Having to exchange American dollars for Euros and Canadian dollars is dumb. I think we need to go to an international currency. Anyone with me?

The Yankee dollar is about as international a currency as exists; the crude-oil market, for instance, is almost entirely based on dollars. And I don't remember anyone turning away my Visa card just because it comes from an American bank.

Sounds like you're wanting us to head in the direction of a one world government!

The Euro is kicking the dollars butt right now.

The Euro is kicking the dollars butt right now.

Amen - I just got back from Europe last month and the exchange rate was a killer. It used to be you could pay for anything in Germany with yankee dollars, but no more! And in Italy, I had to pay a premium of .20 on a dollar, plus the going rate, just to exchange my money!

Anyone with me?

no.

I think we pretty much have a one world currency already.

I spent a month in Myanmar (Burma) and everywhere I went...they preferred US dollar. They didn't want Kyat...wanted the greenback.

Last night, I went to the Lucky Supermarket (big chain) in Phnom Penh. The cashier opened the register (you don't see many registers here) and the thing was full of US dollar. No riel. A little sureal. For a second there....felt like I was in Tulsa.

maybe survey will be happy to know that within a few years north america will have one currency. sure its not a one world currency, but you wont have to exchange your dollar for canadian or mexican.

here is more on what i said above.


The Case for the Amero: The Institutions of a North American Monetary Union

On the day the North American Monetary Union is created on January 1, 2010 Canada, the United States, and Mexico will replace their national currencies with the amero. On that day, all American dollar notes and coins will be exchanged at the rate of one US dollar for one amero. Canadian and Mexican currencies will be exchanged at rates that leave unchanged their nations' competitiveness and wealth. In all three countries, the prices of goods and services, wages, assets, and liabilities will be simultaneously converted into ameros at the rates at which currency notes are exchanged.

At the same time, the national central banks of the three countries will be replaced by the North American Central Bank. The operations of that bank will be governed by a constitution like that of the European Central Bank, which makes it responsible solely for maintaining price stability. It is not required to pursue full employment or maintain certain exchange rates. Its personnel policies will be free from political influences, in particular those arising out of partisan national politics in member countries.

The board of governors of the North American Central Bank will consist of members from the United States, Canada, and Mexico chosen by their respective governments in numbers that reflect their economic importance and population. As in Europe, membership in the union will require that countries do not incur persistent budget deficits.

The amero notes and coins will have in common abstract designs on one side. Notes and coins will be produced in each of the three countries according to their own demand and show national symbols on the other side. The currencies will circulate at par in all three countries and those spent in other member countries will be returned to their countries of origin whenever they find their way into a commercial bank. Therefore, at all times citizens of each country will deal predominantly in notes and coins that carry their national symbols on one side.

I don't think that will ever happen here.

we'll see... i hope you are right though.
ive heard they already have the stuff printed and are just getting everything in place.

I haven't heard a think about it before your post. It would be a huge shock to just spring something like that on the American people and I don't think it will happen - at least not by the 2010 timeframe you mentioned. In addition, I would guess that it would be a very unpopular thing with the general population and with an election coming up in 2008 I doubt any politician would touch this (at least not in time for a 2010 changeover).

I did a quick search on "The Case for the Amero" and it seemed like it was only an idea that some people are putting forth. If you have any other links or documentation, please post them. I'd like to read more about it.

the united states citizenry has too much national pride to give up the dollar. it's kinda like britain still using the pound when most of europe is on the euro. they, like us, are too proud to give up a piece of their cultural identity. 2010? there's no way. sociological arguments aside, think of the logistics involved. -M