pots all over the place.” This starts with keeping cash on hand in your home, ideally in a fireproof safe. Then you can expand to a safe deposit box at a bank, a small, local bank or investing in silver and gold coins.
2.Embrace analog — While some digitization is OK, an entirely digital system is at risk of being manipulated and controlled by a central power. Fitts recommends minimizing your use of digital systems, including avoiding biometric technology and QR codes. “Get invasive surveillance systems out of your home. Use hard-wired Internet connections, not Wi-Fi … While you are at it, refuse to use or support vaccine passports,” she says.14
3.Do business with people you trust — Focus on finding people of integrity with whom to conduct business. Even if it costs more, Fitts says, it’s worth it. “In the end, fraudsters and others who contribute to unhealthy systems through their own greed or lust for power cause untold losses. All those little expenses related to transacting with integrity can end up being lifesavers …”15
Corbett refers to this as “freedom cells” and recommends joining with a small group of eight or so other people, then connecting to other groups, engaging in a local exchange trading system or using some form of community currency. This “will facilitate actual productive economic activity if we arrive at the Mad Max apocalyptic scenario … or the government coming down and cracking down on dissent to the point of taking you off the payment grid,” he says.16
4.Choose a small, local bank — Ditch large, multinational banks in favor of trustworthy local banks or credit unions. While you’re there, let bankers know about the dangers of CBDCs. The Solari Report even has a template letter17 you can use to inform your bankers about the downsides of CBDCs. It reads, in part:18
“It strikes me that creating a different, yet centrally controlled fiat currency that can be created from thin air and manipulated by unelected central bankers does not promote U.S. financial stability or provide citizens with consumer and investor protections — except in the sense that totalitarian governments can be financially stable through the power of taxation without representation and the ability to micromanage and regulate the spending of families and small enterprise.”
5.Finance friends, not enemies — While limiting the number of online and digital financial transactions you make, avoid supporting credit card companies and financial technology (fintech) firms intent on expanding digital IDs, vaccine passports and CBDCs. Instead, focus on making financial transactions with like-minded people and entities.
“Financing your local farmer or farm distribution service may not look like a great money-maker,” Fitts explains, “but it means you will have a better chance of not being cornered into eating insects and lab-grown meat.”19 The idea is to establish of form of survival currency that allows you to eat, maintain shelter and survive in a worst-case scenario.
“When you are in a survival situation,” Corbett explains, “where you were literally scrambling to provide food for your family… let’s start from that point of the survival currency. What can I do to facilitate exchange with people in my area, who I want to exchange with, but we don’t have access to these dollars or pesos, or whatever.”20 Examples of survival currencies, which each have their own pros and cons, include precious metals, cryptocurrencies and bartering.
6.Ask state officials to support financial freedom — Fitts recommends asking your state legislators to start a sovereign state bank that protects the right to free financial transactions. She explains:21
“Make sure it is a sovereign bank that supports (and does not and cannot compete with) private community banks and credit unions, and helps to ensure they can provide free private financial transactions.
While you are at it, ask them to start a state bullion depository. Then, in the worst-case scenario, you can use your gold and silver as a local currency (if your state has been smart enough to cancel sales tax on precious metals — if not, that’s another matter to bring up with state legislators).”
7.Hold the New York Fed accountable — The New York Federal Reserve Bank, which acts as the depository of the U.S. government and stores the largest known depository of gold in the world, holds immense power over U.S. financial policy.22
Fitts suggests contacting your congressional representatives to demand an audit of the New York Fed, including tracing $21 trillion in funds missing from the U.S. government — which amounts to $65,000 per person in the U.S. — and returning it. She adds:23
“Clearly communicate that congressional representatives are not to pass any legislation or grant the Fed (most notably the New York Fed) any more powers or funding until the Fed is audited, transparent and held accountable, and makes restitution for all illegal transactions in U.S. government accounts held by it or its member banks.
Congress should not accept any argument that the executive branch has the authority to proceed with the institution of CBDCs without congressional approval.”
8.Tell the US to leave WHO — The U.S. government has close ties to the World Health Organization. Not only does it provide between $200 million and $600 million in funding annually, but it’s actively engaged with the organization.24
“The WHO, among other unacceptable actions, is using the health care system to institute vaccine passports,” Fitts says, “which is simply a way of getting the authentication system needed for CBDCs and spatial control.” The Solari Report has a template you can use to send to your representatives regarding WHO’s pending amendments to existing International Health Regulations.25
9.Reject taxation without representation — CBDCs will rapidly usher in an era of taxation without representation, leading to the end of liberty. By granting complete control of individuals’ financial transactions to central bankers, CBDCs allow the government to maintain complete control.
“Under a CBDC system in which government maintains and controls all financial transactions, if a citizen objects to taxation without representation by refusing to pay federal taxes in the face of gross violations of the Constitution and human rights, the central bankers can simply take the taxed amounts from such individuals’ accounts,” Fitts explains.26
10.Share your knowledge with friends and family — Tell everyone you know about the true intention of CBDCs so they can also take action against them. This includes educating yourself and others to resist propaganda tactics being used by Big Tech to influence public opinion and individual minds.
If we can decentralize financial power, it will lead to an improved economy and future, Fitts notes, and practical opportunities are all around us. For instance, embrace local farmers and grow as much of your fresh food as possible. “If we grow our own food supply, it will make it much harder for the bankers to control the transaction system,” Fitts says.27
So, rather than feeling defeated, recognize that the opportunity exists to win this battle, one action and one individual at a time. As Fitts explains, there’s room for everyone to get involved:28
“Central banks are pushing for central control — they believe if they do not do so, they will lose control. Given that they do not provide essential functions and their exercise of control is exceptionally damaging and expensive, that could be a very good thing for both our freedom and our pocketbooks.
The opportunity depends on our leadership. So start leading where you can and as you can. You never know what can happen until you try!”
Alternative Video Sources:
- 1 Investopedia, Investing, What Is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)? March 19, 2022
- 2 The Solari Report
- 3 Planet Lockdown
- 4 The Corbett Report, Episode 436 February 3, 2023, 7:28
- 5, 6 The Corbett Report, Episode 436 February 3, 2023, 7:49
- 7 The Corbett Report, Episode 436 February 3, 2023, 16:00
- 8 The Solari Report August 26, 2021
- 9 Atlantic Council, CBDC Tracker, Key Findings
- 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 21, 23 The Solari Report January 15, 2023
- 13 Rumble July 25, 2022, 2:51
- 16 The Corbett Report, Episode 436 February 3, 2023, 32:41
- 17, 18 The Solari Report, Template Letter to Bank December 14, 2022
- 20 The Corbett Report, Episode 436 February 3, 2023, 36:46
- 22 Solari Report January 10, 2019, The New York Fed
- 24 KFF May 19, 2022
- 25 The Solari Report December 18, 2022
- 26, 27, 28 The Solari Report, U.S. Taxation: With or Without Representation?
Two Storms, One Harvest
Every food crisis in living memory has been a one-shock event. The 2008 price spike was a commodity bubble. The 2020 shortages were a logistics failure. The 2022 grain scare was a war on one exporter’s ports. Each time, the system bent, adjusted, and recovered, and each time the experts assured us afterward that global markets are simply too big and too diversified to fail.
What nobody in Washington seems eager to discuss is that 2026 is shaping up to be something the modern food system has never actually faced. Two independent shocks, one climatic and one geopolitical, are converging on the same harvest cycle at the same time. Not sequentially. Simultaneously.
Start with the weather. The Pacific Ocean is currently building toward what forecasters now openly call a record event. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center puts the odds of at least a strong El Niño near 88 percent, with roughly two in three odds it reaches “very strong” status, the tier reserved for perhaps three or four events in the entire satellite era. Every major global model now projects a median peak in Super El Niño territory, and most of them project it exceeding the 2015-16 event, which until now held the modern record. Sea surface anomalies were already brushing the super threshold in mid-July, months before these events normally peak. The atmosphere has already shifted into El Niño mode, and the event is forecast to crest in late fall and early winter.
This is not about “climate change.” It’s about the standard cycles of weather, and the cycle we’re currently in is one that has likely devastated societies in the past. We’re better prepared as a society today, but not all Americans are equally prepared.
Serious households have started doing the quiet math on their own. Grocery bills tell part of the story, and the forecast maps tell the rest, which is why long-term food storage has moved from fringe hobby to mainstream line item in the family budget, with established suppliers like Heaven’s Harvest seeing demand from people who five years ago would have rolled their eyes at the idea. That instinct is not paranoia. It is pattern recognition, and the pattern is worth walking through carefully.
Editor’s Note: Heaven’s Harvest IS a sponsor, but the warnings of this article are real and would be written even if we didn’t have a survival food sponsor. With that said, those who take advantage of what they offer can use promo code “Patriot” for 15% off.
The Fertilizer Clock Is Already Running
While the Pacific warms, the second shock has been unfolding in the Strait of Hormuz. The conflict with Iran turned the world’s most important energy chokepoint into a contested waterway, and the consequences reach far beyond the gas pump. Roughly a third of global fertilizer trade moves through Hormuz, and the disruption sent urea prices up 86 percent year over year by March, with a 53 percent jump in a single month.
The World Bank projects energy prices rising about 24 percent in 2026 and fertilizer about 31 percent. By its own accounting, fertilizer prices ran 35 percent higher in the first five months of this year than the same period last year.
Here is the mechanism the nightly news will not explain. Fertilizer is not a grocery item. It is a time-delayed input. The nitrogen a farmer in Iowa or Punjab could not afford to apply this spring does not show up as a problem this spring. It shows up as a thinner harvest six to twelve months later.
The World Bank’s own food security brief concedes that the effects of reduced applications earlier this season “are likely to become visible only later in harvest outcomes.” Translate that from institutional language into plain English and it means this. The damage is already done, it is already in the ground, and we are simply waiting for it to arrive on the shelf.
Now check the calendar. Six to twelve months from the spring planting season lands us squarely in late 2026 and early 2027. Which is precisely when the strongest El Niño in the instrumental record is forecast to peak, bringing its signature droughts to Southeast Asia, Australia, southern Africa, northern Brazil, and South Asia, the very regions that grow the world’s rice, sugar, and oilseeds.
The World Bank warns openly that a strong El Niño “could disrupt multiple crop belts simultaneously” on top of the conflict-driven input costs. Their baseline projection assumes the Middle East disruptions ease by autumn. What in the last two years of Middle East history suggests that assumption is safe?
The System Has No Slack Left
The comfortable answer is that global markets always adjust. But adjustment requires slack, and the slack is gone. Global cereal production is expected to decline from last year’s records even before El Niño does its work. The UN World Food Programme, hardly a den of right-wing preppers, is calling this the most significant disruption to its supply chains since Covid and the invasion of Ukraine, and its supply chain director put the stakes bluntly.
Today’s supply chain challenges are tomorrow’s hunger crisis.
There is also a political dimension that markets cannot price. When food gets scarce, governments do not behave like economists. They behave like politicians. Export bans, hoarding mandates, and panic buying at the national level turned the modest rice shortfall of 2008 into a global crisis, and analysts are already warning that import-dependent nations are the first dominoes.
The 2015-16 Super El Niño, a far weaker event than what is now forecast, threw tens of millions into food stress across Africa and Asia. This one is projected to be stronger, and it arrives with fertilizer already rationed by price and shipping lanes already contested by missiles.
What Joseph Knew
Scripture does not treat preparation for lean years as faithlessness. It treats it as wisdom delivered in advance to those willing to act on it.
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt.
Joseph did not respond to that warning with a hashtag or a committee. He stored grain during the years of abundance, and when the famine came, Egypt stood while its neighbors begged. The lesson is not that famine is certain. It is that the time to prepare is precisely when preparation still looks optional.
Nobody who filled a pantry in a year of plenty has ever regretted it, and nobody standing in an empty aisle has ever been glad he waited for certainty.
None of this calls for panic, and panic is the enemy of sound judgment anyway. It calls for the same unglamorous prudence our grandparents considered ordinary. Keep some cash margin, know your local growers, and put real food in deep storage while it is cheap and available, because the entire arc of this story is that cheap and available is a closing window.
Families looking for a straightforward place to start can visit Heaven’s Harvest and use promo code Patriot for 15 percent off long-term storable food. The forecasts may yet soften, the strait may yet reopen, and we should pray they do. But hope is a fine thing to hold and a foolish thing to eat.
