This probably should come as no surprise.
As the economy dives and the Coronavirus spreads across the US, elected officials in Washington, DC struggle to agree on a relief package. It has been reported that Republicans and Democrats had come to terms on a bailout package only for a vote to fail in the Senate. Part of the problem, it seems, is that Democrats have produced a counter-proposal chock full of pet-projects that have nothing to do with COVID-19 relief.
While hopes are high that a compromise will be reached today or if not, later this week, the proposed legislation highlights the problems in the political process and the dysfunctional Congress.
Items like $35 million for the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts have found its way into the proposal. Or how about $200 million for the study of limiting greenhouse gasses? Ok.
Also buried within the 1119 page odyssey of obtuse legislation is a requirement for a digital dollar.
DIGITAL DOLLAR.—The term ‘‘digital dollar’’ shall mean:
(A) a balance expressed as a dollar value consisting of digital ledger entries that are recorded as liabilities in the accounts of any Federal reserve bank; or
(B) an electronic unit of value, redeemable by an eligible financial institution (as determined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System).
(2) DIGITAL DOLLAR WALLET.—The term ‘‘digital dollar wallet’’ shall mean a digital wallet or account, maintained by a Federal reserve bank on behalf of any person, that represents holdings in an electronic device or service that is used to store digital dollars that may be tied to a digital or physical identity.
It sounds a lot like a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) managed by distributed ledger technology.
So perhaps we can get back to the chore at hand and agree on legislation that saves the economy including both big business and small firms?