U.N. panel says world should ditch dollar

[ensho]

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52H2CY20090318?sp=true


A U.N. panel will next week recommend that the world ditch the dollar as its reserve currency in favor of a shared basket of currencies, a member of the panel said on Wednesday, adding to pressure on the dollar.

Currency specialist Avinash Persaud, a member of the panel of experts, told a Reuters Funds Summit in Luxembourg that the proposal was to create something like the old Ecu, or European currency unit, that was a hard-traded, weighted basket.

Persaud, chairman of consultants Intelligence Capital and a former currency chief at JPMorgan, said the recommendation would be one of a number delivered to the United Nations on March 25 by the U.N. Commission of Experts on International Financial Reform.

"It is a good moment to move to a shared reserve currency," he said.
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we should watch this closely so that when changes are made we are not scammed in the process.

[upi402]

1. Yeah saw that, it's huge.

kick

[Deja Q]

2. Ah, another "expert". Here's an idea that doesn't require so many experts:

The companies that fucked the US while lobbying and bribing elected officials -- betcha the same companies will happily fuck other countries too. :think:

You're too right. This needs to be watched closely.



If we are to be a "global economy", let the UN have it. Also let the world have a standardized cost of living, one worldwide form of currency, and the whole 10.1 years.

AND punish the greedy and the crooks too, or are regulations _still_ deemed as being evil? Everything I've been reading suggests the opposite is true; the lack of regulations causing all these problems.

And while there's greed, abuse, misuse, et cetera, of (any) system, it can only continue.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. The U.S. Dollar is headed for serious trouble.

Especially, with Geithner's plan to fire up the printing presses.

[GoesTo11]

4. So what do you do to protect any savings?

Money markets - no good, since dollars will be filling wheelbarrows to buy toothpaste.
Stocks - they'll plummet as the US loses its mojo
Foreign stocks - when the US catches a cold, they sneeze
Bonds - inflation kills them
Inflation protected securities - only as good as the paper they're printed on
Foreign bonds - see foreign stocks
All I can think of is

BUYYYY GOOOOLLLLDDD!!!!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Here's what the Chinese are doing.

They're buying up "real" stuff. Oil contracts, mineral rights, property, etc., all over the world at rock bottom prices. With the "strong dollars" that they're swimming in.

When the inevitable inflation hits, all that "stuff" is going to be worth, in real terms, a lot more than it's worth now.

As for us, we're in our "golden" years. No significant debt other than our mortgage. We should be able to weather the storm fairly well. I bailed out of stocks and into Money Market funds about a year ago.

Now, I'm just hoping that when the collapse occurs it will take a while and won't be as bad as it might be.

Alas, there are a lot of people, and institutions, now buying gold which will likely result in a new bubble.




:shrug:

[GoesTo11]

6. Sounds good in theory

But that's not an easy game to play from middle-class middle America. I have no idea how to buy an oil well. I guess I would know how to buy a low-end rental property, but that doesn't feel especially secure or attractive right now. Maybe invest in Yaun, or emerging market indices that are valued in local currency? I assume if the dollar goes down, something else will go up - unless there's world wide inflation (a possibility).

It is so intimidating, you just want to throw your hands in the air, but
with (in my case - and in this scenario probably most people's cases) minimal social security, you gotta do something.