Reshaping the International Financial Order

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Reshaping the International Order Part 1


Reshaping the International Order Part 2

"Among the instruments of implementation at the international level, I attach the highest priority to the introduction of international taxation and the establishment of an international central bank." - Mahbub ul Haq, Director of Policy Planning World Bank (1970-1982) and RIO Member (p321)

The Club of Rome is a premiere think tank composed of approximately 100 members including leading scientists, philosophers, political advisors, former politicians and many other influential bureaucrats and technocrats. This series of articles describes the major conclusions of the 1976 book Rio: Reshaping the International Order: A Report to the Club of Rome [1] coordinated by Nobel Laureate Jan Tinbergen. The RIO report "addresses the following question: what new international order should be recommended to the world's statesmen and social groups so as to meet, to the extent practically and realistically possible, the urgent needs of today's population and the probable needs of future generations?"

Part 1 of this series gives an overview of the proposed new international order described by the RIO report as "humanistic socialism". This includes: collective neighbourhood armies, a fully planned world economy, global free trade, public international enterprises, proposed changes in consumption patterns among other topics.

Below is a summary of some of the changes to the financial system proposed by The Club of Rome.

Creation of a World Reserve Currency

From RIO: Reshaping the International Order:

[Italicised text is original emphasis and bolded text is added by author.]

"Phasing out of national reserve currencies as well as gold from reserve creation, confining increasingly the latter to SDR [Special Drawing Rights] type assets created by joint decisions..." - 128

"The residual use of gold as a reserve stock for central banks should and will be phased out gradually." - 199

"The creation of an international reserve currency by an international authority, such as an International Central Bank, which should be under international management without being dominated by the interests of one particular group of nations;" - 184

"Fundamental reforms in the international monetary system so that international liquidity is not created in such an unplanned fashion that it generates alternate cycles of inflation, stagflation and depression. If national reserve currencies are replaced by an international reserve currency, to be created and managed by the international community in line with the genuine needs for the growth of the international economic system and with special regard to the pressing needs of the Third World, it can considerably help in avoiding some of the present unplanned fluctuations in economic activity." - 183

Some tricks never seem to get old. Prevention of "alternate cycles of inflation, stagflation and depression" is exactly the same hogwash used to sell the Federal Reserve Act to the Americans in 1913. How well did that work?

Creation of a World Treasury and Global Taxation

"It also follows that some groups must today devote their efforts to the preparation of long range proposals in order to ensure that they will be operative on time. This applies especially to investigations into the feasibility of the more ambitious long range proposals, such as the creation of a World Treasury." - 125

"The gradual introduction of a system of international taxation which should be handled by a World Treasury, both to meet the current as well as the development needs of the poorer nations;" - 184

"The statutes of transnational enterprises should be under the supervision of, and their profits taxed by, an inter- or supranational authority." - 160

"international commons... ocean-tolls and air-tolls should be considered..." - 165

"these observations would suggest that, in the long run, a World Treasury could form an effective instrument for attaining some of the aims of an international community. In that it would operate from a current budget of expenditures, it would require a current budget of income. This would be derived from two obvious sources: revenue from international taxes and from the world community's ownership of productive resources. Taxes and incomes, profits, the use of scarce resources and the royalties received from concessions could figure among the most important types of revenue." - 131

"Ultimately, there is a need for the equivalent of a World Treasury, the resources of which are derived from international taxation and ownership of international productive resources (such as the resources of the oceans)." - 133

Some Techniques of Implementation

One implementation technique requires the use of "pioneering" countries to voluntarily submit to international taxation and their new monetary order.

"A desirable form of international decision-making, however, is one in which a genuinely supranational authority takes decisions on a qualified majority principle. A qualified majority may comprise a system of weighted votes, be based on a simple majority, or based on a system in which not only the total number of representatives but also the representatives of some well defined groups must together form a majority... (b) A decision-making body can be initiated by several pioneering countries on a voluntary basis and then be gradually extended. Some of the means used could first be applied at low levels, for example, a tax on consumer durables, and be gradually raised and extended to include more categories and eventually more countries. (c) Membership of an international decision-making body should be open to both public authorities and private organizations, whether non-profit or profit-making, or a combination of these categories." - 104

Another technique of implementation requires the use of organizations like OPEC to collect international taxes on behalf of the world community.

"The Financing of Development: A new framework for international resource transfers form an essential part of the effort to establish a new international order. It will take time to negotiate such a framework and put its various elements in place, but at least some of the principles on which this framework should be based can be spelt out. (I) An element of automation must be built into the resource transfer system. To be realistic, the world community is still too early in its stage of evolution and recognition of its interdependence to accept the concept of international taxation of the rich nations for the benefit of the poor nations. But the concept need not be accepted in its entirety: it can be introduced gradually over time through a variety of devices:... (b) certain sources of international financing can be developed - such as tax on non-renewable resources, tax on international pollutants... (c) if the rich industrialized nations are unwilling to tax themselves, others can collect and distribute these tax proceeds on the basis of what the rich nations consume - e.g. even a one-dollar per barrel 'development levy' by OPEC..." - 216

One World Currency

"The Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States... already lays down the fundamental principles which should govern international economic relations. The transformation, over time, of the Charter into the proposed framework treaty would greatly facilitate the establishment of a new international order. If this is to be done, some more specific provisions, omitted from the Charter, should be considered for inclusion in the framework treaty. Such provisions could include:...

(g) All States shall accept an international currency to be created by an international authority;" - 117

The Club of Rome is currently working on a project entitled Monetary Simplification Euro/Dollar: Towards a Global Currency headed by Ramon Tamames.

Conclusion

The next part in this series addresses the redefinition of sovereignty from "territorial sovereignty" to "functional sovereignty" as well as the use of the concept of the "common heritage of mankind" to gain international control of not just the oceans, atmosphere and outer space but also all material and non-material resources. Part 4 discusses the generation of public opinion and the use of white coated propagandists. The creation of a World Food Authority and its use for population control is examined in part 5. The final article in this series deals with a variety of issues including global solidarity, regional unions, legal changes and a standing United Nations Peace Force.

[1] Quotes from Jan Tinbergen, RIO: Reshaping the International Order: A Report to the Club of Rome (1976). ISBN 0-525-04340-3

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