We explore the terrifying reality of ‘debanking’ through the lens of the Trump vs. Dimon lawsuit, asking the uncomfortable question: If money is speech, who controls the mute button?
The Myth of Ownership
You believe your money is yours. You are wrong. Your assets are merely numbers on a server owned by someone else, accessible only so long as you remain in good standing with the landlords of the digital economy. We lull ourselves into thinking that censorship is about banned books or silenced tweets, but the ultimate censorship is starvation—the inability to transact. I see this not as a political issue, but as an existential one. The moment your capacity to buy bread depends on your political opinions, you are no longer a free citizen; you are a subject.
The Findings: A Tribunal in the Boardroom
The conflict between Donald Trump and Jamie Dimon is a theatrical display of a very real mechanism. The lawsuit alleges that JPMorgan Chase used its power to punish a political adversary, a practice now known as ‘debanking.’ But look past the celebrity of the combatants. This is about the fusion of state morality and corporate enforcement. As F.A. Hayek presciently warned us regarding economic control:
To be controlled in our economic pursuits means to be always controlled unless we declare our specific purpose. Or, since when we declare our specific purpose we shall also have to get it approved, we should really be controlled in everything.
– F.A. Hayek
The bank manager has replaced the magistrate. There is no trial, no jury, and often, no explanation—just a letter stating that your account has been closed due to ‘risk tolerance.’
Go Deeper
Step beyond the surface. Unlock The Third Citizen’s full library of deep guides and frameworks — now with 10% off the annual plan for new members.
The Implication: The Trap of Convenience
We walked into this trap willingly, seduced by the convenience of digital finance. Now, the walls are closing in. If we do not demand a separation of banking and state—or at least, a separation of banking and ideological policing—we accept a future where dissent is impossible because survival is impossible. Solzhenitsyn wrote about the ‘courage to say no,’ but how does one say no when the system can simply turn off your lights?
Power is not a means; it is an end... The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.
– George Orwell
We must recognize that this power, once established, will not be relinquished voluntarily. It must be challenged, not just in courtrooms by billionaires, but by a refusal to accept the terms of this new, silent servitude.
“….you are a subject”
Very true.
In fact, Catherine Austin Fitts went further, and in great detail, on this subject. In her opinion we don’t become subjects, but slaves.