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Do we want a global Currency?
In a highly symbolic moment at the G8 summit in in L’Aquila, Italy this month, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev unveiled a coin representing a “united future world currency”. Medvedev clearly outlined that the new currency would be “used for payment” by citizens as a “united future world currency”.
“This is a symbol of our unity and our desire to settle such issues jointly,” he said. The global currency coin has been minted in Belgium and bears the words “unity in diversity”.
The world leaders are also considering using other national currencies, including the ruble, as a reserve currency, as well as supra-national currencies.
How does the worlds nations feel about a global currency? China and Russia have repeatedly called for a new global currency to replace the dollar. And Pope Benedict has recently called for a ‘world political authority’ to manage the global economy. A global currency would be a key central plank of a future system of world government.
Nations give up some of their national sovereignty when they join with others in a trade or political pact. For instance, the European Union started out as a free trade zone and has established considerable political integration over a period of several decades. As part of this unification the Euro was developed and has held its own against the pound.
So, should we have a single currency or more than one currency? Many people believe that having multiple currencies creates a banking scandal whereby bankers make money from moving money around currencies and lending people money at ridiculously high interest rates so that they can't afford to pay them back.
Have you heard the joke about a rabbi, an imam and a priest who went to a bank together? The punchline will come later. Religious leaders marched to the City headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland armed with three books: the Torah, the Qur'an and the New Testament which they have delivered to Sir Philip Hampton, the RBS chairman. The aim is to change the way banks do business by reviving a law as old as money itself.
The law in question is the prohibition on usury so that there can be limits on the amount a lender can charge a borrower since charging too much interest can be considered to be immoral.
Stories of those suffering first hand are heartbreakingly familiar. Many Britons got an insight last week on the compelling BBC drama Freefall, with its tale of a minimum-wage security guard enticed to borrow for a house he couldn't afford and eventually evicted by predatory interest rates. And in the US last year, 1.2 million people filed for bankruptcy, hardly a surprise in a society where consumer debt has increased by 733% since 1980.
Now, nearly 300 years later, it's surely time to limit the cost of borrowing. If banks borrow from the Bank of England at a rate of 0.5% and lend it out at no more than 8%: they'd still be charging customers 16 times more for money than they had paid for it. However, high street banks demand 22% in interest on money putting huge demands on citizens who cannot always pay back the money they have borrowed.
Students for instance are taking on huge debts to pay for their education. Many find that they simply cannot afford to repay the loans with the jobs they found after college. Others said their debts determined their life choices. Still others wondered if the college experience was worth the financial burden they’ll carry for decades afterward.
For example, architect students from an Ivy League level institution had staggering loans of $60,000 to $110,000 and given the low starting pay of an architect it would take two or more decades to pay this off and young people would be unable to afford to buy their own home or start a family.
On the other side of the coin the bankers win. Former Lehman Brothers traders now employed by Barclays are expected to reap some of the biggest payouts being offered by Barclays which is to pay tens of millions of pounds to its investment bankers, who have made huge profits from trading in government debt, derivatives and foreign exchange.
The bonuses will annoy Barclays UK employees, who are being balloted by the Unite trade union on strike action over the scrapping of the firm's final-salary pension scheme. Barclays has cut hundreds of jobs since the financial crisis erupted in 2007. Protests are also expected from Lehman creditors, who are fighting in the courts on both sides of the Atlantic for money that was owed by the US bank before it went bust.
It is significant that the lead voices in this new effort to ban usury are from mosques, inner-city churches and synagogues. Politicians have been left bewildered by the financial crisis, apparently desperate for normal business to resume as soon as possible.
Will Our Future Planet be better with a single currency? The new ‘unity in diversity’ global currency could be a very effective way of unifying nations across the globe. A global currency should prevent bankers over-charging people and lending people money at ridiculously high interest rates and ultimately bring an end to usury. So, as part of globalization nations should work together to solve global problems so that citizens can live comfortably, but within their means, enjoying an education and the wisdom it will bring without fear of losing their homes and livelihoods. What do you the citizens of Our Future Planet think? Have your say. We welcome your thoughts and proposals. Add your comment below. Have your say. We welcome your thoughts and proposals. Add your comment below. Not a Citizen? Sign up
