I mentioned the BIS before - although it was ostensibly set up to facilitate German reparations, it was really a type of world bank, a clearinghouse for international gold shipments between central banks. When we read that Nazi gold is being held in Swiss bank accounts, for sure one of the institutions in question is the BIS.
I've been contemplating a potential connection between the BIS and the Great Depression - they both started at the same time.
The purpose of the IMF was to facilitate international transactions by stabilizing currency exchange rates:
>>Since foreign trade affects the standard of life of every people, all countries have a vital interest in the system of exchange of
national currencies and the regulations and conditions which govern its working. Because these monetary transactions are
international exchanges, the nations must agree on the basic rules which govern the exchanges if the system is to work smoothly.
When they do not agree, and when single nations and small groups of nations attempt by special and different regulations of the
foreign exchanges to gain trade advantages, the result is instability, a reduced volume of foreign trade, and damage to national
economies. This course of action is likely to lead to economic warfare and to endanger the world's peace.
The Conference has therefore agreed that broad international action is necessary to maintain an international monetary system
which will promote foreign trade. The nations should consult and agree on international monetary changes which affect each
other. They should outlaw practices which are agreed to be harmful to world prosperity, and they should assist each other to
overcome short-term exchange difficulties.
The Conference has agreed that the nations here represented should establish for these purposes a permanent international
body, The International Monetary Fund, with powers and resources adequate to perform the tasks assigned to it.
Agreement has been reached concerning these powers and resources and the additional obligations which the member
countries should undertake. Draft Articles of Agreement on these points have been prepared. <<
ibiblio.org
I've posted before that one of the causes of the Great Crash was shocks to the monetary system caused by international gold shipments - partly caused by competing policies between England, France, and Germany (with Austria). This isn't theory, it's fact. I don't understand the theories, but I can observe the facts without understanding the theories.
Just like I don't have to understand all the differences between Protestant and Protestant or Protestant and Catholic to observe the facts of the Reformation.
At any rate, the people who set up the BIS and the IMF understood that shocks to the monetary system cause difficulties that otherwise wouldn't occur with more gradual transitions. |
