Inflation, Monetary Censorship, and Authoritarianism
🧠This post is part of an educational series on money—its history, current problems, and the new tools that are changing how we use and understand it.Complete series:
- The Evolution of Digital Money: From Credit to Crypto-Money
- âś… The Flaws of the Traditional Financial System (you are here)
- 🔜 From Control to Sovereignty: What I Discovered by Understanding Bitcoin
- 🔜 Origins of Bitcoin and the Whitepaper (coming soon)
Have you ever felt like your money just vanishes without you spending it?
Like you can’t save—not because you overspend—but because everything gets more expensive while your salary stays the same?
Or like sending money to your family in another country is as hard as sending a package to Mars?
These are not quirks of fate. They are symptoms of a financial system that, despite presenting itself as modern and stable, has deep flaws that especially affect those of us living in Latin America.
In this article, I’m not speaking to you as an economist or technician, but as someone who has also been hit by this system.
We’ll go over three structural failures we all experience daily:
constant inflation, censorship over our own money, and financial authoritarianism disguised as “governance.”
And most importantly—this isn’t just to complain, but to understand. Because only by understanding can we search for something better.
1. Inflation: when your money is worth less even though you work more
Imagine earning today the same salary you earned a year ago. But now, with that money, you can’t buy even half of what you could before.
That’s inflation: the loss of your money’s purchasing power.
And although we’re often told it’s “natural” or “controlled,” in many Latin American countries it’s been anything but.
Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba… inflation has been so brutal it has forced millions to seek refuge in dollars, take on extra jobs, or simply survive any way they can.
But why does it happen?
One of the deepest causes is that central banks—who control money issuance—can print more bills at will. They do this to finance the State, cover deficits, pay debts.
But this extra money doesn’t appear magically: all citizens pay for it, because each peso, bolĂvar, or Cuban peso loses value compared to the new amount in circulation.
In other words: if you have 100 and the government prints another 100, your 100 is now worth half.
Why is this so serious?
Because money is not just paper or numbers on a screen.
Money is the representation of the time and energy you invested in working.
And since neither time nor energy can be stored, we use money as a way to preserve that value.
Energy can’t be created from nothing, nor does it disappear—it transforms.
When you work, you transform your energy into value. That value is stored as money.
So if money loses value by someone else’s decision, it’s as if they stole the time you invested.
Devaluation is not just bad economic policy.
It’s a violation of a basic right: the right to preserve the fruits of your labor.
👉 This brings us to the second flaw:
If you can’t protect the value of your money… can you at least move it freely?
2. Financial Censorship: when your money has to ask for permission
In theory, money is a neutral tool: you work, get paid, and use your money however you like.
But in practice, that’s not always the case.
In many countries, the financial system acts as a gatekeeper, deciding whether you can send, receive, withdraw, or even keep your money.
How does this censorship show up?
- A human rights NGO has its account frozen “on suspicion.”
- A person protesting against the government sees their funds blocked.
- A migrant wants to send money to family, but the bank rejects the transaction over “risk concerns.”
- A Cuban citizen simply can’t get an international card, use PayPal, or open a bank account abroad.
And we’re not talking about criminals. We’re talking about ordinary people who just want to use their money to live, help, or protest.
But the system doesn’t distinguish: if you don’t follow its rules, you can’t participate.
Who sets those rules?
Not you.
Not your community.
They are set by banks, governments, international alliances, and tech companies with the power to allow or deny what you can do with your own money.
And if you think this only happens to others, just try making an international transfer or getting paid for work from abroad, and you’ll see how monitored and restricted your access really is.
👉 Which reveals the third flaw:
Not only does your money lose value.
Not only can they stop you from using it.
The decisions that affect your life are also made far away from you, without your input, and without your ability to oppose them.
3. Financial Authoritarianism: when the decisions that affect you are not yours to make
First, we see that money constantly loses value.
Then, that sometimes you can’t even move it freely.
And then comes the most uncomfortable question: who decides all this?
Because neither you, nor I, nor our families were consulted when billions in new currency were printed, when rates were raised, or when accounts were frozen.
Those decisions are made by governments, central banks, technocrats, international organizations like the IMF…
All far removed from our daily lives, yet with a direct impact on them.
And the problem isn’t just distance.
It’s that there is no accountability or consequence.
If their policies fail—causing inflation, unemployment, bankruptcies—we pay the price.
But they carry on. They change positions. Publish a book. And nothing changes.
This financial authoritarianism isn’t always obvious. It doesn’t wear a uniform or issue decrees on TV.
It operates under false technical neutrality, as if manipulating an entire economy were purely “objective.”
But the truth is there’s a massive concentration of power, where a few decide how money is created, who gets it first, and under what conditions it can be used.
And you can only adapt—even if that means getting poorer, staying silent, or giving up.
Epilogue: what if there were another way?
For a long time, we believed there was no alternative. That inflation was inevitable. That banks were necessary. That control was part of order.
But today, more and more people are seeking and using new tools to regain control over their money.
Tools that don’t depend on banks, governments, or permissions.
Tools that respect your time, your energy, and your right to decide how to use what is yours.
Among all those tools, one has sparked attention, debate, and hope: Bitcoin.
And while many see it as an investment or a technology, others understand it as what it could be:
a direct response to financial oppression.