Bretton Woods and the Amero (accounting, union, pension, financial)

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The latest article on the upcoming series of global financial summits.

In short, European leaders have convinced the US president to schedule a summit meeting on November 15 among leaders from the Group of 20 leading industrial and developing nations to be held at the National Building Museum in Washington. European leaders hope the gathering will get the ball rolling on a number of potentially major reforms.

UK Prime Minister Brown is reported as saying that the

old postwar financial institutions are "out of date" and in need of rebuilding to deal with a "wholly new era in which there is global, not national, competition and open, not closed economies." He reiterated calls for cross-border supervision of financial institutions, shared global accounting standards, "more responsible" executive pay and a role for international institutions to serve as an early-warning system."

The plan is that this be the first of a series of such meetings.

By the way, here are the members of the G-20 (http://www.g20.org/G20/ - broken link): Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The European Union is also a member, represented by the rotating Council presidency and the European Central Bank. To ensure global economic fora and institutions work together, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the President of the World Bank, plus the chairs of the International Monetary and Financial Committee and Development Committee of the IMF and World Bank, also participate in G-20 meetings on an ex-officio basis.

In the meantime, view a video through this link.

Also view the images and stories by following this link.

It is not surprising that these initiatives come from Mother Europe.

In the next one to ten years (who thought Cold War would end?), expect at least three major currencies - the euro, the amero, and the bolivar (maybe once Chavez falls amidst the oil price collapse?) uniting Europe, North America and South America in a more or less free trade, managed-floating exchange rate regime.

Also contemplate what that implies for retirement and health care funding. In recent days, see Argentina's nationalization of private pensions and legislative proposals in the US for 401(k)s.

You want to see a doctor? ¿Hablas español?

Good luck!