The Pleasant Mutiny: How Millennials have emerged as the Free-Market Vanguard against the encroachment of Centralized Capitalism

A paradigm shift has begun to take place around the globe where Millennials have lost faith in the political process but have renewed trust in the opportunity of the Free-market. There is a growing populist that is engaged in passively disrupting the stronghold Corporations have over the financial pipeline but is not going about it in the conventional leftist approach through advocating and campaigning for more regulatory legislation. Instead, this new Vanguard of the Free-Market has chosen to subvert the power of corporation through the boot-strap dogma. With platforms like Robinhood App, Coinbase App, Youtube and Instagram, individuals are able to build a consumer base and make money directly from the market without the assistance of the traditional brokerage firms and corporations. The millennial hustler can generate an income without having to punch a clock or seeking a loan from the banks, or obtaining a record deal from a major label; from day traders to rappers, the individual is no longer dependent on giant financial institutions to create streams of revenue and build wealth.

Blockchain vs Central Banking

There is no such thing as a free lunch, the old adage that you can’t get something for nothing is especially true when it comes to the convenience of having a central decentralized paper currency. This “privilege” comes at the cost of the people’s free labor in the form of debt. The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 under President Woodrow Wilson “to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system” (Minneapolis). While the Federal Reserve mission statement states that it “functions to promote the effective operation of the U.S. economy and, more generally, the public interest” based on historical data, the contrary can be argued. The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 and only 16 years after that; America experienced the greatest depression in modern history. “To finance the American Revolution, the Continental Congress printed the new nation's first paper money” (Minneapolis).

The purpose of the Federal Reserve is to stabilize the nation’s monetary system, however, the U.S. economy still continues to experience Contractions and Expansions in the economy and will continue to experience recessions and bull markets, therefore it can be said that central banking system is not in the best interest of The People but rather serves in the interest of the private banks. The Soviet economist Nikolai Kondratiev was the first to give international attention to the fact that Capitalist Societies experience economic cycles of Inflation and Depression in his book The Major Economic Cycles published in 1925. Therefore it can be asserted that with or without a Central Banking system, a capitalist society will inevitably have periods of prosperity and periods of despair. However, it has been popularized throughout history that it is a “necessity for the state to provide money. This is a survival of the medieval idea that it is the state which somehow confers value on money it otherwise would not possess” (Hayek). With the emergence of Blockchain, the clout behind this notion is quickly withering away.

The Federal Reserve, a private institution, has complete autonomy over the issuing of the nation’s currency with no oversight from The People. This in theory, at a fundamental level is no different from Communism in the sense that the nation’s financial power has been concentrated into a single institution. Former Federal Reserve Chairman once stated in a hearing with Congress that “my concern about the legislation is that if the GAO is auditing not only the operational aspects of the programs and the details of the programs but making judgments about our policy decisions would effectively be a takeover of policy by the Congress and a repudiation of the Federal Reserve would be highly destructive to the stability of the financial system, the dollar and our national economic situation” (Paul). This statement not only conveys the lack of oversight The People have over its own monetary system but as well as the sovereignty the Central Banking System has with the fate of The U.S. economy with no recourse for its action.

The Federal Reserve’s has been virtually ineffective in minimizing the wealth gap; it could even be argued that the Federal Reserve is the vanguard of the wealthy elite. Opposition to central banking in America goes all the way back to the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, who himself a slave owner was firmly against the central banking system because he felt it gave a few elite too much power of The People. “Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws” a quote by Mayer Rothschild and this is what Andrew Jackson understood, which is that the power of currency is far more supreme than legislation is when it comes to the behavior and welfare of The People. The essential problem with this reality is that “Power Corrupts”; henceforth the importance of having a checks and balance system but for a reason that can be further explored in another essay, our society has not deemed it necessary for those who are at the heart of the U.S. economy to be subject to oversight.

However, today, technology is allowing The People to liberate themselves from a Fake Lassie-Faire without carrying out a violent insurrection as was the case in the French Revolution. Blockchain, a new technology allows people to exchange a digital currency, Cryptocurrency, in the global market without the assistance of Private Banks. In the words of Marc Andreessen "The practical consequence is for the first time, a way for one Internet user to transfer a unique piece of digital property to another Internet user, such that the transfer is guaranteed to be safe and secure, everyone knows that the transfer has taken place, and nobody can challenge the legitimacy of the transfer"(Coindesk). In other words, Blockchain is a medium in which two people can exchange “Cryptocurrency” through the internet completely independent of any banking system.
“Blockchain technology undermines the 'middle-man' business model…..This opens up new possibilities for financial market participants. Getting rid of middle-men saves cost, speeds clearing and settlement (possibly easing capital requirements), and reduces operational risks”(Nieplet). Not only does this technology give individuals independency from banks and other financial institutions but also freedom from asset freezes. Blockchain users won’t have to worry about government agencies imposing its will as it pleases.

Millennials now understand that The President of the United States has influence over economic policy but cannot dictate the contraction or expansion of the market and as a result are less active in politics and more active in the free-market. The missed opportunity by Bernie Sanders to lock in the Democratic Nomination caused Millennials to lose faith in the political process but gained a renewed trust in the open-market. After the shocking election of Donald Trump, in the weeks to come, the bullish market seemed to be virtually unaffected by this strange and bizarre event, a sign that The People aren’t going to let a mad man interrupt the progress that has been made in the market.

DMA
With the rise of Direct Market Access in the global economy, individuals are better equipped to gain their financial independence. Today, in 2017 it is possible for people to do numerous task right from their smartphones; from trading stocks and foreign currency to promoting a business or project. The internet and social media has made it possible for each individual to reach the global market in the pursuit of capital without the need of major financial backing from corporations. The Robinhood App, which does not charge commissions fees on trades like traditional brokerages, started in 2014 has garnered 2 million users since its creation and growth doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. That’s 2 million people who now have the opportunity to invest in the stock market without the cost of commissions or a financial manager.

Since the election of Donald Trump as President, Bitcoin has seen its price more than double. In the beginning of November is hovered around $700 and now had spiked to $1,800. This is astronomical in many cases. Although some of Bitcoins recent success can be attributed to Japan’s acceptance of Bitcoin by the government, it cannot go unnoticed the spike in price since the presidential election. Not only has Bitcoins price doubled but another Cryptocurrency, Litecoin, was added to Coinbase’s tradeable currencies, which is further evidence of the growing rebellion of millennials against corporate capitalism. The pursuit of Financial Freedom is the new trend.

The old adage “Die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” comes to mind when considering the history of central banks in America. James Madison once said “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty, the means of defense against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home” (Washington). The same principle is true in the control of money as it applies to central banking. Before the creation of the Fed, Central Banks were generally only charted to help better facilitate financing for wars, not to regulate the economy. Consequently, if the purpose of the central banks is for financing war efforts than it should be treated with the same regard as the forefathers had with the military and that is that there should be no standing centralized banking system, but rather it should only be assembled in time of war or crisis and should be dismantled as soon as the crisis has dissipated. There is a direct correlation between the existence of the Federal Reserve and the existence of Military Industrial Complex and James Maddison also stated that “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare” (Washington). The lack of oversight through a system of checks and balances and continuous existence of the Federal Reserve is an intrusion on the autonomy of the Market, and a cancer to the integrity of the democratic process and a hazard to the welfare of world.
Summary
Hence, the Pleasant Mutiny that is occurring across America and the world is necessary for the progress and prosperity of the future. The Millennial Hustler must be centralized in thought but decentralized in means of execution in order to thwart the unrestricted power private banks have on the U.S. Economy. People typically believe that it is necessary for people to unify to avoid being conquered due to the old aphorism “Divide and Conquer” however, what most fail to realize is that division can be useful in the defense of the individual liberty. Niccolo Machevelli best articulated this in his controversial treatise The Prince, “Alexander the great was able to conquer the Kingdom of Turk because it was governed by King Darius as compared to when the Romans occupied Spain, France and Greece, where rebellions were frequent because of the many different principalities” which is contrary to the general notion of Divide and Conquer. (Machevelli, 6)”. that it may be easy to other throw the ruling power of a country that is divided, however, without solidarity among the people, consolidation of power can be even more difficult to accomplish. Consequently, the Individual Millennial has begun to build a tunnel through the mountain of banks and corporations that leads directly to the Open Market.

References

A History of Central Banking in the United States, 2017, May 5, https://www.minneapolisfed.org/community/student-resources/central-bank-history/history-of-central-banking
Hayek, F.A., Denationalization of Money, 1976, The Institution of Economic Affairs
Kondratieff, N.D., The Long Waves in Economic Life, The review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 17. No. 6. November 6, 1935. MIT Press.
Machevelli, Niccolo. The Prince, Penguin Random House, 2011.
Niepelt, Dirk, Blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and central banks: Opportunity or threat?, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/10/blockchain-cryptocurrencies-and-central-banks-opportunity-or-threat, May 5, 2017
Paul, Ron 2009, June 26, Federal Reserve, Ron Paul's Legislationhttp://www.ronpaul.com/2009-06-26/ben-bernanke-federal-reserve-audit-would-constitute-takeover-by-congress-threaten-the financial-system-dollar-and-economy/
The Founding Fathers Warned Against Standing Armies, Nov. 19, 2011 http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/11/the-founding-fathers-warned-against-standing-armies.html

Written by CryptoCannon