wearmanyhats

The recent meeting between the G-7 and President Obama led to speculation that the international community will be moving toward one currency for the whole world to follow.  Will it happen, and if so, what will be the ramifications?

First, why are the nations even talking about such a thing?  Easy.  The leveling out of such terrible global meltdowns is the goal.  In the minds of the men who are trying to get this put together, a global currency would be easier to manage when it comes to trade.  Currently, the Chinese government has been asked repeatedly to make their currency value more even to the dollar and pound.  The Chinese periodically adjust the value to keep their trading partners quiet, but why should they?  The way it stands now, factory after factory were opening, people by the billions were able to get jobs.

That all changed when the United States’ economy began to tank.  Suddenly those Chinese workers were sent home and the recession spread around the world in the fashion of a pandemic.  Once again the idea of a global currency began to be discussed, and it is always easier to sell an international “medicine” to other governments when there is economic “illness.”

So will there be one currency?  That is probably the way in which the world is heading, but it is most likely not going to be now.  The Euro is the forerunner to an international one, and there are some problems that are getting worked out with that currency as we speak.  There have even been times when countries have spoken out about going off the Euro system.

Another reason why it is unlikely that we will have an international currency any time soon:  what do you do with rogue nations?  Someone like Saddam Hussein or Fidel Castro can be made miserable through trade embargoes and the like.  Keep them all on one currency and that misery is tougher to use.

It would be super challenging to move to an international monetary system, but there is certainly precedent that it is on its way.  Look, for example, at the rise of the international court in the past ten years.  If they can get the UN to police their indictments for rogue leaders such as Sudanese President Omar Hassan, then there will be teeth behind their leadership.  Right now they are depending on the people of that nation to turn him in.  How likely is that?

If the High Court can get muscle behind it, then the world will become a very different place, and in not too short order.  Expect some voting changes on the United Nations council to happen first.  All of this takes time, but those changes must happen before the world will live under one currency.  Good or bad, whether we like it or not, the way of the world moves forward.

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