European Union Calls For NEW Bretton Woods Agreement: This Can't Be Good

Fee Fie Foe Fum, I smell, well ... Marxism. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is throwing his "full weight" behind a revamped Bretton Woods style agreement. Okay, so what's so horrible about that? It is a bit outdated, being that it was generated in 1944. That doesn't bother me. What does bother me was some of the words and phrases he all to happily tossed out in making this call.

For those who don't know, Bretton Woods was an agreement generated in 1944 by the 44 allied nations in regards to an International Monetary Fund and a General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. What it basically did, was obligate each country to back it's own currency, within a 1-2% margin, with Gold. What we think of as the "gold standard." Plus a few other factors, such as the "Keynesian economics" that we're "supposed to be" running on, but aren't. Keynesian economics says it's okay to go into deficit spending to "GET OVER THE HUMP" essentially. But return to responsible fiscal policy, once the "hump" is done. And the gold standard was never really feasible, as there was never enough gold to really back 98-100% of the US stock of paper money anyways.

I usually refrain as of late, from wiki as a resource, but in this instance I think it would be okay.

I did an article about this (gold standard) a short while back. You may find the "modern gold standard" proposed in it, interesting.

But back to the story. I found this Bretton Woods story in the TimesOnline.UK. titled "Fresh impetus behind call for 'new Bretton Woods'." Here are a couple of the phrases that "bothered" me a little. Well, a lot really. The bothersome portions in italics;

Gordon Brown today threw his weight behind calls for "a new Bretton Woods" agreement to set the rules and direction for global trade and finance in the 21st century. “Around us we must build a new Bretton Woods - a new financial architecture for the years ahead."

(A new financial architecture? Exactly WHAT architecture are we speaking of? A global monetary unit? Embracing Sharia Finance?)

Referring to the original conference, where the British economist John Maynard Keynes wielded immense influence, Mr Brown said today: “With the same courage and foresight of their founders, we must now reform the international financial system around agreed principles of transparency, integrity, responsibility, good housekeeping and cooperation across borders.

(Agreed principles. Agreed on by whom and by what standard? Majority rule? Unanimous decision? And cooperation across borders. A Global Government upgrade of the U.N.? Erasing borders?)

He went on: “We will not stop at immediate measures to stabilise the system. We also need measures to reshape the global financial system to make it fit for purpose for the future. This work is important for building confidence and this work must start today.

(We will not stop at immediate measures? You have two days to comply with the rest of the international community. Reshape the global financial system? See above. Fit for the purpose of the future? What future? What purpose?)

“And just as we need new global coordination to deal with the waves of change that are defining the new global age from energy supply to climate change, so we need enhanced global cooperation to monitor and then supervise financial flows that know no borders."

(New Global Age? That says it all right there. Climate change? Yeah, have to jeopardize those economies even more to save the Botswanan Butt-Fly. Supervise financial flows that know no borders. Again, see above.)

Don't get me wrong here folks. I'm for some revamping of old agreements like Bretton Woods. I even agree a bit with PM Brown's mentioning of the transparency and integrity points. But fully amending Bretton Woods to be a completely unresemblant document, with no guarantee the U.S. won't be screwed further than we already are? Well, that just worries me a bit.