----- Original Message -----
From:Morrison Bonpasse at Single Global Currency Assn. - Common Cents for the World
To:Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director, IMF
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 1:18 PM
Subject: Fw: Single Global Currency: Utility/Feasibility; 7/20-21/06 Bretton Woods Conference
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 presentsthe 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.
Very truly yours,
Morrison
Morrison Bonpasse
President
Single Global Currency Association
P.O. Box 390
Newcastle, ME USA 04553
1-207-586-6078
----- Original Message -----
From:morrison bonpasse at Single Global Currency Assn. - Common Cents for the World
To:Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director, IMF
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 4:20 PM
Subject: Single Global Currency: Utility/Feasibility; 7/20-21/06 Bretton Woods Conference
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 writetoday tofurther 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?
Pasted below is a copy of another email sent, but mis-addressed, to you a few weeks ago following an "IMF-Reform" conference at the Institute for International Economics.
Formed in 2003, the Single Global Currency Association seeks to promote the implementation of a single global currency, with an international central bank, by the year 2024. We believe that a single global currency is THE long-term solution to currency crises, capital flow problems, exchange rate fluctuations, imbalances of payments, and high transaction costs among other problems in our multi-currency world. The IMF can and should play a major role in moving the world toward that goal.
Also, I write to invite you to the Third Annual Single Global Currency Conference on July 20-21, 2006 at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. A more complete invitation is attached. The First Annual Single Global Currency Conference was held on July 9, 2004 and the Second on July 14-15, 2005, at Bretton Woods and they are summarized on our website at
With the successful use of the euro and other common currencies, more and more people, organizations and countries are seeing the advantages of monetary unions. The logical end point for the trend is a global monetary union with a single global currency. Our website is
With a single global currency, there will be:
Zero transaction costs to exchange currencies. Presently, $1.8 trillion is traded every workingday.All this trading and its associated costs can be eliminated. This would certainly achieve James Tobin's real goal behind the "Tobin Tax" which was toreduce the worldwide financial instability caused by large, rapid capital transfers among currencies.
The end of "Balance of Payments" and "Current Account" problems for nation states. There will, of course, still be trade and wealth inequalities, but they will not be compounded by the problem of foreign exchange transactions and reserve requirements. There would beno need for countries to maintain international reserves of other currencies.
Zero manipulation by countries oftheir currencies, and thus no more need to cajole and jawbone any particular country about the value of its currency.
Zero risk of national and regional currency crises such as occurred in the 1990's in Mexico, Argentina, Malaysia, South Korea and Russia.
Minimalinflation, assuming that the futureglobal central bank sets and achieves a low inflation rate, just as theEuropean Central Bank has done.
With zero risk of currency failure and zero manipulation and minimal inflation,the Single Global Currency wouldsatisfy the moral obligation thata stable currency should be considered as a fundamental human right, as is the right to own property. A single global currency would be far more stable than the currencies presently used bybillionsof human beings.
A one-page FACT sheet is attached which summarizes the benefits.
Of course, not all economists agree with the goal of a single global currency. For those who would label the single global currency utopian,we call their attention to the euro, which began asa planonly about 30 years ago. Who would have thought in the 1970's that Europe would notonly adopt a common currency, but its member countries would discard their old currencies? Who would have thought that the Germans would discard their marks and the French their francs? The success of the euro will become more clearas the 10 new European Union countriesjoin the eurozone, as they are required to do by the terms of their accession. At some point, Denmark, Sweden and the U.K. will join, too, or join some other common currency. National currencies are becoming obsolete.
The single global currencymightbe an enlarged transformationof one of thecurrent majorcurrencies (dollar, euro, yen),perhaps with a new name such as "dey","eartha", "geo","globo", "Intor",or "worldo"orit might be a new currency with such a name, or a combination of existing currencies. How we get to that point is, of course, a major challenge, but there are several possible routes. One is to continue the current regionalization of currencies and then combine those currencies into one.Another is for smaller countries to continue to "ize" their nations' legal tender,as in "dollarize" and"euroize", as has been done in El Salvador and Monaco.Compatible with all these and other routes is the needto convene an internationalmonetary conference of nations, monetary unions and related organizations, and begin planning for theimplementation of a single global currency.
Do you support the goal of a single global currency?In our web site, we have rating scales for economists and their support for the single global currency's utility and feasibility, and a copy is attached. The Utility Scale goes from +5 for "very useful" to -5 as "very harmful". The Feasibility Scale goes from +5 for the year 2024 to 0 (zero) for "will never happen". We hope you will participate and send your own self-ratings to me.
Beginning in November 2003, we have commissionedsemi-annualZogby polls (so far, for U.S. residents only) on the issue and found in that firstpoll that 28% of the 1001 U.S. voters surveyed support a single global currency, with 9% stating "strong support". In April, 2004, the respective percentages were 25% and 9%, and in November 2004, back to 28% and 9%. That's a good base from which to build a wider consensus, worldwide, as the U.S. is perceived as being more opposed to a single global currency than other countries.
We hope that you will think and write about the single global currency and encourage your students and peers to do so as well. What will the world be like with a single global currency? How do we get there? In May 2004, we published an Op-Ed piece in the Manchester, New Hampshire Union Leader, "The world needs a single global currency", which is attached. David Francis' 12 August 2004 column,, "The Esperanto of money" in the Christian Science Monitor is at
Attached are the 30 June 2003 Wall Street Journal column, "World Money at the Palazzo Mundell", by the late Robert Bartley about the single global currency and Martin Wolf's 3 August 2004 column, "We need a Global Currency", in the Financial Times.
Any suggestions, ideas or criticisms you may have for us will also be appreciated, as well ascontributions.If there are otherswho might be interested in the single global currency, we would appreciate your forwarding this email on to them.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
morrison
morrison bonpasse
President
Single Global Currency Assn.
P.O. Box 390
Newcastle, ME 04553 USA
207-586-6078
----- Original Message -----
From:morrison at Single Global Currency Assn. - Common Cents for the World
To:Timothy D. Adams, Under Secretary, U.S. Treasury ; Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund ; Gregor Irwin, Bank of England ; Kermal Davis, United Nations Development Program ; Tito Cordella, International Monetary Fund ; Mohamed El-Erian, PIMCO ; Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Institute for International Affairs, Rome ; Yu Yongding, Director, Institute of World Politics ; Barry Eichengreen Prof at Univ of Calif at Berkeley ; Michael Mussa at Institute for International Economics ; Kristin Forbes, Prof. at Sloan School, MIT ; Eduardo Levy Yeyati, Prof. at Escuela de Economia Empresarial, Agentina ; William R. Cline, Institute for International Economics ; John Williamson, Institute for International Economics ; C. Randall Henning, Institute for International Economics ; Morris Goldstein at Institute for International Economics ; C. Fred Bergsten, Dir. Institute for International Economics ; Edwin Truman, Institute for International Economics ; Karin Lissakers, New York ; Desmond Lachman, American Enterprise Institute ; Ariel Buira, Group of 24 ; Steven Radelet, Center for Global Development ; Nancy Birdsall, President, Center for Global Development ; John B. Taylor, Prof. at Stanford University ; Chris Salmon, Bank of England ; Martin Redrado, Governor, Central Bank of Argentina ; Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, European Central Bank
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 8:53 PM
Subject: The real challenge for the IMF - leading the world to the Single Global Currency
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 ofthe multi-currency system, and to the single global currency.
Among those who support a single global currency are: Robert Mundell, George Soros,Paul Volcker andMartin Wolf; andRobert 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 theroad to a single global currency is clear, but the route isnot 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 atyourrepresented institutions who are researching the single global currency? Do we know howmany hundreds of billions of dollars/euroswill 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 flowsand 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 tothese 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.
Afterthe job ofmoving the world to a single global currency isdone, the IMF can assumeits 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 possiblethe continued costs anduncertaintiesand the predictablecrises of the existing multi-currency system.
Sincerely,
morrison bonpasse
President
Single Global Currency Association
P.O. Box 390
Newcastle, ME 04553
207-586-6078