Republished, Andrew Axelrod.
Financial censorship?
Farage considers leaving the UK: “Do we really live in a free country?”
You might dislike his politics.
You might disagree with his views.
You might find him personally distasteful.
This is all beside the point.
He’s a former member of the European Parliament, a leading voice of the Brexit movement, and a popular broadcaster.
In other words, Farage is not your typical British citizen.
He’s far more influential and connected.
Farage rubs elbows with Members of Parliament, he takes his afternoon tea at the Chesterfield in Mayfair, and he has a large voice on the public stage.
And yet, none of these priviliges helped him in the slightest.
Farage came out yesterday, lamenting that his personal bank accounts are being forcibly closed and no other UK banks will do business with him.
Even worse, this same treatment is being visited on his family.
Why?
Politically Exposed Person
Because Farage is considered a PEP – a politically exposed person. His family is tainted as well, through guilt of association. People familiar with the horrors of 20th century bloodline politics will instantly recognize this for what it is.
PEP is bank speak for *people with unfashionable political views*.
At least, this is quickly becoming the de-facto interpretation of EU compliance regulation that was ostensibly put in place to curtail government corruption, money laundering and terrorism financing.
Until recently, PEP was primarily weaponized against Russian oligarchs.
The general sentiment of such policies culminated with the confiscation of $300 billion in Russian central bank assets – something considered unthinkable just two years ago.
But Russia was the enemy, so nobody cared. It was just the next logical step down the steep and slippery slope of arbitrary financial sanctions and erratic central bank policy of the last few decades.
Censorship
In fact, nobody even pretends that fiat money is apolitical anymore.
It can be printed, censored, and confiscated, all depending on the whatever the political fashions of the day happen to be.
And it looks like we’re now adding financial unpersoning to that list.
If you don’t want to wind up explaining a social media post from 10 years ago to a faceless bureaucracy, so they’ll let you pay your rent, you may want to consider updating your money to the 21st century.
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