June 2009 ICFAI University Press, India, publishes second book in the world devoted to the Single Global Currency: A Single Global Currency – Perspectives and Challenges by Jayshree Bose, editor.
The outline of the book:
1. The
End of National Currency
2. The Single Global Currency : Origin, Benefits and
Costs
3. Exchange Rate Arrangements and Disarrangements:
Prospects
for a World Currency
4. One World Money, Then and Now
5. Critical Thoughts on a Single Currency
6. A Single Global Currency Why not But only if it’s
Gold and Silver
Bullion
7. Single World Currency : Macroeconomic Ramifications
and
Financial Market Aftermath
8. The Single Global Currency World In 2024
9. Euro @ Ten: A Feat or a Defeat
10. The Misguided Dream of Asian Monetary Union
11. Common Asian Currency and its Impact on International
Trade
12. Currency Unification in the Pacific Island Countries:
Some
Suitability Issues
13. How Viable is a Single Caribbean Currency
14. A Single Currency for Africa Reality or Dream
15. ANNEXURE
16. Glossary
17. Index
[Click for an OVERVIEW of the book.]
19 April 2009. The Single Global Currency Assn. publishes the 2009 Edition of The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World, by Morrison Bonpasse.
Excerpts from the MEDIA RELEASE …
The Single Global Currency Association is publishing this week the 2009 edition of the book, The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World. Written by Morrison Bonpasse, the president of the association, the book shows how the world can save hundreds of billions of dollars, and reduce global financial turmoil, by establishing a Single Global Currency to be managed by a Global Central Bank within a Global Monetary Union.
With 544 pages, several hundred End Notes, and only one equation, the book is intended for the people of the world, as well as academics. The 2009 Edition incorporates the entire text of the original 2006 Edition, plus a 136 page Addendum which describes the progress toward the Single Global Currency during 2008….
26 March 2009. The Single Global Currency Assn. issued a MEDIA RELEASE in support of China’s call for a new global currency and urges the U.S. and the G20 to begin planning for that currency.
The release begins…
The Single Global Currency Assn. supports the proposal by Chinese Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan for a new global reserve currency and urges President Obama, Federal Reserve Chair Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Geithner to reconsider their initial rejection of that proposal.
The Association’s president, Morrison Bonpasse, stated, "It’s time to begin planning for a Single Global Currency to be managed by a Global Central Bank within a Global Monetary Union. The G20 countries should begin that planning at their meeting in London next month."
22 February 2009. The Single Global Currency listed as a "very weak" idea at www.whynot.net. See link at Idea: Single Global Currency
The votes were 1 in favor and 9 opposed.
5 January 2009 (posting date). 2006 Editiion of The Single Global Currency, Common Cents for the World, cited in a 2006 article, “Paradoxes and Puzzles in Our Globalized World” by James W. Dean and G. Robert Ross.
In a footnote at page 5, the authors noted, "The number of currencies peaked in 2000 at 159 and now stands at 147: see a remarkable new book advocating a single global currency, Bonpasse (2006)."
[Note: with the adoption of the euro by Slovakia, the number of currencies now used by the U.N.’s 192 members has now dropped to 142.]
14 November 2008. The Single Global Currency Assn. issues MEDIA RELEASE urging that the upcoming G20 initiate research and planning for a Single Global Currency.
The release begins…..
The Single Global Currency Assn. urges the G20, meeting in Washington this weekend, to initiate research and planning for a Single Global Currency. The Association’s President, Morrison Bonpasse, wrote to IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, to urge such a step in order to "achieve the primary goal of the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference and the primary goal of the IMF: stable currency around the world."
23 October 2008. The Single Global Currency Assn. writes LETTER to IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn urging that the upcoming G20 initiate research and planning for a Single Global Currency.
An excerpt from the letter:
Please ask the 15 November conference to officially begin researching and planning for a Single Global Currency. The first element of such research would be a comprehensive study of the Benefits and Costs, as was done in Europe prior to the commitment to the establishment of the euro.
[IMF Managing Director Strauss-Kahn wrote a LETTER to the G-20 leaders urging action, and also stated, "There have been numerous calls in recent months for a "new Bretton Woods agreement," which I strongly endorse. However, one important lesson of the original Bretton Woods agreement was that its foundations were carefully laid through serious and vigorous discussion of the underlying issues. I therefore very much welcome the initiative taken by the President of the United States to bring together the G-20 leaders, to follow up with various working groups, and culminate these efforts in a conference, hopefully within the year ahead."]
17 August 2008. Filmmaker Samer Beyhun of Canada is planning a documentary on the Single Global Currency.
He writes of his project…..
My intentions for the documentary are clear; to raise worldwide awareness about the benefits of a Single Global Currency. I interned to accomplish this through the creation of an Audio Visual documentary well endowed with both the scientific and artistic method…..
Since this will be a worldwide project I believe that using the tools provided by the internet will prove useful as a method of production that will involve people from various countries, which will in its own self be a good experiment to test the grounds on the said topic.
25-29 June 2008. 15th Annual Congress of the International Economic Association held in Istanbul, and co-sponsored by the Turkish Economic Association.
Several attendees, including Dani Rodrik and Josephi Stiglitz, spoke about future currency consolidation. SGCA Advisory Board member, Celali Yilmaz of Turkey, attended and talked with several economists about the prospects for a Single Global Currency.
15 June 2008. Single Global Currency presentation at Gulf Cooperation Council Monetary Union Conference in Dubai.
SGCA Advisory Board member, Celali Yilmaz of Turkey, gave a POWERPOINT PRESENTATION about the Single Global Currency:"GCC and the Inevitable transition to the Single Global Currency" See the conference’s full FULL AGENDA. Also giving a presentation at the conference was SGCA member Allard Marx, who spoke about "Currency and National Identity: Communications Strategies to Currency Union. At the conference, Marx announced his gift to the GCC of his proposed design of the currency symbol for the planned GCC currency. See ARTICLE. See also, GRAPHICS of world currency symbols including Allard Marx’s proposed symbol for the Single Global Currency.
7 April 2008. Global Accounting & Organisational Change Conference accepts paper by Single Global Currency Assn. Director, Ratnam Alagiah, "WRITING THE FUTURE: A THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR A UNIFORM AND UNIVERSAL SYSTEM OF CURRENCY IN ACCOUNTING FOR INFLATION." The paper was accepted, per the “Referee Evaluation Form” without the need for revision. The conference will be held in Melbourne, Australia on 9-11 July 2008 and the theme of the first conference will be "The Role of Accounting in Organisational (and Social) Change."
18 March 2008. Single Global Currency Assn. issues Media Release in response to the worldwide financial uncertainty.
The release begins….
"Responding to the continuing descent of the U.S. Dollar and general uncertainty in the currency markets, Morrison Bonpasse of the Single Global Currency Association said that the leading financial institutions of the world should begin research and planning now for a Single Global Currency…."
13 March 2008. Single Global Currency Assn. mentioned in new Business/Finance best seller, “Biography of the Dollar – How the Mighty Buck Conquered the World and Why It’s under Siege”
On page 102, author Craig Karmin stated, "Morrison Bonpasse, founder and president of the Single Global Currency Association, a nonprofit group devoted to the creation of a new, Esperanto-like world currency…."
As of this date, the sales of the book are ranked:
| #2 in | Books > Business & Investing > Economics > Money & Monetary Policy |
| #4 in | Books > Professional & Technical > Accounting & Finance > Finance |
| #29 in | Books > Business & Investing > Popular Economics |
12 March 2008. Single Global Currency Assn. holds 5th Annual Single Global Currency Conference, as partner with Eastern Economic Assn. in Boston 7-9 March.
The Association conducted two EEA sessions, combined, on Sunday morning, 9 March: "The Costs and Benefits of a Single Global Currency," and "James Tobin’s 1978 ‘not [yet] a viable option’ view of a Single Global Currency – What has changed since then?"
26 February 2008. IMF Conference on “International Macro-Finance” rejects in an EMAIL Single Global Currency Assn. Proposal for paper, “Macro-Finance in a Single Global Currency world.”
This is the abstract of the proposal….
The world is moving from many currencies (158 in 2000, among 189 U.N. members) to fewer currencies (141 in 2008 among 192 U.N. members). At some point, the number will be reduced to one: a Single Global Currency.
Long before then, at about the time that one currency serves 50+ percent of the GDP of the world, the currency management role of the IMF will be declining and its still-to-be-determined role as the research arm of the Global Central Bank will be rising.
The effects on worldwide Macro-Finance will be significant, but they are yet unexplored. The need for foreign exchange reserves will decline to zero, an exchange rates will disappear, as will the concern about global imbalances. These changes will lead to an increase in global liquidity, but as it will be within the same currency area, the risks will be substantially smaller.
12 February 2008. IMF Conference on “Causes and Consequences of Structural Reforms” rejects Single Global Currency Assn. Proposal for paper, “The Consequences of Implementing the Last Great Structural Reform for the IMF: a Single Global Currency.”
This is the abstract of the proposal….
The world is moving from many currencies (158 in 2000, among 189 U.N. members) to fewer currencies (141 in 2008 among 192 U.N. members). At some point, the number will be reduced to one: a Single Global Currency.
Long before then, at about the time that one currency serves 50+ percent of the GDP of the world, the currency management role of the IMF will be declining and its still-to-be-determined role as the research arm of the Global Central Bank will be rising.
The effects of these structural changes will be significant. Global imbalances among currencies will decline as an increasing amount of international trade and capital transfers will be conducted within the same large, and continually growing, currency area. The need for foreign exchange currency reserves will be declining, on the way to zero, freeing up vast sums for sovereign wealth funds and other higher return investments.
23 December 2007. Morrison Bonpasse of the SGCA sent email to Robert Tchaidze of the IMF in response to his article, “Estimating Iceland’s Real Equilibrium Exchange Rate”
The email began….
I read the abstract and the beginning of your article, ” Estimating Iceland’s Real Equilibrium Exchange Rate ” and write to inquire about your views of the Single Global Currency. In particular, what do you think of the option of Iceland “izing” to the euro or the U.S. or Canadian dollars or more formally joining the European Monetary Union? The country has a population of a little more than 300,000 people. and is about the size of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania….
21 December 2007. The "IMF SURVEY" reported on Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s proposals: “IMF Work Program Builds on Reform” and the SGCA submitted the following comments:
19 December 2007. Bank for International Settlements issues triennial report (The 2007 Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity) on foreign exchange transactions. Daily trading at $3.2 trillion.
Report which the BIS is publishing today shows a substantial increase in turnover in foreign exchange and OTC derivatives markets. Turnover in traditional foreign exchange markets increased by 71% between April 2004 and April 2007 to reach $3.2 trillion.
19 December 2007. The 2007 Edition of The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World has been posted on MRPA, the Munich Personal RePEc Archive at MRPA copy.
The introductory Abstract begins…
"This is the 2007 Edition of the only book in print in the world about the Single Global Currency, and is the only book in the world priced in 143 currencies (down from 147 in the 2006 edition.).This number is significant, as it’s the number of currencies required among the 192 U.N. members to conduct local business, including the payment of taxes."
8 December 2007. Ankur Agarwal is establishing a chapter of the Single Global Currency Assn. in India.
An MBA student at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Ankur has been thinking about the goal of a Single Global Currency for some time, and recently learned through the Internet of the Single Global Currency Assn. and our work.
15 November 2007. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn accepts a copy of The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World. A followup letter was sent to him.
Attending the Jacques Polak Research Conference at the IMF, Morrison Bonpasse met Managing Director Strauss-Kahn after he gave a welcoming speech. He seemed intrigued by the book and asked, "When was this published?"
The next week, Bonpasse sent Mr. Strauss-Kahn a LETTER urging that tha the IMF begin working now for a long-term future with a Single Global Currency. He wrote, inter alia,
"A major step in that direction will be for you to request that one or more economists at the IMF begin studying the Single Global Currency. Rather than a traditional OCA study, which would inevitably find that the world is not yet ready, please consider asking your economists to study such practical issues as:
– how to manage inflation in a world without foreign exchange,
– the level of reserves required to maintain confidence in a
Single Global Currency,
– the current worldwide foreign exchange transactions costs,
and
– how to cope with regional "shocks" within a Global Monetary
Union…."
[Bonpasse submitted in April 2007 a proposal for a paper for the "Exchange Rate" conference, with the title, “The End of Exchange Rates as We Know Them“. The paper was not accepted.]
11 November 2007. Texas Forensic Association proposes 74 possible resolutions for public speaking exercises, and #57 is “A resolution concerning international currency.”
The resolution concludes:
"Therefore be it resolved by the Texas Forensic Association Student Congress here assembled that we promote a unified currency globally."
Candace McMillon at Coronado High School in Texas has picked this topic for her presentation to her "Communications Applications" class, and contacted the Single Global Currency Assn. for Assistance.
8 November 2007. Single Global Currency Assn. Media Release: IN RESPONSE TO CURRENCY MARKET FLUCTUATIONS SINGLE GLOBAL CURRENCY ASSOCIATION CALLS FOR RESEARCHING AN PLANNING NOW FOR A SINGLE GLOBAL CURRENCY.
The media release begins…
Responding to the continuing descent of the U.S. Dollar, Morrison Bonpasse of the Single Global Currency Association said that the leading financial institutions of the world should begin research and planning now for a Single Global Currency. He said, “The ongoing currency market fluctuations, including the decline of the U.S. dollar, are risky reminders that the world’s existing multi-currency system must be replaced. The IMF should assign 10 economists today to begin the long term project of moving toward a Single Global Currency.”
12 October 2007. SGC on Radio Talk show, “Money Matters” with Barry Armstrong.
Morrison Bonpasse answered Barry’s questions for about 20 minutes and the interview ended with a hopeful commitment that the issue would be revisited at a future time.
6 September 2007. IMF Managing Director looks to long term financial stability in article, “Testing the Financial Waters”
At the end of the article, he wrote:
"While certainly costly for some market participants, the turbulence provides an opportunity to learn what can be done to set the stage for a more resilient global financial system going forward."
[What the world needs for a "more resilient global financial system is a Single Global Currency, managed by a Global Central Bank within a Global Monetary Union. The IMF can help lead the world in that direction.]
30 August 2007. The Single Global Currency Assn. writes letter to the Council on Foreign Relations in response to its “Daily Analysis” on the “IMF’s Leadership Search”
Excerpts from the letter…
"…am one who is concerned about the IMF’s furture direction, and that direction should be toward a Single Global Currency. Along that road, the IMF can transform itself into part of the management structure within the Global Monetary Union, perhaps as part of the Global Central Bank. The need for the original functions of the IMF has changed, but the IMF continues to play a stabilizing role as long as we perpetuate our risky multi-currency international financial system.
Benn Steil’s article, "The End of National Currency" in the May issue of Foreign Affairs, described this trend toward fewer currencies, even if he didn’t endorse its logical end result: the Single Global Currency…."
26 July 2007. Single Global Currency Assn. presentation to Pot and Kettle Club on Mt. Desert Island, Maine.
Morrison Bonpasse, President of the SGCA, gave a lunchtime presentation to about 50 members about the Single Global Currency. Questions concerned the ability of regions within a currency area to cope with different rates of economic growth and the question of the effect of a Single Global Currency on the United States. Last year’s speakers at the club included Edward C. Johnson III, Chairman of Fidelity Investments.
19-20 July 2007. 4th Annual Single Global Currency Conference held at Mt. Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods.
The small conference saw spirited discussion of the risks and costs of the current multip-current system, and the opportunities for stability and savings with a Single Global Currency. See Annual SGC Conference on this website.
14 July 2007. Single Global Currency Assn. recommends to IMF that new Managing Director be supportive of Long Term Strategy toward a Single Global Currency.
In a Letter to the Executive Board, SGCA President, Morrison Bonpasse, urged, "The Board should select only a candidate who understands that moving toward fewer currencies is the way toward true international financial stability, the primary goal of the IMF; and moving to a Single Global Currency is the logical end of that process…
The IMF needs a Long Term Strategy to give a context for its Medium Term Strategy, and that Long Term Strategy should include planning for the implementation of a Single Global Currency and for the future role for a transformed IMF within the Global Monetary Union. In fact, such planning and the necessary research and writing should not wait for the selection of a new Managing Director."
12 July 2007. Executive Board of IMF announces open selection process for new Managing Director.
Among the requirements are….
As chief of the Fund’s staff and as Chairman of the Executive Board, (s)he will be capable of providing strategic vision for the work of a high quality, diverse, and dedicated staff; and will be firmly committed to advancing the goals of the Fund by building consensus on key policy and institutional issues, including through close collaboration with the Executive Board, under whose direction (s)he will fulfill his or her responsibilities.
[Emphasis added here.]
7 July 2007. In response to a New York Times editorial, “Politics and the Yuan,” The Single Global Currency Association sent the following letter to the Editor:
To the Editor of The New York Times:
As there is no certain value for any currency against another, it’s impossible to know the true value of Chinese yuan in U.S. dollars, or compared to any other currency. In order to eventually stop wasting the vast resources now being spent by China and other countries to affect the values of their currencies, the world should begin now to research and plan for the Single Global Currency. If the European Central Bank can manage the euro for 13, soon-to-be 15, countries, why cannot the world plan for a 192 nation Global Monetary Union?
Saved would be approximately $400 billion a year in foreign exchange transaction costs, and the world would be innoculated from currency crises. With a Single Global Currency, global imbalances would be as prominent as the current imbalance between New York and Maine, or between Finland and Spain.
3 May 2007. SGC Comment posted on Internet Forum web page of Foreign Policy Magazine in reponse to its current issue with "20 Solutions to Global Problems". (Replies also posted.)
The Single Global Currency, managed by a Global Central
Bank within a Global Monetary Union, should have been among
Foreign Policy’s “21 Solutions.”
The benefits of a Single Global Currency
will be substantial…
27 April 2007. IMF Forum on Financial Globalization. See Transcript.
At the forum, SGCA president Morrison Bonpasse asked a question about the Single Global Currency:
QUESTION: Just one different question. If the world political leaders were to ignore your conventional wisdom that a global currency should not be implemented and they were to implement a global currency tomorrow, the political leaders, how would that change your analysis of financial globalization?
Of the three panelists, Ken Rogoff, Jeffrey Frankel and Guillermo Calvo, only Professor Calvo respondedto the question, and he said:
On the issue of the currency union or one currency, I think the big problem there is the lender of last resort. I think that is an issue we should come and rethink all the time seriously. In our paper (off mike) in Michigan we called that something related to that, the Mundellian challenge. The Mundellian challenge is that Mundell in his famous 1961 I believe and he had a little note, he wants us to think about why not having different currencies for different states in the U.S. That is an issue that never rises. It is interesting. We can talk about float and fix and everybody gets very furious about the issue. However, very few times you have in the discussion being brought to the surface the fact that if you had a floater, for example, why not think about having floating generate inside Argentina as an example in 2002 if you want one.
Of course we think it does not work and so strongly we think that it does not work that I have never seen in my years at the IMF that being an issue for discussion. So I think we have to put that together. My short answer, because this is a really big issue, is that we are going to have trouble setting up a lender of last resort which is effective at the global level, so it is a political issue more than an economic issue. But once we agree why it would not work as it does for an individual country, and even a large individual country like the U.S.
20 March 2007. The "What’s Next" blog by Richard Watson, added further comments about the Single Global Currency at http://toptrends.nowandnext.com:80/?p=264
"I have just been reminded by Morrison Bonpasse that I made a prediction that we’d have a single global currency by around 2030-2040. The prediction appears on my innovation timeline (address below). His reminder has also inspired me to add another category to my blog so from now on there’s a predictions section too."
The comment by Morrison Bonpasse begins:
Your prediction of a Single Global Currency is on the money, so to speak. The goal of the Single Global Currency Association is 2024. Martin Wolf of the U.K.’s Financial Times, predicts 2055, so 2050 is close.The benefits of a Single Global Currency, managed by a Global Central Bank, within a Global Monetary Union, will be substantial:…
19 March 2007. Single Global Currency listed on Time Line on futurist website, What’s Next, for 2040 (approximately).
It’s hard to find but it’s there, just above "Video Wallpaper" and "Gene based diets."
21 December 2006. “The Single Global Currency Assn. publishes 2007 Edition” in the Lincoln County News, Newcastle, ME
The article begins…
The Single Global Currency Assn. will publish on 1 January 2007, the 2007 Edition of its book, The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World . Written by Morrison Bonpasse, the president of the Single Global Currency Association, the book shows how the world can save hundreds of billions of dollars annually by joining together in a global monetary union with a single global currency.
Said Bonpasse, “With the creation and coming expansion of the Eurozone to 13 member countries, the people of the world now can see how all 192 U.N. members can join together with a single global currency. Stable money has been a primary goal for centuries, and it’s within reach.”
The 2007 Edition contains the entire 2006 Edition, plus an 80 page 2007 Addendum which describes the progress toward the Single Global Currency during the past year.
Maintaining its price at 16.00 euros, the U.S. price has increased from $19.00 for the 2006 Edition to $21.00 in 2007, due to the relative decline of the U.S. dollar to the euro and most other currencies….
12 December 2006. An Ecopy of the entire text of the original, 2006 Edition of The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World has been posted to the Munich RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) Archive, and is available there for unlimited use.
5 December 2006. Posting of the entire text of the 2006 Edition of The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World.
On 1 January 2007, the 2007 Edition will be published. It will contain the entire 2006 original edition, plus a 2007 Addendum.
To attain the widest possible reading of the book and knowledge of the ideas therein, the 2006 Edition is posted here for reading and downloading and unlimited use by any of the 6.5 billion future beneficiaries of the Single Global Currency.
27 November 2006. Spot posting of Online Poll Results to question:
Would you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose a single global currency, where all the people of the world would use the same money?
Strongly favor – 35% (740 votes)
 |
Somewhat favor – 12% (254 votes)
|
Somewhat oppose – 5% (104 votes)
|
|
Not sure – 5% (111 votes)
|
Total Votes: 2107 47% in favor and
47% opposed, and 5% not sure.
For comparison, see the results as of 23 February 2006, below, with 46% in favor and 49% opposed. Since then, more support for the Single Global Currency has appeared.
21 September 2006. The “World Currency” entry on Wikipedia now has link to Single Global Currency Assn. website.
The entry cites these benefits for the SGC:
Arguments for a global currency
Some of the benefits cited by advocates of a global currency are that it would:
- Eliminate the direct and indirect transaction costs of trading from one currency to another [2] .
- Eliminate the balance of payments / current account problems of all countries.
- Eliminate the risk of currency failure & currency risk .
- Eliminate the uncertainty of changes in value due to exchange-caused fluctuations in currency value and the costs of hedging to protect against such fluctuations.
- Cause an increase in the value of assets for those countries currently afflicted with significant country risk.
- Eliminate the misalignment of currencies.
- Utilize the seigniorage benefit and control of printing money for the operations of the global central bank and for public benefit.
- Eliminate the need for countries or monetary unions to maintain international reserves of other currencies.
12 September 2006 International Monetary Fund response to mailing of copy of book, The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World, to Rodrigo de Rato, and to emails to him.
The letter reads, in its entirety…
Dear Mr. Bonpasse:
On behalf of Mr. Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, I thank you for your electronic message of June 29 and the copy of your book The Single Global Currency—Common Cents for the World.
The IMF has generally supported common currency arrangements when they have been established by a group of member countries, but it neither promotes nor discourages their use by others. As you may know, the Second Amendment to the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, which took effect in 1978, gave members broad latitude to establish currency arrangements of their own choosing, including cooperative arrangements.
For additional information on the analysis of currency unions by IMF staff, you may wish to look at these recent studies published in our Occasional Paper series: Evolution and Performance of Exchange Rate Regimes (http://www.imforg/external/pubs/nft/op/229/index.htm) and Monetary Union Among Member Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (http:/www.imf.org/external/pubs/nft/op/223/index.htrn) .
Thank you for taking the time to share your views with us.
Sincerely yours,
Kathleen L. White
Chief of Public Affairs
External Relations Department
2 August 2006. Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Monetary and Financial Policy, Mark Sobel, writes letter in response to the forwarding to former U.S. Treasury Secretary, John Snow, a copy of The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World.
Wrote Sobel, after a summary of the current views of the U.S. Treasury about exchange rates, "We appreciate hearing your views."
22 July 2006. Periodic tracking of Search Engine hits for “global monetary union”.
23 July 06
Alta Vista 109
Google 71
MSN 142
Yahoo 95
22 July 2006. Periodic tracking of Search Engine hits for “global central bank”.
23 July 06
Alta Vista 12,300
Google 15,000
MSN 2,525
Yahoo 47,000
22 July 2006. Periodic tracking of Search Engine hits for “single global currency”.
3 Aug 05 2 Nov 05 23 Feb 2006 23 July 2006
Alta Vista 4,510 1,030* 1,100 1,590
Google 726 728 850 9,370*
MSN 1,738 1,757 1,953 1,324
Yahoo 4,510 1,100* 1,100 1,660
* the Search Rules may have changed
20-21 July 2006. Third Annual Single Global Currency Conference held at Mt. Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
The conference was very small, but plans for the coming year are ambitious, and next year’s conference will be larger and better. Click on “Previous SGC Conferences” for more information about 2006 conference.
10 June 2006. White House Responds to sending copy of "The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World" with card, "Thank you for your kind gesture. I appreciate your good wishes George Bush."
8 June 2006. Francois Bourguignon of the World Bank responds to sending copy of "The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World" to Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank.
He wrote:
Dear Mr. Bonpasse:
Thank you for your letter of May 5th to Paul Wolfowitz accompanying your recently published book “The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World” with its proposal for a single world currency. Mr. Wolfowitz has asked me to reply on his behalf.
Your book deals with a very interesting topic with a long history that has attracted numerous distinguished minds, including those of Gasparo Scaruffi, John Stuart Mill, John Maynard Keynes, James Meade, Milton Friedman, and Robert Mundell, among others. While some have been in favor of a single currency, others against, all agree that there are costs as well as benefits associated with a single global currency, although they disagree as to their relative magnitudes.
Interesting as the debate is, this is not an area where the World Bank Group is likely to take a strong position. The International Monetary Fund has been designated as the lead agency in monetary issues and we customarily defer to them on issues that, like this, fall within the realm of their comparative advantage.
Once again, please accept my thanks for your letter and allow me to wish you luck in your endeavors.
5 June 2006. IMF announces consultations to deal with global imbalances and the Single Global Currency Association writes to the IMF to urge that the Single Global Currency be considered as a long term solution to those global imbalances.
The SGCA letter to Managing Director de Rato and Assistant Directors Agostin Carstens and Anne Krueger in its entirety:
The press release below states that the IMF is beginning
its work regarding global imbalances. Please devote at least
some of that work to BEST solution: the Single Global Currency.
As I
wrote to Mr. de Rato on April 4, below,
I read today of your speech at the Harvard Business School, and recommend to you the Single Global Currency, as it will accomplish two goals:
1. Eliminate the problem of global imbalances.
2. Eliminate the problem of currency surveillance.
Guaranteed.
Can the IMF assign a few economists to study the options? If you take such a step, and announce that the IMF is planning for the goal of a Single Global Currency, it will be the most imiportant action of your tenure at the IMF.
No one expects a Single Global Currency to be implemented tomorrow. Indeed, our goal is 2024, as stated on our website and in the book, The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World. Wouldn’t it help the overall analysis of current global imbalances to examine the BEST long term solution to such imbalances? i.e. eliminate them? Won’t knowing the end point be helpful in formulating a path to that end point?
There are no currency imbalances among any of the 12 members of the European Monetary Union, but 6 years ago there were surely several. In a few years, there will be 22 EMU members with no-intra EMU imbalances. In addition, those countries need not concern themselves at all with global imbalances as they are a currency problem and hence an issue for the European Central Bank.
The same phenomena occur for the other monetary unions in the world, and will occur for the future GCC monetary union.
As the IMF continues its consultations, please consider the Single Global Currency, managed by a Global Central Bank, within a Global Monetary Union as the BEST, long term solution to global imbalances.
30 April 2006. Amazon.com Sales Rank of The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World is 698,968.
24 April 2006. Single Global Currency Association publishes The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World.
The media release is below. For more information see the links to the left of this page and also "SGC Links" above, right.
RELEASE:
The Single Global Currency Association is publishing the first edition of the book, The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World.
Written by Morrison Bonpasse, the president of the association, the book shows how the world can save hundreds of billions of dollars, and eliminate currency crises and balance of payments problems, by forming a Global Monetary Union with a Single Global Currency. Despite its 424 pages and 720 endnotes, but with only one graph, the book is intended for the people of the world, as well as academics.
The book explains how the multicurrency foreign exchange trading system was developed about 2,500 years ago to enable people to trade with different currencies. That system has become far more sophisticated and larger in the meantime, and sees the exchange of $2.5 trillion per day; but it is very expensive, risky and obsolete.
Said Bonpasse, "With the creation and coming expansion of the European Monetary Union, the people of the world can now see how to create a Global Monetary Union with a Single Global Currency. Stable money has been a goal for centuries, and now it’s within reach."
The book concludes that it is now time to replace the multicurrency system with a Single Global Currency which will eliminate the annual $400 billion transaction costs of that trading. Also to be eliminated will be the need for foreign exchange reserves, and the international debate about the fairness of countries’ exchange rates. Gone, too, will be the currency risk which now depresses asset values, especially in underdeveloped countries. Without such currency risk, worldwide asset values are projected to increase by about $36 trillion, which will fuel an annual increase in world GDP of about $9 trillion.
A Single Global Currency is no longer a utopian dream, but a realistic projection of what has been learned from existing monetary unions, especially the euro.
The world needs to set the goal of a Single Global Currency by 2024, to be managed by a Global Central Bank, within a Global Monetary Union, thus establishing a "3-G" world. And begin planning – now. The book contains chapters about political and educational action in support of those goals including Chapter 7, "How to Get There from Here."
Said Bonpasse, "Please read this book and help save the world — trillions."
The book is available from Amazon.com and directly through the Single Global Currency Association at www.singleglobalcurrency.org and participating bookstores.
22 March 2006. Email to Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
Forwarding a copy of the Association’s 10 November 2005 email (See below), the entire email is presented here…
Dear Mr. de Rato:
I read today your comments in "The Banker" and hope that you will consider supporting the goal of a Single Global Currency as the long-term solution to the problems with the current multicurrency system. Announcement of such IMF support of that goal would assist in the "orderly adjustment" of the existing vast imbalances, of which you write.
In April, the Single Global Currency Association will publish my book, The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World . It presents the issues and advocates a worldwide movement toward that goal. Might you be interested in ordering a copy, @ 16 euros, ($19.00) shipping included? A copy of the Introduction of that book is attached.
Might an economist in the IMF be assigned full-time to research the utility and feasibility of the Single Global Currency, to be managed by a Global Central Bank, within a Global Monetary Union? One common cents/sense participant would be the IMF, transformed into the Global Central Bank.
[This email was sent in response to the publication of Mr. de Rato’s comments in The Banker on 6 February 2006.]
23 February 2006. Periodic tracking of Search Engine hits for "single global currency".
3 Aug 05 2 Nov 05 23 Feb 2006
Alta Vista 4,510 1,030* 1,100
Google 726 728 850
MSN 1,738 1,757 1,953
Yahoo 4,510 1,100* 1,100
* the Search Rules may have changed
23 February 2006. Spot posting of Online Poll Results to question:
Would you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose a single global currency, where all the people of the world would use the same money?
Strongly favor
– 33% (511 votes)
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Somewhat favor – 13% (199 votes)
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Somewhat oppose – 5% (75 votes)
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Strongly oppose – 44% (671 votes)
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Not sure – 5% (80 votes)
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Total Votes: 1536
10 November 2005. Email to Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
The email begins…
Dear Mr. de Rato:
I have read of your oft-stated concerns about global imbalances and share that concern. One certain solution to such imbalances is a single global currency, and I write today to further inquire about your views of the single global currency, which is the goal of the Single Global Currency Association. Might the IMF begin formal study of this solution?
[This email was sent in response to the publication of Mr. de Rato’s comments on Global Imbalances to the European Institute on 10 November 2005.]
10 November 2005. Invitations sent on 10 November 2005 to 1,867 economists and others for the Third Annual Single Global Currency Conference. Anyone interested in the single global currency and related issues is welcome to attend.
2 November 2005. Periodic tracking of Search Engine hits for "single global currency".
3 Aug 05 2 Nov 05
Alta Vista 4,510 1,030 (changed rules?)
Google 726 728
MSN 1,738 1,757
Yahoo 4,510 1,100 (changed rules?)
19 October 2005 From the section in this website “What should the Single Global Currency be named?” come the results below.
Therefore, in the upcoming book, "The Single Global Currency – Common Cents for the World", the temporarily assigned name shall be the "Geo", unless a subsequent snapshot shows a different result. Of course, the sample is yet very small, and not too many possibilities were presented to visitors.
Altifono
– 2% (1 votes) |
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Total Votes: 52 as of 18 October 2005.
11 October 2005. Single Global Currency Assn. sends EMAIL to the participants at the recent Institute for International Economics Conference (IIE) on IMF Reform.
(Including representatives from the IMF, U.S. Treasury, Argentinian Central Bank, IIE, European Central Bank, et al)
Dear Participants in the IIE Conference on IMF Reform,
The best way for the International Monetary Fund to discharge its responsibilities for worldwide exchange rates is to guide the world toward the end of the multi-currency system, and to the single global currency.
Among those who support a single global currency are: Robert Mundell, George Soros, Paul Volcker and Martin Wolf; and Robert Bartley, James Tobin, John Maynard Keynes and John Stuart Mill. The eurozone is expanding and other monetary unions are forming and/or expanding. The end of the road to a single global currency is clear, but the route is not and the timing is uncertain; and that’s where the IMF can help.
The organizations represented at the conference can help too. Are there economists at your represented institutions who are researching the single global currency? Do we know how many hundreds of billions of dollars/euros will be saved in transaction costs annually? Do we know the savings from avoided currency crises? Do we know the effect of the elimination of concern about imbalances of payments, large capital flows and maintenance of international reserves? Do we know the potential increases in worldwide asset values which will occur with the elimination of currency risk? What would worldwide financial stability look like? Will the world need a worldwide Growth and Stability Pact, or will the markets discipline the indebtedness and deficits of individual countries?
Can your represented institutions organize a worldwide conference to present the answers to these questions, and to plan for implementation of the single global currency? Martin Wolf predicts 2055, more or less. In 1988, the Economist predicted the date as 2018. The goal of the Single Global Currency Assn. is 2024, the 80th anniversary of Bretton Woods.
After the job of moving the world to a single global currency is done, the IMF can assume its role as part of, or partner to, the future global central bank.
Please, let’s start now to plan for the single global currency, and avoid as much as possible the continued costs and uncertainties and the predictable crises of the existing multi-currency system.
morrison bonpasse. /s/
11 October 2005. Canada’s National Post/Financial Post publishes Letter to Editor from Single Global Currency Assn.
"Why not one global currency?
Re:
“A common currency: Maybe now’s the time,” Terence Corcoran,
Sept. 29
Terence Corcoran rightly notes that the world’s existing
and obsolete multi-currency system can impose senseless
hardship on individual countries. Canada’s burden is that
it has the misfortune to border and trade extensively with
the country that runs, and currently is abusing, the world’s
international reserve currency.
The long-term answer is a single global
currency, where there can be no “Dutch disease,” no imbalances
of payments, no currency speculation, no currency crises
and no foreign exchange transaction costs — all for an annual
saving to the world of several hundred billion dollars/euros.
The question is: How do we get there from
here? For the long term, Canada can do a service for the
world by calling for the first of many necessary international
conferences to plan for the single global currency by 2024,
the goal of the Single Global Currency Association.
In the shorter term, Canada could join
a currency union with the United States or Mexico or other
countries, which would have the salutary effect of separating
the national government from the value of money — just as
has been done with the euro. With the United States only,
it must be accompanied by at least one seat on the important
committees of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board. The larger
the monetary union, the safer and more stable the currency.
Please, Oh Canada, lead the way!
Morrison Bonpasse, president, Single Global Currency
Association, Newcastle, Maine"
4 October 2005. Single Global Currency Presentation at 10th International Currency Conference in Montreal, Canada.
Morrison bonpasse, of the Single Global Currency Assn., gave the presentation to approximately 350 representatives of the central banks and companies which provide currency-related services and products to them, e.g. printing, paper, design, counterfeit protection. See: Power Point Presentation: “It’s Time to Plan to Save the World $Trillions”.
For more information about the Conference, see the AGENDA (Click on “Agenda”, then “General Session Topics”).
