House Rich but Cash Poor Now Leading to Increased Bankruptcies »
UN Calls for New Global Currency in Place of Greenback
Posted by Larry Doyle on September 9, 2009 11:04 AM |
What drove the U.S. dollar dramatically lower yesterday? How about a communique from none other than the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. UNCTAD recently released a statement in which it proclaims:
Given the prevailing major shortcomings in the international financial and monetary system, UNCTAD draws attention to some elements of reform of the international financial architecture, which is long overdue. These include effective capital account management, strengthening the role of special drawing rights (LD’s highlight), and a multilaterally agreed framework for exchange rate management. These reforms imply a fundamental rethinking of global financial governance to stabilize trade and financial relations by reducing the potential for gains from speculative capital flows. This will reduce the likelihood of similar crises in the future and help create a stable macroeconomic environment conducive to growth and smooth structural change in developing countries.
I purposely highlight the UN’s desire to strengthen the role of special drawing rights. In layman’s terms, that means the UN wants to promote the currency of the IMF at the expense of the U.S. dollar.
When BRIC nations promote a move away from the U.S. dollar, one may view it as the competitive nature of international trade. When an entity such as the United Nations is also promoting a move away from the U.S. dollar as the international reserve currency, we are embarking on an entirely new slope along our economic landscape.
The fact that we have heard little to nothing from our power base in Washington leads me to believe that Obama, Geithner, Bernanke, Summers, et al are comfortable with a decline in the value of our currency.
In my opinion, that comfort can be a very dangerous long term maneuver. How so? Economic growth requires capital. If investors deem our currency to be weakening, the capital will flow elsewhere . . . and elements of our quality of life may go right along with it.
LD