So just a quick announcement nothing I'm About to say here is conspiratorial and With that out of the way maybe one of You can grab the door so we can finish Roll call [Music] We're going to cover up back alley topic Today and you know by now that I don't Really feed conspiracies I don't push Fear topics just to grab clicks but even So this one might feel like Doom Territory at least for a minute just Stick with me we're going to talk about Banks tracking your purchases in a way That would allow organizations to see What you're up to organizations like I Don't know the government but not Limited there this is a slippery slope And if it seems like it belongs in the Doom and Gloom category well I'm going to tell you why I actually Think that this isn't really a question Of whether it will happen it's just a Question of when so let's start off with What's happening today Banks use Something called Merchant category codes That's an MCC and that identifies the Type of merchant that you're buying from Examples would be clothing stores Airlines lodging government services Etc And maybe you've seen that your online Banking portal already has a budget tab That will show you how much you spend on Certain categories This Is How They know
Now if you take your dog to the vet the MCC is zero seven four two if you pay a Roofer it's one seven six one if you buy A wig or a toupee five six nine eight And if you hit up a massage parlor 7297 to be really clear this is not a Case of if or when even this is already Happening and it's not a case of me Trying to be ominous here when I log Into my online banking accounts they Offer to help me better understand how I Use my money again this is how they do It they can tell me how much I spend on Clothes on groceries utilities flowers Paint they can tell me that month by Month if I'm feeling fancy and I want to Buy a fur coat they'll know that's code 5681 if I want to hit a coin shop well If I bought anything at a coin shop Anything on the table here using Anything other than cash well that's Mcc5972 now how the banks use this Information and who from outside the Bank can gain access either to the Information and aggregate or to your Particular spending habits I don't know I can't say and this is where I remind You again that I'm not here to tell you Scary stories I'm just here to talk About practical planning you may have Seen the concept of merchant category Codes hitting the news lately because The International Organization for Standardization apparently that's a real
Thing approved the creation of a new Merchant code for gun retailers and There has been some pushback now if you Follow that news you might have seen That these codes don't identify your Actual purchase just the type of Merchant if I used a Citibank card they Wouldn't know if I bought a fur coat or Fur pants for instance just that I spent Eight hundred dollars at a first shop I Don't know maybe it was a hat same thing Here maybe it was ammo or glass or Sticking with a fur theme maybe it was a Ghillie suit but it's not specific the Purchase is just categorized and we Don't have to look too far down the road To see how this becomes relevant to gold And silver nobody likes the idea of Being profiled I think that's an easy Place to start now if I spent a high Percentage of my income at first shops And massage parlors I'm not sure I'd Want that identified if I spend a bunch Of time at coin shops and sporting goods Stores I think that's my own business as Well today though it's really just Psychographic information that my banks Have access to they know my buying Behavior if and only if I don't use cash But we'll come back to that the first Actual jump here that I'm gonna make Beyond what's happening today is to the Inevitable rollout of Central Bank Digital currencies the cbdcs I don't
Think that there's any question that These are coming I only think it's a Matter of rollout plans it's a matter of When and maybe they roll out to Administer government services and Entitlements only say like Medicare food stamps and I think that's Called Snap now IRS payments or refunds Unemployment you get the idea really I Think that that's probably as far as They'll go for mandatory use but on a Long enough timeline who knows So the second jump that I'm going to Make is the possibility of Pastor Reporting and even potential limitation By category a cbdc is different than a Regional bank debit card in that the Cbdc would be a product of the federal Government and if the government decides That fur is bad well they have a path to Creating and passing legislation to Limit how much fur you can buy so if all Of your purchases fed up through a cbdc One way or another there would be a Functional way for them to administer That they could limit how much you buy And we already know there's code for it It's five six eight one and if this Feels like science fiction well it Shouldn't because most of this is Already in place and this is really just The future version of the restrictor Played on Will Ferrell's Red Dragon Hopefully two or three of you got that
Reference and before I go any further I Should probably explain how this relates To gold and silver why I have this stuff On the desk I feel pretty strongly that Cash will be in play in one form or Another for a long time and on one hand I think that it will become increasingly Convenient to use payment options other Than cash but as digital reporting and Controls become more commonplace that Could change and the question then is if And when those things change where does Cash and other physical assets fit in Well I would say that the go-to for People who don't like where things went Now the easy answer to me is to give Myself a little bit of flexibility by Having some options and to anyone Thinking that Bitcoin is going to take Over the role of gold well I would say That this road map shows one more reason To have non-digital currency in one form Or another assets cash whatever it is Bitcoin is not that gold and silver to Me I think it is and it's a Long play For for me so I don't think that I'm Going to need it so that I can be off The grid with my fur hat purchases in The next couple of years but if I look Out over the next 10 or 20 years the Likelihood of using precious metals to Take care of certain things I think it Becomes a lot more likely now gold has Never been a way to skirt sales tax to
Me it's never been a way to buy anything Shady it's really just a good way to Store up some wealth but if a cbdc did Roll out a little bit too aggressively Or new reporting tactics got too Invasive I do like the idea of just Having some other options now right now We do have a good option it's called Cash that takes care of things in most Cases but not everyone will even take Cash today and that's a trend that's Probably going to continue so this is Really just a case of planning ahead With something that I think becomes more Valuable over time not just in price but In potential use cases I had a friend Say that buying cars is a good Investment and I understand the angle But we were talking about land and I Don't think that that's good planning Now his take was that he could roll These cars into land at some point I just didn't really follow the thinking There I think it would be hard to buy Land with Ford GT but gold that seems Like a pretty easy way to go about that Kind of thing now none of this is to say Get your money off the grid it's just to Say that I think it's good to have Options So one final Point everything that I've Been talking about here is an evolution That would take many years I think I'm Going to go into this a little bit
Further down the road but cbdc's will be Rolled out one way or another that is a Given but adoption will be very slow I'm Not even going to get into the argument On why people give that it won't be I Think that's simply giving up and not Thinking anything through really this is Just another case of long-term planning For me and as for those two ideas that I Gave that aren't simply inevitable the Idea of full disclosure on purchases Outside availability of that information Or even the potential limiting of Purchases by category and I'll just Admit that last one that wasn't my idea There are people saying that's coming Well I'm a strong believer in the Emergence of workarounds if a new Process is bad enough people will find a Way around it I think Jeff Goldblum said It best in Jurassic Park Life finds a way and that idea that People find a way around things I think That's the most important part of this Video and it's why I think it makes so Much sense to plan in a way that gives Us more options And I think that makes our point we will Go into those cbdc's a little bit more Down the road but for now let us know What you think I skipped the Bitcoin Angle and this one on purpose we can Come back to that also just barely graze The hot button category code Edition
There maybe you noticed it we'll come Back to that as well I'm mostly curious Though about your thoughts on continued Relevance of precious metals now I don't Think I'm going to be using them to pick Up groceries anytime soon or really at Any point I'd like to hear your thoughts There But I like the idea of having some Physical assets for some pretty obvious Reasons really so let us know where you Stand and while you're in the comments Be sure to hit that like button it's Right there it's easy be sure to Subscribe the notifications turned on if You want to see more on the topic and if You're still here thanks again for Watching I always appreciate your time Take care [Music] Thank you Foreign
