London Stock Trader Urges Move to 'AMERO'

In an interview with CNBC, a vice president for a prominent London investment firm yesterday urged a move away from the dollar to the "amero," a coming North American currency, he said, that "will have a big impact on everybody's life, in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico."

Steve Previs, a vice president at Jefferies International Ltd., explained the Amero "is the proposed new currency for the North American Community which is being developed right now between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico."

The aim, he said, according to a transcript provided by CNBC to WND, is to make a "borderless community, much like the European Union, with the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso being replaced by the amero."

Previs told the television audience many Canadians are "upset" about the amero. Most Americans outside of Texas largely are unaware of the amero or the plans to integrate North America, Previs observed, claiming many are just "putting their head in the sand" over the plans.

He replied: "Until it created a lot of illegal immigrants coming across the border. I don't know. You get the pros and cons on NAFTA. For some people it is a good thing, and for other people it has been a disaster."

The speculation on the future of a new North American currency came amid a major U.S. dollar sell-off worldwide that began last week.

Yesterday, the dollar also reached new multi-month low against the euro, breaking through the $1.30 per euro technical high that had held since April 2005.

At the same time, the Chinese central bank set the yuan at 7.0402 per dollar, the highest level since Beijing established a new currency exchange system in 2005 that severed China's previous policy of tying the value of the yuan to the U.S. dollar.

Many analysts worldwide attributed the dramatic fall in the value of the U.S. dollar at least partially to China's announcement last week that it would seek to diversify its foreign exchange currency holdings away from the U.S. dollar. China recently has crossed the threshold of holding $1 trillion in U.S. dollar foreign-exchange reserves, surpassing Japan as the largest holder in the world.

Barry Ritholtz, chief market strategist for Ritholtz Research & Analytics in New York City, in a phone interview with WND, characterized today's downward move of the dollar as "wackage," a new word he coined to convey that the dollar is being "whacked" in this current market movement.

Ritholtz told WND that yesterday's downward move "was a major market correction that points to the risk of subsequent downside to the dollar."

Asked whether he would characterize the dollar's downside move as signaling a possible collapse, Mr Ritholtz told WND, "Not yet."

Ritholtz pointed out market professionals had long looked at a dollar collapse as a "low probability event," but the recent fall suggests "the probabilities have increased of a major dollar correction, or even of a collapse."

U.S. trade imbalances with China have hit a record $228 billion this year, largely reflecting a surging flow of containers from China with retail goods headed for the U.S. mass market.

Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez is in Bejing leading a trade delegation of more than two dozen U.S. business executives.

"The future should be focused on exporting to China," Guiterrez told reporters in Bejing, noting that this year, U.S. exports to China are up 34 percent on a year-to-year basis, surpassing last year's gain of 20 percent.

One way to improve the U.S. trade imbalance may be to ease up on restrictions of exporting high-tech products and allowing technology transfers to China, a move likely to be politically charged in the U.S.

The decline in value of the dollar will also make U.S. exports more attractive and Chinese exports to the U.S. more expensive.

In February 2007, a virtually unprecedented top-level U.S. economic mission is scheduled to travel to China. Included in the mission are Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Jr., Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Previs declined to be interviewed for this article, telling WND in an e-mail he did not want to be quoted directly in any article that may express a political point of view.

Currency is bureaucratic control, and when the bureaucrats are ineffectual and corrupt, you have a disaster in the offing.

And this control is already the sole benefit to be gained from a common currency, as the US dollar is already the de facto currency in much of central and South America. They either use dollars outright or peg their currencies to the dollar.

This means that there are *no* advantages to the marketplace. Not individually, and not collectively.

And yet, the behind-the-scenes advocates of the Amero continue with their lobbying. Why? Control.

In truth, the only function of the Euro has been to gain control over the marketplace, so as to inflict bureaucratic standardization and regulation on it. This makes sense in the parts of Europe that have the underlying legal system of Napoleonic Law--a legal system in which that not regulated and authorized by the government is illegal.

This is also why the Euro, and other such bureaucratic manipulations have failed miserably in the non-Napoleonic nations: Britain with its Common Law roots, and the Norse countries, with their Viking Law roots.

In these nations, the opposite rule applies: if it not specifically prohibited by the government, it is legal. A concept that makes Brussels bureaucrats ill. And despite their constant and continual efforts to undermine these freedoms and establish their control, what they propose is alien and bizarre to the free peoples.

The US, for its part, is the masterpiece of Common Law. We reject utterly rule by elitist bureaucrats. We insist that our politicians be called "public servants". And despite their airs, our Ivy League schools are anything but polytechnics: they are as likely to produce a dog catcher as a State College is to produce a President.

So this is the bottom line: those who want to adopt the Amero are, in essence, Europhiles like John Kerry. They like the concept of an elite class of bureaucratic rulers, and want to emulate that here.

It is a bad idea, and one even if treacherously implemented, destined to fail.

Why do you deny the existance of unconstitutional 'working groups'? It makes you look simple.

Prosperity Working Groups
Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America

2006 Report to Leaders (New)
2006 Leaders Summit

2005 Report to Leaders
2005 Launch of the SPP

SPP Prosperity Working Groups

The prosperity agenda of the SPP seeks to enhance the competitive position of North American industries in the global marketplace and to provide greater economic opportunity for all of our societies, while maintaining high standards of health and safety for our people. To this end, the United States, Mexico, and Canada will work together, and in consultation with stakeholders to:

Improve Productivity
Reduce the Costs of Trade
Enhance the Quality of Life
Following the March 23, 2005, launch of the SPP, each nation established Security and Prosperity working groups to fulfill the vision of the North American Heads of State. The working groups will consult with stakeholders; set specific, measurable, and achievable goals and implementation dates; and identify concrete steps the governments can take to achieve these goals. An initial report is due to Heads of Government on June 23 with semi-annual progress reports thereafter.

The Prosperity working groups established cover a wide range of issue areas:

Manufactured Goods & Sectoral and Regional Competitiveness
Movement of Goods
Energy
Environment
E-Commerce & Information Communications Technologies
Financial Services
Business Facilitation
Food and Agriculture
Transportation
Health

We are interested in your recommendations and views on ways to cut red tape and eliminate unnecessary barriers to trade in the areas covered by the working groups. Please use the SPP Comment Form if you would like to submit comments to any one of these groups.

Manufactured Goods & Sectoral and Regional Competitiveness Working Group… will lower costs for North American businesses, producers, and consumers and maximize trade in goods and services across our borders by striving to ensure compatibility of regulations and standards and eliminating redundant testing and certification requirements. Explore new approaches to enhance the competitiveness of North American industries by promoting greater cooperation in sectors such as autos, steel, and other sectors identified through consultations.

E-Commerce & ICT Working Group… will stimulate and accelerate cross-border technology trade by preventing unnecessary barriers from being erected (e.g., agree on mutual recognition of technical requirements for telecommunications equipment, tests and certification; adopt a framework of common principles for e-commerce).

Energy Working Group…will strengthen North America's energy markets by working together, according to our respective legal frameworks, to increase reliable energy supplies for the region's needs and development, by facilitating investment in energy infrastructure, technology improvements, production and reliable delivery of energy; by enhancing cooperation to identify and utilize best practices, and to streamline and update regulations; and by promoting energy efficiency, conservation, and technologies such as clean coal.

Transportation Working Group…will improve the safety and efficiency of North America's transportation system by expanding market access, facilitating multimodal corridors, reducing congestion, and alleviating bottlenecks at the border that inhibit growth and threaten our quality of life (e.g., expand air services agreements, increase airspace capacity, initiate an Aviation Safety Agreement process, pursue smart border information technology initiatives, ensure compatibility of regulations and standards in areas such as statistics, motor carrier and rail safety, and working with responsible jurisdictions, develop mechanisms for enhanced road infrastructure planning, including an inventory of border transportation infrastructure in major corridors and public-private financing instruments for border projects).

Food & Agriculture Working Group…will work towards creating a safer and more reliable food supply while facilitating agricultural trade by pursuing common approaches to enhanced food safety; enhanced laboratory coordination and information sharing; and increasing cooperation in the development of regulatory policy related to the agricultural biotechnology sectors in Canada, Mexico and the United States, through the work of the North American Biotechnology Initiative (NABI).

Environment Working Group…will expand on cooperative work to improve air quality, including reducing sulphur in fuels, mercury emissions, and marine emissions. Enhance water quality by working bilaterally, trilaterally and through existing regional bodies such as the International Boundary and Water Commission and the International Joint Commission. Combat the spread of invasive species in both coastal and fresh waters. Enhance partnerships and incentives to conserve habitat for migratory species, thereby protecting biodiversity. Develop complementary strategies for oceans stewardship by emphasizing an ecosystem approach, coordinating and integrating existing marine managed areas, and improving fisheries management.

Financial Services Working Group…will work towards the freer flow of capital and the efficient provision of financial services throughout North America (e.g., facilitate cross-border electronic access to stock exchanges without compromising investor protection, further collaboration on training programs for bank, insurance and securities regulators and supervisors, seek ways to improve convenience and cost of insurance coverage for carriers engaged in cross border commerce).

Business Facilitation Working Group…will identify measures to facilitate further the movement of business persons within North America and discuss ways to reduce taxes and other charges residents face when returning from other North American countries.

Movement of Goods Working Group… will lower the transaction costs of trade in goods by liberalizing the requirements for obtaining duty-free treatment under NAFTA, including through the reduction of "rules of origin" costs on goods traded between our countries. Each country should have in place procedures to allow speedy implementation of rules of origin modifications. Increase competitiveness by exploring additional supply chain options, such as by rationalizing minor differences in external tariffs, consistent with multilateral negotiation strategies.

Health…will seek to enhance public health cross-border coordination in infectious diseases surveillance, prevention and control (e.g., pandemic influenza). Improve the health of our indigenous people through targeted bilateral and/or trilateral activities, including in health promotion, health education, disease prevention, and research. Building upon cooperative efforts under the International Conference on Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, work towards the identification and adoption of best practices relating to the registration of medicinal products.

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