Universal currency

First off, I don't pretend to know anything about economics. In fact I am quite ignorant of it.

My question is, wouldn't it make life easier if we had a universal currency?

Most likely, that's what the countries in Europe did; form the European Union, and made their currency the Euro Dollar.

But then we have the problem of what if the currency, viable because of common acceptance amongst people and nothing else, happens to fail, or go into hyper inflation or something? We'd have big problems then.

I agree, it sounds like a good idea but I'm sure for some reason it wouldn't work (I don't know much about econ either)

European countries formed the EU and got the Euro to stay competitive in the world market. For a country like America to subscribe to that would limit its sovereignty. So, I don't think America will ever accept such a standard, while countries like Norway and Greece would be ok with it.

European countries formed the EU and got the Euro to stay competitive in the world market. For a country like America to subscribe to that would limit its sovereignty. So, I don't think America will ever accept such a standard, while countries like Norway and Greece would be ok with it.

Er, every year more and more countries, most notably the U.S, give up tiny bits of their sovereignty to globalism and IGOs that "require" compliance, such as the U.N. and the WTO.

Of course, we would never jump right in to this sort of thing, but if a majority proposed and supported the idea, the U.S.' course of action is debatable, especially if you could actually get England and France to join in (which are far more stubborn than the U.S. as far as int'l relations go...).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Ameri...ency_union. The Amero has been discussed among contemporary politics AFAIK.

edit never mind remove.

I hope by the time I die physical currencies will be near extinction. But I think a universal currency would make things better for people who travel often. However, it would suck for tourists and tourism dominated nations. Some countries (like Costa Rica) are dependent on their currency's weakness compared to the dollar to attract tourists (who come out favorably) and that can and do buy more with less money. With a universal currency this wouldn't work and strangulate the tourism industry (unless they have gladiator matches with naked women in a nature preserve). Then their economy has to restructure to telemarketing or tequila exports.

either gold or dollars would make sense

a universal form of currency would never work out in the global market. people get greedy, and with various forms of money, it is more possible to satiate their greed. plus, under a single currency, the potential for tensions and agressions to raise are that just much easier; the masses would see that as a form of a global dictatorship. plus, who would determine the worth of the money, and what would it be called? overall, its just a bad idea.

people get greedy, and with various forms of money, it is more possible to satiate their greed.

What....? How do more currencies let them "satiate their greed"?

plus, under a single currency, the potential for tensions and agressions to raise are that just much easier; the masses would see that as a form of a global dictatorship.

Economic cooroperation is dictatorship? Dictatorship is when someone tells you what to do, and it's obey or die. Not when everyone uses the same currency....
Is America a dictatorship because each state has to use the same currency, set by the National Gov't?

plus, who would determine the worth of the money, and what would it be called? overall, its just a bad idea.

The name is debatable, but the "worth" would be determined the same way everything else is: Supply and Demand.

Which raises an interesting question: If one country produced less of the physical money, could the same 'currency' be worth more in one part of the world, say China, than in another, say America?

What....? How do more currencies let them "satiate their greed"?

if one form of currency is stronger than the other, think of merchanting in MS to make as an example. if you see that, for example, the yen is stronger than the euro, the euro stronger than the dollar, and the dollar stronger than the yen, then one can use one form of currency to make more money in another. im sure some money launderers do this, and swedish banks come to mind first.

Economic cooroperation is dictatorship? Dictatorship is when someone tells you what to do, and it's obey or die. Not when everyone uses the same currency....
Is America a dictatorship because each state has to use the same currency, set by the National Gov't?

when its a national thing within that nation, then no, its not dictatorship. look at when america was first forming and the civil war periods; people were fighting amongst themselves because there was no stable and set currency (colonial period), and the confederate states tried to establish their own money (civil war). (sorry if someone here isnt familiar with US history.) but the reason those all worked is because everyone got together and agreed that they needed a set union of money, for all instances, and they unified under one currency. the operative word there, agreed. if a bunch of nations, which already have a set and stable, albeit weak, form of currency, then to tell them to change and to adapt to one unified "dollar" (for lack of a better term, im tired of using currency. i have an OCD of using the same word too many times) is nothing short of declaring yourself ruler over those nations, whomever were to establish the 'new' system.

the reason why the euro is not mentioned at all is because the nations in the EU agreed to be in it. they were not forced into it, the leaders of those nations made the choice to join to try and stay on competitive grounds with the rest of the global market.

The name is debatable, but the "worth" would be determined the same way everything else is: Supply and Demand.

Which raises an interesting question: If one country produced less of the physical money, could the same 'currency' be worth more in one part of the world, say China, than in another, say America?

if it the same currency, then the worth is universal as well. refer to my 2nd point. if you also look at the euro, its the same throughout all nations in the EU. same with the dollar, every state in the US has the same worth for the dollar amounts made by the US mint.

It wouldn't work cause some countries have other resources or something like that.

It wouldn't work cause some countries have other resources or something like that.

I don't see why this would be a problem; just set a world-wide standard to pay x (currency) for y amount of z resource. It could make the economy unstable, though; it'd be sort of like MS's economy, where each new update causes the economy to fluctuate wildly in some way (just replace "update" with "scientific advances and historical discoveries").

I don't see why this would be a problem; just set a world-wide standard to pay x (currency) for y amount of z resource. It could make the economy unstable, though; it'd be sort of like MS's economy, where each new update causes the economy to fluctuate wildly in some way (just replace "update" with "scientific advances and historical discoveries").

a world-wide standard, per each nations currency, isnt a problem; what is is that people get in the way. say that the price set for the nation doesnt let certain organizations/companies turn much of a profit; whats to say they wont try to break the rules/operate outside of them to increase their profits?

a world-wide standard, per each nations currency, isnt a problem; what is is that people get in the way. say that the price set for the nation doesnt let certain organizations/companies turn much of a profit; whats to say they wont try to break the rules/operate outside of them to increase their profits?

I kind of thought of that when I was typing my post, and the first thing I thought of was another world war breaking out because of some trivial disagreement between nations.

But, you know, lol economics.

I kind of thought of that when I was typing my post, and the first thing I thought of was another world war breaking out because of some trivial disagreement between nations.

But, you know, lol economics.

HOW DARE YOU READ MY PLAN TO USURP THE GLOBAL ESTABLISHMENT AND RECREATE THE WORLD UNDER MY COMMAND IN THE ENSUING ANARCHY AND CHAOS?!

if one form of currency is stronger than the other, think of merchanting in MS to make as an example. if you see that, for example, the yen is stronger than the euro, the euro stronger than the dollar, and the dollar stronger than the yen, then one can use one form of currency to make more money in another. im sure some money launderers do this, and swedish banks come to mind first.

How is that "greed"? Trying to make a living isn't greedy. Trading currencies is no different than running a grocer store; buying stuff from farmers or the likes and reselling them to consumers for slight profits. I don't hear people calling Grocer Store owners greedy.

the reason why the euro is not mentioned at all is because the nations in the EU agreed to be in it. they were not forced into it, the leaders of those nations made the choice to join to try and stay on competitive grounds with the rest of the global market.

Britain didn't agree to use the Euro... and they don't. They kept their old currency. If a country doesn't join a "universal currency", they just wouldn't adapt it. If a nation didn't want to use a universal currency, they wouldn't.

if it the same currency, then the worth is universal as well. refer to my 2nd point. if you also look at the euro, its the same throughout all nations in the EU. same with the dollar, every state in the US has the same worth for the dollar amounts made by the US mint.

All the nations in the EU are of similar Economies. The US and Nigeria, on the other hand, are not similar in production abilities.
Supply and Demand set the worth of the currency. If one nation has radically different amounts of the currency in circulation than another, I would expect prices to differ appropriately.... just like current currency values in the world market.

I found an interesting article that raises some interesting points.
http://www.gocurrency.com/articles/unive...rrency.htm

I agree.

I also think that we need to get rid of the Penny. It costs more to produce them than they're worth.

I agree.

I also think that we need to get rid of the Penny. It costs more to produce them than they're worth.

You take that back! Take a penny leave a penny!

Anyways, it really wouldn't work. 3rd world contries having the same value as the US. You might as well jsut move to Turkey and live there.
So it really wouldn't work unless all the contries in the world were worth the same.

Of course it would. But, would it happen? No.