VATICAN CALLS FOR “CENTRAL WORLD BANK” TO BE SET UP ACROSS THE GLOBE
Image credit: World Truth TV |
The
Vatican called on Monday for the establishment of a "global public
authority" and a "central world bank" to rule over financial
institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing
fairly with crises.
A
major document from the Vatican's Justice and Peace department should
be music to the ears of the "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrators and
similar movements around the world who have protested against the
economic downturn.
The
18-page document, "Towards Reforming the International Financial and
Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority," was at
times very specific, calling, for example, for taxation measures on
financial transactions.
"The
economic and financial crisis which the world is going through calls
everyone, individuals and peoples, to examine in depth the principles
and the cultural and moral values at the basis of social coexistence,"
it said.
It
condemned what it called "the idolatry of the market" as well as a
"neo-liberal thinking" that it said looked exclusively at technical
solutions to economic problems.
"In
fact, the crisis has revealed behaviors like selfishness, collective
greed and hoarding of goods on a great scale," it said, adding that
world economics needed an "ethic of solidarity" among rich and poor
nations.
"If
no solutions are found to the various forms of injustice, the negative
effects that will follow on the social, political and economic level
will be destined to create a climate of growing hostility and even
violence, and ultimately undermine the very foundations of democratic
institutions, even the ones considered most solid," it said.
It
called for the establishment of "a supranational authority" with
worldwide scope and "universal jurisdiction" to guide economic policies
and decisions.
Such
an authority should start with the United Nations as its reference
point but later become independent and be endowed with the power to see
to it that developed countries were not allowed to wield "excessive
power over the weaker countries."
Effective Structures
In a section explaining why the Vatican felt the reform of the global economy was necessary, the document said:
"In
economic and financial matters, the most significant difficulties come
from the lack of an effective set of structures that can guarantee, in
addition to a system of governance, a system of government for the
economy and international finance."
It
said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) no longer had the power or
ability to stabilize world finance by regulating overall money supply
and it was no longer able to watch "over the amount of credit risk taken
on by the system."
The
world needed a "minimum shared body of rules to manage the global
financial market" and "some form of global monetary management."
"In
fact, one can see an emerging requirement for a body that will carry
out the functions of a kind of 'central world bank' that regulates the
flow and system of monetary exchanges similar to the national central
banks," it said.
The
document, which was being presented at a news conference later on
Monday, acknowledged that such change would take years to put into place
and was bound to encounter resistance.
"Of
course, this transformation will be made at the cost of a gradual,
balanced transfer of a part of each nation's powers to a world authority
and to regional authorities, but this is necessary at a time when the
dynamism of human society and the economy and the progress of technology
are transcending borders, which are in fact already very eroded in a
globalizes world."
Source: World Truth TV
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