It's well past time for this.

[RB TexLa]

People should have pushed harder for this at the end of WWII.



The case for a global currency

Would it make more sense to have one currency for the entire world?
By David Wolman



In the age of globalization, what does it mean, really, to be from one country and not another? We have some easy answers, along the lines of language, shared history, cultural references, and geography. I grew up cheering for the Red Sox, not the Hiroshima Carp, so that adds to my American-ness. I had to learn about the Federalist Papers in high school. I pay taxes and vote here. All of these things, some minor, some major, contribute to my sense of being part of this country.

Greenbacks do too, whether I like it or not. The coins and banknotes of a place are one of the few remaining touch-points of national identity left in our increasingly digital world. The monuments, symbols, and famous people splashed on them help reinforce this sense of nationhood. But as representations of the currency, they do more than that, because the currency is both the fabric of the economy and the stitching of the state. Even Marco Polo saw this in China, as the currency pulled a vast kingdom together under one umbrella of economic organization.

In recent times, though, having a national currency, at least for smaller countries, is looking more and more anachronistic. At the minimum it should be up for debate. Benn Steil, an economist at the Council on Foreign Relations, told me that when he lived in Europe in the 1990s, the old saying was that to be a country you needed an airline, a stock exchange, and a currency. By the twenty-first century, that was hardly the case: airlines had merged or gone bankrupt, stock exchanges had consolidated, and the euro had become the dominant currency of the continent. In the years ahead, more and more small countries may decide to quit their currencies and adopt that of a more powerful neighbor (the Australian dollar in parts of Oceania, for instance), band together with nearby countries to form a currency block (e.g., the East African Monetary Union), or jump aboard an international powerhouse like the U.S. dollar or the euro.


http://www.salon.com/2012/02/11/the_case_for_a_global_currency/singleton/

[Ikonoklast]

1. Easier for the Global Wealthy Elite to rob the rest of the world blind.

Great idea.

[spanone]

2. well, the euro has worked out so well.....

[Fozzledick]

3. Judging by the problems related to the Euro

I'd have to say this is much better in theory than in practice.

[byeya]

4. By manipulating the nation's currency, a country can position itself to enhance

exports, if need be, or reap the benefits of a strong currency if they can afford it.

The main problem Greece is facing is that the Euro is over valued for its economy and Greece can do nothing about it.
At present, the Euro is great for Germany; for several other countries, not great.

I think the UK made a wise decision to keep the Pound.

[sabrina 1]

5. I guess he should ask some of the smaller countries in Europe how that has worked out for them.

Seems many of them have lost control of their own affairs and even their sovereignty.

They are now dictated to by the IMF and Brussels as to how to manage their finances.

A one world currency means someone controls all the money in the world.

Britain WAS smart to keep their own currency.