- In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet tells of the pending
invasion of Judah by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. He records, "the
snorting of horses was heard in Dan." Can you imagine an invasion
of that kind? You have been warned by reports that there is an invading
army on the way. As they get closer you can feel the ground move as the
multitude of well-trained soldiers and galloping horses get closer to your
city. You are strangely aware that your world is going to change forever
as you hear the snorting get louder.
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- That is how I felt fourteen years ago when I read the
1994 United Nations Development Report.
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- I was absolutely shocked to read the Special Contribution
entitled "Global Governance for the 21st Century" by the 1969
Nobel Prize for Economics, Jan Tinbergen. He wrote,
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- Mankind's problems can no longer be solved by national
governments. What is needed is a World Government. This can best be achieved
by strengthening the United Nations system. In some cases, this would mean
changing the role of UN agencies from advice-giving to implementation.
But some of the most important new institutions would be financial-a World
Treasury and a World Central Bank. Just as each nation has a system of
income redistribution, so there should be a corresponding 'World Financial
Policy' to be implemented by the World Bank and the World Central Bank.
Some of these proposals are, no doubt, far-fetched and beyond the horizon
of today's political possibilities. But the idealist of today often turns
out to be the realists of tomorrow.
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- In that report, it also laid out the changes to be made
to the international level of government in order to complete the necessary
powers: They included:
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- A World Central Bank which should have five functions:
- (1) stabilize global economic activity
- (2) lender of last resort to financial institutions
- (3) calm jittery financial markets
- (4) regulate financial institutions and
- (5) create and regulate new international liquidity.
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- The institution named to be the successor organization
was the International Monetary Fund.
- This new central bank would float a new issue of Special
Drawing Rights-SDRs and it would have "Global Macroeconomic Management"
worldwide. It would also acquire some regular control of international
banking activities.
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- A World Trade Organization to be the successor to the
General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs.
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- An Economic Security Council to "review the threats
to global human security and agree on required action." It would have
11 permanent members and another 11 rotating members. They would not have
any veto and it would "coordinate activities of the UN agencies and
watch over the policy direction of all international and regional financial
institutions."
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- Other components mentioned included a World Anti-Monopoly
Authority, a World Bank International Investment Trust and a World Bank
Intermediate Assistance Facility." The report also called for a World
Police force, an International Court of Justice and a World Treasury.
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- The report stated, "It will probably take some time
and probably some international financial crisis-before a full-scare World
Central Bank can be created." It appears we are there. For most people,
the things that I wrote about were ridiculous. Why? Because they were not
reading the same documents I was reading. At the 101 global meetings I
have covered around the world, these kinds. of ideas were considered exciting
and were being actively discussed, as they are now.
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- Also in 1994, The Bretton Woods Commission which was
convened by Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve Chairman and James D.
Wolfensohn who was the Director of the World Bank met. Their report confirmed
the 1994 Human Development Report and called for "greater economic
convergence among countries." With regard to a world monetary system,
the Commission stated,
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- Any future international monetary system should focus
on the major international currencies which dominate trade and global capital
markets. For some time to come these will be the dollar, the yen and the
Deutsch mark [or its successor European currency). The alternative to a
new global system is to continue the present non-system of loose ad hoc
cooperation, dominated by the G7 process (pages 4-5).
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- Furthermore the Bretton Woods Commission said the IMF
"should be given a central role to play in coordinating macroeconomic
policies and in developing and implementing monetary reforms." They
said that the IMF should be given surveillance in order to secure a more
stable exchange rate system and that the Special Drawing Rights are needed-but
not now, and should be considered at some other time." Interestingly
enough the Bretton Woods Commission was supported by numerous foreign and
American Banks which included, J.P. Morgan, Kidder Peabody International,
Inc., Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Group, Salomon Brothers, The Ford Foundation,
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The German Marshall Fund
and S. G. Warburg Group. Some of these banks no longer exist and some even
had trouble earlier in our current banking crisis.
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- I was seeing the plan for a future world governmental
structure. I used the 1994 Human Development Report as my blueprint for
the future and what I should look for.
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- Then in February, 2004, I interviewed U.S. Treasury Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tony Fratto at the G7 Finance Ministers
meeting in Boca Raton, Florida. Part of our discussion follows:
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- Veon: Given the drop in economic, financial, and trade
barriers and as America moves into a global economy what else needs to
be done to complete this global economy?
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- Fratto: There is still a lot more that needs to be done.
There are many countries around the world with trade barriers affecting
financial services, affecting capital flows, allowing for financial service
firms to invest and be welcomed into their countries and we are going to
see a lot more of that and it is part of the Free Trade Agreements and
negotiations, regionally and at the Doha Round [WTO level]. Treasury plays
a major role in negotiating the investment chapters [of the WTO Agreement]
and the chapters that concern financial flow and we will see more of that.
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- Veon: The Bank for International Settlements set up the
Financial Stability Forum-FSF-how important is that in today's economy
to manage a global system without borders?
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- Fratto: It is very important. We participate in the FSF
regularly and it is very important to help ensure that markets across the
world are operating properly and that financial services firms are coping
with regulation and changing landscape and financial services. So it is
very, very important.
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- Veon: Given the fact that the economic, trade, financial,
political and information barriers between the nation-states have fallen,
is there a deadline-2014 or 2020 for the completion of the global financial
architecture?
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- Fratto: No one has put a specific date on it. From our
perspective, we don't want to be bound by deadlines, but we want to see
progress-steady and every day on these issues. Things like Basel II, we
are moving that forward. The liberalization of rules for capital flows-you
will see more of that.
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- Veon: Foreigners have been willing to hold U.S. debt
because it is a reserve currency, is there any discussion of a shift to
the dollar sharing the reserve currency with the euro?
- Fratto: I will not comment.
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- Veon: If 65% of central bank foreign exchange reserves
are in dollars, will you be discussing how much more they will be willing
to hold of dollars?
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- Fratto: I will let the ministers address those kinds
of questions.
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- As you can see, the U.S. Treasury was actively working
to expand a global economic infrastructure. The things that I was hearing
on the international level, along with the ideas of the 1994 Human Development
Report, were common knowledge to everyone except the American people. Later
on in November, I interviewed Paul Volcker and specifically asked him about
what he saw for the future. He told me, "What the world needs is a
global currency." I asked if he meant "the Special Drawing Right."
He refused to answer. Then in 2007, I interviewed him again and asked about
the Special Drawing Right. He told me that it had not been on his lips
for years. His actions and words are not the same.
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- As a result of the 2008 Credit Crisis which continues
in 2009, Congress has been trying to understand the agenda behind the actions
of the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve. In an exchange between Congressman
Ron Paul (R-TX) and Paul Volcker on February 24, 2009, Ron Paul specifically
asked him about his opening statement to the House Banking Committee in
which he talked about "strong coordination among national authorities,
unifying accounting standards, liquidity requirements, and 'internationally
agreed to' arrangements." Congressman Paul wanted to know if Volcker
was referring to "a super IMF or if we were going to revive the SDRs?
What kinds of discussion are going on internationally right now to devise
a standard and are you a participant in these international negotiations
to come up with this new system?" Paul Volcker told him, "No,
No. I don't know of any coherent or regular discussion going on officially
and there are very few going on unofficially in terms of construction of
the monetary system." As they bantered back and forth with Volcker
refusing to give forthright answers, Volcker said, "I can't tell you
the answers-they are not apparent. Make no mistake. This is a unique moment
in economic history where the world is going on the basis of fiat currencies."
It was apparent by his answers, his laughter at Ron Paul's forthrightness,
and his body language that he had no desire to be honest in his global
involvement.
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- In short, we have the global crisis which the 1994 Human
Development Report said would probably need to happen in order to shift
to a global system of government. It is also glaringly noticeable that
the report was right on the money in terms of where the world needed to
move to complete a global integration of countries. Without the continuous
move to drop the barriers between nation-states that began with the birth
of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1944 and continued
into the 1990s with the birth of the World Trade Organization in 1994,
it would not be possible to have the global financial integration through
common regulatory laws that the leaders of the G20 are calling for. Furthermore,
a world central bank, the Special Drawing Rights, and an Economic Security
Council would not be possible. However in a world where there are no longer
any barriers between nation-states, total integration and a world government
structure is possible.
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- The newly empowered G20 is actively pursuing greater
powers and responsibilities for the IMF. The IMF already has power over
all countries, including the U.S., as it does country financial assessments.
Furthermore, the Special Drawing Right was adopted by the Bank for International
Settlements in 2004 when they switched "for bookkeeping entries"
as I was told from the Swiss franc to the SDR. In 1999, when the Financial
Stability Forum while set up, was never given much public attention, now
it is at the center of the G20 discussions. Lastly, in conjunction with
the G20 meetings, a special commission at the United Nations headed up
by Dr. Joseph Stiglitz is calling for the G20 to become a fully recognized
Economic Security Council on par with the Security Council.
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- The bottom line is that the above comprises the moving
of the ground beneath us. Everything we have experienced as a sovereign
country is in the process of being changed. The enemy cannot have the advantage
over you in battle if you know his agenda. Do you hear the snorting of
the horses yet?
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