On the Cusp of the One-World Currency?

Imagine a world where Americans, Canadians, Britons, Japanese, and Chinese purchase goods and services with the same currency. The planet has a single central bank that runs the printing presses, establishes interest rates, and maintains controls on trade and capital flows. The idea of a national monetary policy would go extinct, substituted for the worldwide zone, which would severely restrict or abolish economic sovereignty. Does this sound a far-fetched tale in a dystopian novel?

In September 1988, The Economist published an article, titled “One world, one currency.” The magazine’s cover page featured the proposed Phoenix currency, graced with the year 2018 on the coin. It believed that a global currency would be instituted by 2018, spurring economic prosperity without risk, disorganization, or volatility.

Countries would either agree or get left behind, the magazine wrote:

“As the next century approaches, the natural forces that are pushing the world towards economic integration will offer governments a broad choice. They can go with the flow, or they can build barricades.

It is a growth-crippling prospect. Pencil in the Phoenix for around 2018, and welcome it when it comes.”

Well, MMXVIII has come and gone without the arrival of the one-size-fits-all economy, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any renewed pushes for a one-world fiat hegemony system.

International Monetary System

Seventy-five years ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established at the historic Bretton Woods conference. In 1969, the special drawing rights (SDR) was created. But just what exactly are these two financial elements?

The IMF is a body that ostensibly fosters international monetary cooperation. The SDR is the IMF’s global reserve asset that acts as an artificial money instrument and is construed from a basket of important national reserve currencies of member countries – the U.S. dollar, euro, Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, and pound sterling.

José Antonio Ocampo, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, believes the IMF and SDR could be utilized to form a one-world monetary system. He outlined this proposal in a Project Syndicate piece, titled “Time for a True Global Currency.” It essentially echoes the same sentiment behind the 31-year-old Economist article: The world needs an international monetary system and one-world notes in a global economy.

Moving forward, says Ocampo, the IMF could be turned into a fully-financed institution that runs its own paper money scheme. This could be achieved by considering the undeposited SDRs that countries hold. Either during bullish times or throughout an economic collapse, the IMF could proceed to issue SDRs to the tune of $300 billion annually. Central banks would then exchange their reserves for SDRs.

Eventually, market SDRs would become ubiquitous in private transactions and investment vehicles – he conceded that this an unnecessary aspect of his proposed reforms.

“The anniversaries of the IMF and the SDR in 2019 are causes for celebration. But they also represent an ideal opportunity to transform the SDR into a true global currency that would strengthen the international monetary system. Policymakers should seize it.”

A Currency Crisis

Are we in the beginning stages of a currency crisis? There is little argument that the U.S. dollar is one of the strongest currencies in the world right now. Despite the Federal Reserve debasing the greenback since its inception, the buck has done remarkably well in recent years. But compared to what? The Canadian dollar is falling on hard times, the euro has no clue what it is doing, the pound sterling is constantly undermined by those who think Brexit will end civilization, and Asian currencies are devaluing to gain market share in the export business. The few currencies that are strengthening do not have as much influence on the world stage as their major rivals, such as the Singapore dollar, the Swiss franc, and Caymanian dollar.

The globalists want to take advantage of the failed monetary experiment, otherwise known as the Bretton Woods System. As expected, they are not proposing a return to sound money or considering instituting free market solutions – it is all about the growth of the Leviathan. Instead, they are using the advice of Mayor Rahm Emanuel: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”

If you think the globalists ran wild during the Great Recession, then imagine how they will behave during the next financial calamity. They fired all their bullets – conventional and unconventional – to survive the previous crash. What will they do the next time the global economic system implodes? Every century has a new currency king: from the Portuguese real of the 15^th century to the French franc of the 18^th century. Will the SDR become the crown prince of the 21^st century?

Anytime this discussion pops up, the sage and influential words of legendary economist Friedrich Hayek become immediately relevant: “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.”

Statists are constantly introducing new concepts (Modern Monetary Theory, single legal tender, and E.U. armies) aimed at flattering their statist brethren, expanding the size and scope of government, and controlling the people. The vision of the anointed is never freedom and the free flow of commerce, only “a boot stamping on a human face – forever.” The real threat to our liberty is not a backward terrorist cell in the Middle East, but rather educated and revered suits in The Swamp.