Chapter 5. When money fails people

1. A teacher in Buenos Aires: “dollar deposits were converted to pesos by decree at 1.4 pesos per dollar”

   Argentine Decree 1570/2001, December 1, 2001 (250 pesos a week); Decree 214/2002, February 3, 2002 (dollar deposits converted at 1.4 pesos per dollar); International Monetary Fund, “Lessons from the Crisis in Argentina,” 2003; American Enterprise Institute, “Resolution of Argentina’s Financial Crisis,” retrieved September 2026.

2. A teacher in Buenos Aires: “Argentina’s statistics agency reported inflation of 211% for the year”

   INDEC, consumer price index, December 2023 release, January 11, 2024: 211.4% for calendar 2023.

3. A teacher in Buenos Aires: “Chainalysis ranked Argentina 20th in the world for grassroots adoption”

   Chainalysis, “The 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index,” chainalysis.com, September 2, 2025 (Argentina ranked 20th), retrieved September 2026.

4. A teacher in Buenos Aires: “its central bank reported inflation of 130,060% for 2018”

   Banco Central de Venezuela, inflation and GDP statistics released May 28, 2019: 130,060% for 2018.

5. A business owner in Limassol: “and the terms included taking money directly from depositors”, “47.5% of each deposit was converted into bank shares” and 1 more

   Eurogroup statements, March 16 and 25, 2013; Bank of Cyprus, completion of recapitalisation, July 30, 2013 (47.5% of uninsured deposits converted to equity); Schaefer-Brown, “Cyprus: Laiki Bank and Bank of Cyprus Restructuring, 2013,” Journal of Financial Crises, Yale, 2024; European Stability Mechanism, “Crisis in Cyprus,” esm.europa.eu (all external capital controls lifted April 6, 2015), retrieved September 2026.

6. A business owner in Limassol: “the European Union made this kind of “bail-in” the standard tool”

   European Union, Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (2014/59/EU), 2014.

7. A business owner in Limassol: “Bitcoin was priced around $34 at the start of March 2013”

   StatMuse Money, bitcoin daily closes, March 1, 2013 ($34.06), retrieved September 2026; Cointelegraph, “Will Grexit Force Bitcoin Price to Spike like the 2013 Cyprus Collapse,” 2015 (bitcoin in the $230 range on April 9, 2013); Bitcoin Magazine, “The Bitcoin Crash: An Examination,” April 14, 2013; StatMuse Money, daily closes, April 9 to 11, 2013 ($189.91, $228.20 and $151.04), retrieved October 2026.

8. A sister in Beirut: “people with connections reportedly moved billions abroad while ordinary depositors got $200 a week”

   The National, “Lebanese banks to reopen as withdrawal limits made official,” November 2019; Al Jazeera, “‘Not legal’ but necessary: Lebanon’s banks tighten restrictions,” February 3, 2020; Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, “Lebanon Central Bank Governor’s Son Moved Millions Abroad While Lebanese Watched Blocked Savings Dwindle,” May 13, 2022 (estimate of up to $6 billion moved abroad), retrieved September 2026.

9. A sister in Beirut: “likely one of the 10 most severe economic crises anywhere”

   World Bank, Lebanon Economic Monitor, Spring 2021, “Lebanon Sinking (to the Top 3),” press release June 1, 2021; World Bank, “Lebanon: Normalization of Crisis is No Road to Stabilization,” press release May 16, 2023 (lira lost more than 98% of its pre-crisis value by February 2023).

10. A sister in Beirut: “a woman named Sali Hafiz walked into her bank in Beirut”

    Associated Press, via CBS News, “Woman with toy gun breaks into Beirut bank to take $13,000 in locked savings,” September 14, 2022; Washington Post, “Armed woman stages heist at Blom Bank in Beirut to recover savings,” September 14, 2022.

11. A man at a bank counter in the American Southwest: “a shared database banks use to flag people whose old accounts were closed”

    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, “CFPB Takes Steps to Improve Checking Account Access,” press release, February 3, 2016; CFPB, “Helping consumers who have been denied checking accounts,” February 2016.

12. A man at a bank counter in the American Southwest: “a 2024 study found that people who have been to prison”

    Bryan and Collins, “Locked out of banking: The limits of financial inclusion for formerly incarcerated individuals,” Social Science Research, vol. 122, 2024.

13. The kitchen table: “In 2022 it froze protesters’ bank accounts by sending a list to the banks.” · What a CBDC is, and why it does not fix frozen money: “Canada’s 2022 freeze took a list and a few hundred instructions”

    Public Order Emergency Commission, Final Report, February 17, 2023; Canadian Frontline Nurses v. Canada (Attorney General), 2024 FC 42, January 23, 2024; Canada (Attorney General) v. Canadian Frontline Nurses, 2026 FCA 6, January 16, 2026; CTV News and CP24, “Federal government appeals to Supreme Court on ruling over use of Emergencies Act,” March 17, 2026. Status as of September 2026: leave to appeal sought, not yet decided.

14. The quiet version at home: “A dollar from 1971 buys about what 12 cents bought then”, “through the end of 2023, consumer prices rose about 18%”

    U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U, all items, 1982-84=100: 1971 annual average 40.5; 2025 annual average 322.2 (a 1971 dollar equals about 12.6 cents as of 2025); December 2020 to December 2023, 12-month changes of 7.0, 6.5 and 3.4%, compounding to about 18%. BLS, “Consumer Price Index: 2023 in review,” January 2024, retrieved September 2026.

15. The quiet version at home: “the White House issued an order about it in 2025”

    White House, Executive Order 14331, “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans,” August 7, 2025, 90 Fed. Reg. (August 12, 2025).

16. Worth repeating: “a case called Foley v. Hill and ruled that money placed in a bank”

    Foley v. Hill (1848) 2 HLC 28, House of Lords.

17. What a CBDC is, and why it does not fix frozen money: “146 countries and currency unions are exploring one, and three have launched”, “An executive order in January 2025 barred executive-branch agencies from working on one”

    Atlantic Council, Central Bank Digital Currency Tracker, atlanticcouncil.org, updated May 2026 (146 countries and currency unions; three launched), retrieved September 2026; White House, Executive Order 14178, “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” January 23, 2025, section 5(a); Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, “Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) FAQs,” federalreserve.gov (the Fed would only proceed with a CBDC with authorizing legislation), retrieved September 2026.

18. What a CBDC is, and why it does not fix frozen money: “a Chinese city tested digital-yuan vouchers that expired if unspent”

    South China Morning Post, “China’s Shenzhen giving away millions in sovereign digital yuan,” October 2020 (200-yuan packets spendable October 12 to 18); The Paypers, “China tests its CBDC in Shenzhen,” October 20, 2020 (unused amounts to be taken back).

19. What a CBDC is, and why it does not fix frozen money: “found that in any given week 98.5% of eNaira wallets went unused”, “in December 2023 the central bank lifted its restriction”

    Ree, “Nigeria’s eNaira, One Year After,” IMF Working Paper WP/23/104, May 16, 2023; Central Bank of Nigeria, circular lifting the restriction on banks serving virtual asset service providers, December 22, 2023.

20. A fair objection: “no depositor has lost a cent of insured money in an American bank failure”

    FDIC, “Understanding Deposit Insurance,” fdic.gov (no depositor has lost a penny of insured funds since the FDIC’s founding; insurance took effect January 1, 1934), retrieved September 2026; Joint statement by the Treasury, Federal Reserve and FDIC on the systemic risk exception for Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, March 12, 2023. Silicon Valley Bank: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, “Review of the Federal Reserve’s Supervision and Regulation of Silicon Valley Bank,” April 28, 2023, federalreserve.gov.

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