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Freezing Bank Accounts Violates Freedom - YouTube
Channel: John Stossel
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The invasion is underway.
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
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revealed differences in how
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political leaders deal with threats.
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Ukraine’s president
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rejected evacuation, saying,
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“I need ammunition,
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not a ride.”
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Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!
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In Canada, by contrast...
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When truckers protested
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vaccination rules
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[Honking]
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Canada’s delicate prime minister
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felt so threatened by
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peaceful protesters
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that he called this protest an
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“occupation” and declared:
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The federal government
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has invoked the Emergencies Act.
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[Yelling]
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That authorized his government
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to take extraordinary measures.
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Mounted police
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rode right into crowds.
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This is about keeping
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Canadians safe.
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Stop it. Whoa. Oh my god!
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The police horses trampled people.
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The Emergencies Act also included
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a newer way to suppress protest.
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If your truck
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is being used in these protests
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your corporate accounts will be frozen.
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Banks have already started to freeze
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the accounts of people involved.
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Kind of like what we're doing now
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to Putin.
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But Trudeau did that
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to his own people!
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[Yelling]
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And it worked.
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The protest ended soon after.
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You do have to have a bank account,
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really, to be able to live.
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Law professor Todd Zywicki.
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Look, they're blocking a bridge.
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They might be threatening someone's life.
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But imagine John,
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if during the Civil Rights era,
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Martin Luther King could have lost
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his bank account
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because he trespassed
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at a Woolworth's counter.
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Canada even froze accounts
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of people who donated to the truckers.
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Imagine if people who may have donated
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as little as 20 dollars
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might not be able to access
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their bank accounts.
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It was justified, said Trudeau.
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These illegal blockades
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and occupations received
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disturbing amounts of foreign funding
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to destabilize Canada's democracy.
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I don't know why you would say
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it's destabilizing democracy.
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It seems to me this is democracy,
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Canadians trying to
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stand up for their rights.
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Good thing that sort of repression
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doesn’t happen here in America.
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Except, it has!
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The government is cutting off funds
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to businesses it simply doesn’t like.
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It did that through something
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President Obama called
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Operation Choke Point.
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Companies engaged in
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completely legal services
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that found themselves losing access
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to bank accounts
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and essentially being forced to shut down.
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It happened to fireworks dealers,
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gambling sites,
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pornography,
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payday loans,
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and gun dealers, like Kat O’Connor.
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Kat O’Connor says
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she did everything right.
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Federal licenses, state licenses, fees.
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But then suddenly,
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banks wouldn’t deal with her.
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Now what do I do?
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So you try Stripe and you try PayPal
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and you try Square.
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It always ended up with an email
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saying they were closing my accounts.
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I really think it was just a
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backdoor attempt at gun control.
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Operation Choke Point is officially gone,
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but you're still being blacklisted?
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Yes. The policies were not changed.
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Of course, banks are not
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official agents of the government.
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You might say, well, they're just
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private businesses.
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Let them do what they want.
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Yeah. It's their money.
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Problem here is
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can we really think about the banking system
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as a purely private industry?
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There are barriers to entry.
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You have to get permission to start a new bank.
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What's your solution?
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Prohibit financial institutions
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from deciding on whether to give people
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financial services based on anything
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except for basically their financial risk.
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Then, when politicians don’t like what you say,
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they wouldn’t be able to
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pressure banks to cut you off.
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Hey! Hey!
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Some at this protest
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thought using cryptocurrency would
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prevent the government from
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grabbing their money.
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After all…
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No one user, government,
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or bank, can force
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a fee on a payment,
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or control its flow.
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I always assumed that if you
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had your money and some
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form of crypto,
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you were protected
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against this kind of government action.
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The catch is crypto has to be
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converted back into regular money.
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And the exchanges most crypto holders
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use cooperate with governments.
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That let Canada freeze
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$20 million in Bitcoin
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that people had donated to the truckers.
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What happens if you can't
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access your bank accounts
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to actually get money
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to pay your bail?
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Freezing bank accounts gives
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governments enormous power
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over anyone doing
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anything politicians don’t like.
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[Honking]
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You might not like what they're doing,
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but we need to tolerate people
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saying things we don't like,
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and separate that from their ability
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to make a living.
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When politicians are frightened,
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some will now take your money,
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and your rights.
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[Swoosh]
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