“Good afternoon. I was talking with a construction loan manager at one of the banks in Denver yesterday, and she mentioned the United States may switch to the euro within a year or two. Have you heard of anything?” the consultant asked.
He then continued: “I don’t care what my money looks like, just as long as I can pay my bills and go buy a big juicy cheeseburger when I need to gain some weight. Unfortunately I’m sure if this is true (the money conversion part), many Americans will not go for it because we are either all afraid of change or have had enough and initiate change blindly. Thank you for your time, I hope to hear back. Have a wonderful day.”
Naturally, I was amused. And then confused. But a mucker of mine across in the US soon explained to me the background behind the cheeseburger-munching consultant’s question. “Ron Paul (the ex-presidential candidate) recently did a radio interview where he suggested that the G20 was a precursor to a ‘new world order’-type attempt to introduce a single currency, governed by a single central bank. It is quite amazing that a US congressman can get away with this nonsense. He is officially a Republican but is really a libertarian. He is against taxes, the Fed, the UN, the WTO and Nafta, the Patriot Act, Iraq War and almost all government. He is pro-constitution and pro-life,” he explained.
“There was an email circulating recently in the US regarding this, and there are many people here who believe there is a conspiracy afoot in the US to get rid of the dollar. Because of the fact that Ron Paul was a presidential candidate, I guess impressionable loan managers in Denver and cheeseburger-munching consultants in Kansas seem to be accepting that it is fact.”
At this point, I reverted to our Kansas chum. Operating on the basis that if you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer, I replied: “I don’t believe the US will adopt the euro. It doesn’t fit with its ethos of dollar colonization. However, these are desperate times and I hear through the grapevine that it is considering adopting a proper, hard currency, like the Mexican peso.”
That should get them choking on their burgers in Redneckville.