Above “It’s A Knockout” girls, Ellen and Chandelle.
One hundred and three years ago today, the guns fell silent and the bloodiest war to that date in human history came to an end. In an increasingly secular country where most adults do not attend Sunday morning service, the unofficial return of the the two minutes silence at 11:00AM on a weekday is a good thing. I remember my late father who was working in the electrical power industry in the 1930s told me that the two minutes silence on a weekday caused huge problems insofar as electrical supply was concerned. Today, following the removal of so much heavy industry the situation is no so serious.
I therefore think it an appropriate day on which to introduce the subject of a global currency.
This will of course immediately raise the ire of many Brexiteers!
To answer their objections I have to tell them that there are already several global currencies. They are grouped under the term “crypto-currencies”. The problem with these recent innovations is that along with something known as the “dark web” they tend to be the preserve of criminals such as blackmailers, counterfeiters and fraudsters!
The very nature of the internet is “Discours et transactions sans frontières.” I use the French as our older readers will recall the propaganda TV show Jeux sans frontières (Games Without Borders) put on by the Brussels Brainwashing Commissariat back in the 1970s!
Popularly known in the UK as “It’s a Knockout!”, the show was broadcast on BBC1 between 7 August 1966 to 30 July 1982; thereafter a number of specials were broadcast until 25 December 1988. It was part of the international “Jeux sans frontières” franchise.
What is abundantly clear is that there is a demand for a crypto-currency. What is also abundantly clear is that there the is for a demand for a “Monnaie sans frontières”. The existing crypto-currencies present a severe challenge to the world’s nation states as a currency requires regulation in order for it to give confidence to the users. The other thing that the currencies require is back-up! A reserve. In the past gold was held by the various nations. It was known as the Gold Standard. Today this has been replaced by undertakings given by politicians.
What I suggest is this:
That a crypto-currency be established by a United Nations Treaty. This would require ratification by all member states. Clearly, getting two thirds of the US Senators to vote for this will be a challenge!
Let is call the currency “Unité monétaire des Nations Unies” with the acronym UMNU.
Let us face it, “umm noo” is easy to pronounce!
Unlike “crypto”, UMNU would be a real currency with actual minted coins. I propose a One EMNU coin being made of 1 Troy ounce of gold. There are a number of gold coins of this size already in circulation. Most prominent is the South African Gold Krugerrand. The Krugerrand is one of the most recognised and world renowned gold coins. It is struck in 22 Carat and contains exactly 1 ounce of fine gold. Given that Krugerrand are worth around £1,500, I propose that one Emnu be subdivided into 1,000 Milliemes which would mean 1 Millieme would be worth around £1.50.
The coins could be minted by various mints around the world. Authority to do so would be granted by the World Bank and would have to comply with strict design rules. The UNO symbol found on the it’s flag is the obvious choice for one side with the numeral and word, “1 UMNO” on the obverse.
Such coins could be used for a traditional coin transaction. Insofar as crypto transactions are concerned each Umnu would have one troy ounce of gold as back-up. This would be in the form of traditional gold bullion bars held at various UNO authorised depositories around the globe. Gold bullion bars can weight up to 400 troy ounces so each bar would act as the back-up for 400 Umnu.
Such a global currency would help people in countries such as Zimbabwe that no longer have a negotiable currency.
Importantly, by establishing the new global crypto-currency by a formal UN treaty, it would allow for the enforcement and regulation of transactions by the national governments that would be the parties to the treaty. This would mean that transactions conducted in the USA would be subject to US laws, transactions conducted in England & Wales would be subject to English law and transactions conducted in the Russian Federation would be subject to Russian laws. Clearly this last reference will raise doubts as to the security of the currency in terms of criminal activity. However the regulations would be enforced by all contracting parties (including Russia) where it is in their interests and this in particular would concern the basic element: that all Umnos would be backed by physical gold bullion. Failure to do this would cause the treaty member concerned to loose access to the currency.
The effect of this new currency would be to send the value of gold rapidly upwards!
It would also help the poorest nations as their business-folk would be able to trade more easily. People in Africa do not want to live their lives on hand-outs.
Of course, this development will not happen with the USA involved. This because such a development would threaten the US $ as the de-facto reserve currency of the world! The USA will veto it at the UN’s Security Council. The FACT is that the world’s prosperity is tied to the US $! No country – including China – can afford to “rock the boat” to such an extent as to cause the US $ to cease to be the de-facto reserve currency of the world! This because the USA’s sovereign debt would become unsustainable and would cause a worldwide slump of gigantic proportions!