I previously wrote about Gross Consent Product (GCP) and how it makes governments predictable.
Gross Consent Product (GCP) - Treat a nation's aggregate "consent" as a measurable stock like GDP.
Consent is the cheapest enforcement input; when it's scarce, systems spend more on tech + law (think Palantir, Microsoft).
In other words, improved enforcement tech = consent substitution.
When consent is scarce:
- Leaders avoid long recessions and social austerity.
- The cheapest political option is financial repression: keep growth nominal, let real rates hover around zero or mildly negative, and tolerate higher-than-target inflation while backstopping shocks quickly.
Based on my research, the 2-year base ranges for inflation (headline CPI equivalents) look something like this:
- US: 2.7%–3.8% (core services sticky; goods oscillate)
- EU core: 2.5%–3.5%
- UK: 3.0%–4.5%
- Japan: 1.5%–2.5% (higher than old regime; BoJ still managing term structure)
In the next 24 months, inflation will be sticky because of persistent fiscal deficits, geopolitically driven capex (defense/energy/onshoring), compliance/identity spend (non-cyclical), and willingness to "patch" shocks rather than purge them.
Impacts on Liquidity
Over the next 12-18 months, liquidity will likely be choppy but net-accommodative - brief drains around tax/TGA rebuilds and heavy coupon quarters; offsets via bill skew, facility usage, and "emergency" optics when vols spike.
- Deficits stay large - steady Treasury supply. Expect Treasury to favor bills (to avoid steepening and keep funding smooth), which softens the blow to duration and helps Net Liquidity via RRP (Reverse Repurchase Agreement) drainage.
- Fed: mild cuts when growth wobbles; QT taper is more likely than a full pivot unless a shock hits. Facilities and swap lines remain the "quick fix" tools.
So low Gross Consent Product means short shocks, fast patches, and tolerance for 3–4% inflation rather than long purges. Liquidity remains managed, not free - choppy but net supportive for policy-aligned software and quality growth.
In my previous post, I showed how in my research, consent substantially fell from 2019 (pre-Covid) levels.
However, it is important to note that Governments don’t "refill" consent; they substitute for it.
When compliance-by-belief runs short, systems pivot to compliance-by-infrastructure:
- Consent-for-cash: targeted transfers (UBI pilots, rebates), fee holidays, tax credits - only on supervised rails (stablecoins/CBDCs).
Remember the Consent-for-cash in the Covid era? The free loans and the UBI?
- Convenience defaults: payroll, benefits, permits, refunds flow through ID-bound wallets; merchants get MDR (Managed Detection and Response) cuts if they use official rails.
- Raising the price of dissent - emergency powers, online-safety/disinfo rules, travel-rule extensions, "critical infra" directives -> faster takedowns, fewer venues to resist.
- Perimeter governance: app stores, banks, clouds update AUPs; no new law needed.
With the ultimate goal to render a society programmable (Legibility):
- Identity linkage: digital ID + strong auth to bind people -> payments, benefits, accounts.
- Lineage/audit: AI governance and evidence trails (who saw/changed/approved what); "policy as parameters" becomes standard.
- Decision compression: fused data + simulations shorten detect -> decide -> act cycles (public health, cyber, finance).
So governments replace consent with defaults, data, and knobs, which is cheaper and much more scalable than force.