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The Cashless Conspiracy: How Trump’s Economy and Musk’s Data Grab Threaten Freedom

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The Trump administration’s economic experiment, rooted in chaos, crony capitalism, and unchecked digital surveillance, is pushing America toward a dangerous new frontier.

Published

6 months ago

October 20, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

The Trump administration’s economic experiment, rooted in chaos, crony capitalism, and unchecked digital surveillance, is pushing America toward a dangerous new frontier. It is a crypto-driven, cashless society that threatens to erase financial freedom for millions, particularly Black Americans and the working poor.

As the economy contracts and inflation rises, President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff regime has already sent shockwaves through every sector. According to Fortune, Trump’s reckless tariff decisions have wiped nearly seven trillion dollars in market value, decimated small business confidence, and driven consumer prices to levels not seen in decades. Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii warned that Trump is ruining the economy on purpose, pointing to middle-class families now paying an average of five thousand dollars more each year for basic goods such as cars, homes, groceries, and clothing. While Americans struggle with higher prices and shrinking savings, the Trump White House has quietly advanced a sweeping new financial system that merges state power, private crypto interests, and invasive data collection. In early 2025, Trump authorized a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, incorporating the volatile cryptocurrency into official United States financial infrastructure. The Conversation reported that this hybrid model privatizes the issuance of money while keeping control of reserves under the executive branch. It undermines the Federal Reserve’s independence and centralizes power in the Oval Office. Trump described bitcoin as freedom money, but in practice, it represents state-aligned crypto dominance and an economy where wealth and access depend on government loyalty.

Behind the scenes, Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, once run by Elon Musk, came under scrutiny for uploading massive federal databases containing the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans, including Social Security data, to unsecured cloud servers. A whistleblower revealed that the team requested its activities not be logged and even deleted records of access, behavior that cybersecurity experts compared to criminal hacking operations. Sensitive information tied to union members, workers’ rights cases, and corporate secrets may have been exposed, with traces of suspicious activity linking back to Russian IP addresses. By the spring of 2025, Musk left DOGE and the government under a cloud of suspicion after a public spat with Trump. He has gone mostly silent since his departure, but multiple people believe he took large volumes of data with him. The full extent of what was removed or copied remains unclear, leaving major concerns about the safety of sensitive personal and governmental information.

At the same time, Trump’s allies have opened new financial avenues for the wealthy through Erebor Bank, a cryptocurrency-focused institution backed by conservative megadonors and approved with unusual speed by Trump’s Treasury Department. Its mission is to serve ultra-high-net-worth individuals and tech firms, signaling a parallel financial system that privileges the rich while ordinary citizens are pushed into algorithmic surveillance economies. These developments align with global moves toward digital ID systems such as the United Kingdom’s One Login and digital wallets, which The Telegraph described as a real nightmare that centralizes personal data and is riddled with security flaws. In the United States, REAL ID enforcement now allows the federal government to link biometric data to digital identification across states. Officials claim it enhances security, yet many Black Americans have long viewed REAL ID with suspicion. Without it, citizens cannot board domestic flights, enter federal buildings, or access certain public facilities. Critics warn that REAL ID creates another layer of exclusion and control, particularly for those who already face bureaucratic and systemic barriers.

An expanded picture of what is happening around the world makes this moment appear even more calculated than coincidental. In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s digital ID program has been exposed as a security disaster that relied on unsecured workstations in foreign countries, leaving millions of British citizens vulnerable to data theft and foreign manipulation. In the United States, whistleblower Charles Borges revealed that the DOGE team copied and uploaded the Social Security Administration’s database containing hundreds of millions of Americans’ personal records to unmonitored cloud servers. He resigned after filing complaints, claiming he was harassed and isolated by the administration. Meanwhile, cybersecurity analysts detected data activity linked to Russia at the same time DOGE engineers were transferring files. When taken together, these events suggest a global pattern of governments and private actors concentrating power by controlling not only digital money but also personal identity and access to daily life. Globally, other nations have already begun shifting toward cashless societies. Sweden and Norway have reduced physical currency use to historic lows, and while the move is framed as progress, even their governments are now warning about the vulnerability of fully digital economies to war, cyberattacks, and authoritarian abuse. The convergence of Trump’s crypto policies, REAL ID enforcement, the global cashless push, and Musk’s suspected data exfiltration raises the specter of a coordinated effort to centralize control over citizens’ finances and personal freedoms. It suggests that the line between economic policy, surveillance, and political domination is disappearing.

As the physical dollar fades, major institutions warn of who will be left behind. Brookings predicted years ago that cash will soon be obsolete, with digital currencies becoming the new norm. While central banks promote benefits like efficiency and transparency, they also introduce total traceability, enabling governments or corporations to freeze, restrict, or program how citizens spend money. J.P. Morgan and Loughborough University both note that a cashless system risks excluding the poor, the elderly, and the unbanked, groups disproportionately represented by Black and minority Americans. Digital payments must be designed with inclusion and convenience at their core, said Loughborough economist Markos Zachariadis, warning that without oversight, we risk leaving vulnerable groups excluded. In the United States, those same groups are already being priced out of basic participation in the economy as Trump’s tariffs, inflation, and anti-worker policies strip away safety nets like Medicaid and food assistance.

For Black America, the stakes are especially high. The march toward a cashless economy threatens to replicate the structural inequalities of the old banking system under the guise of innovation. Access to digital money will depend on data verification, credit history, and digital ID compliance, areas where Black Americans have historically faced discrimination and surveillance. With tech billionaires like Musk controlling the digital rails, privacy and autonomy may soon become luxuries reserved for the elite. As Global Finance observed, nations like Sweden are reassessing their nearly cashless economies after realizing that wars, natural disasters, and crises reveal vulnerabilities in fully digital systems. In America, those vulnerabilities may soon look like total control, where the same administration that tanked the economy gains the power to decide how and where citizens can spend what little they have left. In the end, Trump’s version of economic freedom is not about liberty. It is about ownership of currency, of data, and of people. If this cashless, crypto-fueled dystopia becomes reality, Black America and the poor will once again be first in line to pay the price.

Stacy M. Brown

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IN MEMORIAM: Rest in Power — Minnesota Loses a True Warrior in Yusef Mgeni

MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN RECORDER — Yusef Mgeni, a brilliant historian, community organizer, former St. Paul educator and fierce advocate for Black people, died on April 7, 2026, leaving behind a legacy that will echo through generations of Black Minnesota history and community building.

Published

1 day ago

April 15, 2026

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By MSR News Online

Minnesota and the world lost a powerful voice and a true warrior on April 7, 2026. Yusef Mgeni is gone, but his legacy will echo for generations.

Yusef was a brilliant historian, a community organizer, a former St. Paul educator, and a fierce advocate for Black people. He carried with him an extraordinary archive of speeches, books, articles, and photographs documenting the work of countless Black scholars and leaders. His knowledge was not just deep. It was generational. Talk to him about any subject concerning Black history, and he would give you a dissertation.

His roots in this community ran deeper than most people knew. Yusef was the grandnephew of Fredrick McGhee, the pioneering 20th-century civil rights activist and attorney who made his mark in St. Paul at the turn of the century. That lineage was not lost on Yusef. He carried it forward with pride and purpose, spending decades making sure the stories of Black Minnesotans were told, preserved, and passed on.

As a journalist, Yusef called NAACP leaders and community figures to identify the issues that mattered most to Black people and wrote about them in local newspapers. He was a contributor to the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, a platform he understood and respected deeply. As a former St. Paul NAACP vice president, he remained active and engaged well into his retirement, answering emails and voicemails for residents who were at their wits’ end, helping them navigate evictions, legal challenges, and systemic barriers.

“Generally, they contact us when they are at their wits’ end,” he once said. “They are going to get evicted; their car is getting repossessed. We assist in navigating the system.”

His work was always about access. Under his leadership and alongside other NAACP leaders, the St. Paul chapter helped establish a landmark covenant between the police and the St. Paul community in 2001, a model that contributed to dramatically lower excessive-force costs than in Minneapolis in the decade that followed.

Yusef was also a passionate champion of ethnic studies in Minnesota’s schools, understanding that education rooted in Black and Brown history was not a supplement to American history but central to it.

“Ethnic studies is also American history,” he said. “The fact that the legislature and the MDE have both endorsed ethnic studies requirements in schools is a real plus for giving people the opportunity to explore and learn more about American history, and more importantly, to see themselves reflected in that learning.”

In the 1970s and ’80s, Yusef worked alongside Mrs. Clarissa Walker at the Sabathani Community Center, where they poured their energy into uplifting and empowering the community. Their work helped shape the cultural and political landscape of South Minneapolis during a critical era. They were part of a generation that built institutions, nurtured young people, and fought for justice with unwavering commitment.

Yusef also played a key role in the early development of KMOJ Radio, helping to establish a platform that amplified Black voices long before it was common or convenient. His activism extended through education, the St. Paul NAACP, the Million Man March, and the Urban Coalition, always rooted in a deep and abiding love for his people.

He was also an interviewee in the Rondo neighborhood oral history project preserved by the Minnesota Historical Society, ensuring that the voices and stories of that community would never be lost.

Not long ago, a colleague was blessed to sit with Yusef at his home, where he reflected on his life and his legacy. He talked about his work in education, his activism, and his years of service to the community. But what stood out just as much was how he spoke about his family and his people, with warmth, with pride, and with purpose.

Today, we honor him not only for what he accomplished but for the spirit with which he did it.

A scholar. A builder. A warrior. A keeper of our stories.

Thank you, Yusef, for everything you gave and everything you sacrificed on behalf of Black people. Your legacy stands tall, and our community is better because of you.

Rest in Power, Yusef Mgeni.

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Revolve Fund to Provide $20,000 to Support Food Access Efforts in Alabama Black Belt

THE AFRO — “Revolve Fund complements its core mission of improving capital access for entrepreneurs by partnering with leading organizations that are addressing critical community needs,” said James Wahls, founder and managing director of Revolve Fund. “Like BBCF, Revolve understands at the most fundamental level, everyone should have access to healthy food.”

Published

1 day ago

April 15, 2026

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By Revolve Fund | The AFRO

SELMA – As over 40 million Americans grappled with the reality of not being able to feed themselves or their families due to SNAP delays, Revolve Fund is seeking to help. Revolve Fund has announced a $20,000 community grant to the Black Belt Community Foundation as part of the duo’s continued partnership. The grant will increase the foundation’s capacity to execute programs and fundraise to support food access efforts in the Alabama Black Belt region.

“Revolve Fund complements its core mission of improving capital access for entrepreneurs by partnering with leading organizations that are addressing critical community needs,” said James Wahls, founder and managing director of Revolve Fund. “Like BBCF, Revolve understands at the most fundamental level, everyone should have access to healthy food.”

“BBCF is deeply grateful for the Revolve Fund’s grant to underwrite direct food support in the Black Belt during the current disruption of SNAP benefits, continuing high food costs and unprecedented strain on our local food banks,” said Christopher Spencer, president and CEO, Black Belt Community Foundation. “As BBCF mobilizes resources and community partners during this time, Revolve is one of the first philanthropic organizations to step forward to support our Food for Families in the Black Belt Campaign. We look ahead to our productive, continued partnership with them to positively impact and transform the Black Belt region of Alabama.”

“While our communities need and deserve so much more, we hope our contribution will support the foundation’s ability to work with other philanthropic partners, individual donors, charities, and public partners,” Wahls added.

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Mamdani Plans City Grocery Store in East Harlem

NEW YORK CARIB NEWS — The store will be located at La Marqueta, a historic marketplace beneath the elevated Park Avenue tracks. The project is expected to cost approximately $30 million and is slated to open next year, utilizing currently vacant space within the city-owned facility. Operating rent-free, officials say the model is intended to lower overhead and pass savings on to consumers.

Published

1 day ago

April 15, 2026

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New York Carib News

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced plans to establish the city’s first municipally owned grocery store in East Harlem, a flagship initiative aimed at addressing rising food costs and improving access to affordable essentials.

The store will be located at La Marqueta, a historic marketplace beneath the elevated Park Avenue tracks. The project is expected to cost approximately $30 million and is slated to open next year, utilizing currently vacant space within the city-owned facility. Operating rent-free, officials say the model is intended to lower overhead and pass savings on to consumers.

Mamdani unveiled the plan during an event marking his first 100 days in office, reaffirming a campaign pledge to build a network of five city-owned grocery stores, one in each borough, by the end of his first term in 2029.

“During our campaign, we promised New Yorkers that we would create a network of five city-owned grocery stores,” Mamdani said. “Today, we make good on that promise.”

The mayor positioned the initiative as a direct response to surging grocery prices, noting that food costs in New York City rose by nearly 66% between 2013 and 2023, significantly outpacing the national average. He argued that the city-run stores would provide fair pricing, improve worker conditions, and ease the financial burden on low-income households.

“We’re going to make it easier for New Yorkers to put food on the table,” Mamdani said, adding that staples such as eggs and bread would be more affordable.

However, the proposal is already drawing scrutiny. The estimated cost of the East Harlem store would consume nearly half of the $70 million budget initially outlined for the entire five-store program. Despite this, Mamdani remains confident that the initiative will deliver long-term benefits and help reshape access to affordable groceries across the city.

The announcement also drew political attention, with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders making a surprise appearance at the event in support of the mayor’s broader economic agenda.