Monetary Piracy Is Real—And ISO 20022 Is the Trojan Horse for the Next Phase

EDITOR'S NOTES

George Ford Smith laid down the law on why central banking is nothing more than monetary piracy—an elegant scam dressed up in ivory-tower policy lingo. And he’s right. But here’s what he didn’t say: the next phase of this theft is already here, embedded not in the Fed’s balance sheet or the next stimulus bill, but in the bones of our financial plumbing—ISO 20022. While Trump may have slammed the brakes on CBDCs for now, the infrastructure to launch them overnight is already locked and loaded. Get ready for a digital dollar you never voted for, engineered by unelected technocrats and rubber-stamped by international banks.

Derek Wolfe Jan 6, 26

Milton Friedman Let the Truth Slip: Commodity Money Needs No Policy

Back in 1982, Milton Friedman—hardly a gold bug—admitted something explosive:

“If a domestic money consists of a commodity... the principles of monetary policy are very simple. There aren’t any.”

Read that again.

Gold doesn’t need policy. It doesn’t need a Fed. It doesn’t need some "visionary" in a suit testifying before Congress while playing god with your savings. It just works, because the market says so. That single quote demolishes the entire justification for a central bank.

So why, then, have we had a federally-backed monetary politburo running the show since 1914? Simple. Control. Not over inflation. Not over recessions. Over you.

Legal Tender Laws: Coercion with a Smile

Smith takes a sledgehammer to legal tender laws, and rightly so. These mandates aren't some boring fiscal tool—they're compulsory economic obedience.

Thomas Paine called them "a most presumptuous attempt at arbitrary power." He was being polite. Legal tender laws force you to accept fiat trash, even as it loses value year after year. You can’t refuse it. You can’t opt out. You will use the money they print, and you will pay taxes on your decaying purchasing power.

Freedom? That word doesn’t belong in the same room.

Fractional Reserve Banking: Legalized Embezzlement

Smith doesn’t pull punches on fractional reserve banking—and neither will I. Here's the scam:

Banks loan out money they don’t actually have. If you or I tried that, it would be called fraud. But when the banking cartel does it? It’s called “liquidity.” Add a central bank safety net and deposit insurance, and boom—you’ve got systemic theft protected by law.

Fractional reserve lending is the lifeblood of the scam. It creates money out of thin air and hands it to those closest to the spigot—government contractors, Wall Street banks, defense firms—before you ever see a dime.

The Fed’s Real Origin Story: Jekyll Island Conspiracy Confirmed

Forget the PR nonsense about the Federal Reserve being created to “stabilize” the economy. The real story? A clandestine 1910 meeting at Jekyll Island, Georgia, where a cartel of bankers plotted the foundation of the Fed in secrecy.

That’s not a conspiracy theory anymore. The Fed itself proudly admits it. They even celebrated their “true birth” at Jekyll Island in 2010. That alone should tell you everything you need to know.

They’re not hiding it. They’re rubbing it in your face.

Monetary Policy = Monetary Piracy

What Smith calls “monetary piracy” is more than just metaphor. Every dollar printed steals value from the ones already in your wallet. Inflation is not just a tax—it’s a redistribution mechanism from the working class to the ruling elite.

The money you work for is swapped for a digital IOU that can be created at will and programmed to expire, surveil, or deny you access based on your behavior. That’s not a prediction. That’s the logical endgame.

Enter ISO 20022: The Trojan Horse for Digital Currency Control

Now here's where I take Smith’s thesis and push it further. While he calls for the destruction of central banking, he misses the newest weapon in the arsenal: ISO 20022.

This isn’t just a boring update to financial messaging standards. It’s a complete overhaul of how money moves—and who gets to see it. It's the backbone infrastructure for CBDCs, already adopted by over 70 countries. The system allows for data-rich, programmable payments, paving the way for:

Individual transaction surveillance
AI-driven compliance and social credit enforcement
Real-time revocation or freezing of funds

Trump may have banned CBDCs—for now. But ISO 20022 lays the digital railroad tracks. All it takes is a change in political winds and the trains start running.

Trump’s CBDC Ban: Temporary Reprieve, Not a Solution

Let’s be clear: Trump’s executive order banning CBDCs is a speed bump, not a wall. It can be overturned with a signature under the next administration. The unelected Fed and its international banking overlords don’t need your vote. They just need time—and infrastructure. And ISO 20022 gives them both.

If you're not preparing now, you're already behind.

The Free Market Is the Cure—But Only If We Fight for It

Smith dreams of a world where money is chosen freely—gold, crypto, silver, hell, even cowrie shells—without coercion or control. That’s not utopia. That’s called freedom.

But freedom isn’t given. It’s taken. If you think you’ll be allowed to peacefully opt out of this digital dystopia, you haven’t been paying attention. Ask the Canadians whose bank accounts were frozen for supporting protests. Ask the Dutch farmers. Ask anyone living under the boot of a programmable currency regime.

Final Warning: You Need to Act Now

The signs are flashing red. You don’t get to say you weren’t warned. ISO 20022 is here. CBDCs are next. The dollar you hold today could become a programmable leash tomorrow.

You need a plan. Not hope. Not faith. A damn plan.

Download the Digital Dollar Reset Guide by Bill Brocius. This isn’t optional reading—it’s your survival manual. Learn how to opt out. Learn how to protect what’s yours. Learn how to fight back before you’re locked into a system that tracks, controls, and ultimately enslaves you.

👉 Download the Digital Dollar Reset Guide here

You’ve been warned. Now do something about it.