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Frames No Frame

Y2K: Moving the World Electronically and Economically into World Government

by

Joan M. Veon

In the aftermath of Y2K, many have been wondering exactly what all the hype was in the first place. Was Y2K real or imagined, was it built up to provide a cover for the real agenda and/or were we hoodwinked? The following combines my views before and after December 31, 1999. The depth of world government was made deeper and stronger by a number of other actions which took place economically as well while all eyes were on the Y2K hype as presented by our government and the media. World government became stronger as we were wired to one another electronically and while the global financial architecture was made stronger.

Introduction

In the last five years I have covered, as a reporter, 35 UN and UN related conferences on a number of continents. It was my first conference in 1994 which made me realize that we are in a time of world government. It is my opinion that while the beginnings of world government began long ago, I believe the current world governmental infrastructure was begun between 1941 and 1943 with the passage of the United Nations Charter by the United States government in 1945 as its official birthday. In this regard, I have authored two books. My first is Prince Charles the Sustainable Prince which deals with the behind-the- scenes role of the British Royal family and their power and influence on the United Nations agenda as a way of bringing America back under their control. My second book, the United Nations' Global Straitjacket, is a hand book dealing with the political, economic, and environmental aspects of the world governmental structure which has been erected on the international level above us. All that is needed to bring this understanding into the forefront of everyone's understanding on the local level, in my opinion, is a planned (because everything is planned), managed and catastrophic event to make the transition from the world we know which is based on the United States Constitution to that of recognizable world government based on the United Nations Charter.

In the first edition of Global Straitjacket, I projected that Y2K would do a number of things which are enumerated below. The things which I said Y2K would do which have not been fulfilled (yet), will be fulfilled in a different way, or will never come to pass are: (1) it would present an excellent opportunity to move the United States and the world into "official" world government, that is we are currently living in world government but because all of the people have yet to recognize it, that a planned, managed and catastrophic event would be needed in order to effect a change in how we are governed from the Constitution to one of world government through the United Nations (perhaps it will be fulfilled in the future), (2) put into effect all of President Clinton's Executive Orders (not yet--you don't issue orders unless you have a purpose and a reason. In this case, we will have to wait and see), and (3) cause starvation in third world countries (hopefully will never happen).

In view of the fact that the lights never went out on December 31 1999, exactly what did happen through the Y2K process?

For two years the United States and the world prepared to fight a common enemy--one which has no face, borders, parliament or president. We were told that as a result of poor programming back in the 1960's, sufficient room was not made in computer memories for the roll over of the years into a new millennium. This problem was called "Y2K". We were told that if the software and billions of lines of computer software was not fixed, the world could find itself in chaos. In 1997 Newsweek printed an article entitled "The Day the World Shuts Down" in which it listed all of the sectors of society--industry, the military, banking, medicine, communications, and electrical utilities--that are dependent on computers to run and microprocessors to facilitate the computer process. The article pointed out that buildings could shut down, air traffic control systems could go dead, the entire financial infrastructure could go haywire, military preparedness could be adversely affected, billing systems could get lost, and cardiac monitors in hospitals could shut down (Washington Times-WT, October 17, 1998, A2).

On the heels of a growing awareness two Y2K books came out which became best sellers. Explaining the problem in a logical manner, one author, Michael S. Hyatt, offered three scenarios based on a survey of 38 computer experts and year 2000 researchers of what they predicted. The results pointed to either a blackout or a complete meltdown of the entire system. On top of that numerous executive orders were issued which could shift the power of government to the Federal Emergency Management System in the case of a catastrophe.

In response to this ominous threat, the President issued Executive Order 13073 establishing the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion in February 1998. The Council is comprised of representatives from more than 30 major federal executive and regulatory agencies and charged with outreach into the public and private sectors, both domestic and internationally. John Koskinen was appointed to head up the Council, a position which was given Cabinet level status. Since this posed a global threat, the United Nations held two well attended Y2K conferences in December 1998 and June 1999 for all of the nation-states. They also set up the International Y2K Cooperation Center and a Steering Committee to fight this common foe. Furthermore, they instructed each nation-state to appoint a Y2K National Coordinator who would be not only their country's liaison, but would be the key contact person for other countries, governments, agencies, organizations, and corporations as well.

Background

While writing Global Straitjacket in late 1998-early 1999, I concluded in the middle of writing it that Y2K was going to be serious since it appeared to have all of the necessary requirements for a "planned, managed, and catastrophic event" to catapult us from "unofficial world government" with the form of government and way of life which we have known into "official world government" where the rules we live by and the government structure we have known is replaced with "new" rules using the infrastructure which has been put in place since 1945 on the international level. As you will see, I was incorrect when it came to a physical transfer because Y2K was a transfer of the world from individual nation-states to a new electronically interconnected world which uses wires, computer processors, and electricity to cement individual countries together! We are now ONE electronically (and economically).

From June 1998 until September 30 1999, I believed Y2K was going to be very serious. My whole understanding underwent a "sea change" when I attended the Annual September-October 1999 IMF/World Bank meeting in Washington, D. C. At that key and strategic meeting where everything of importance is discussed, Y2K was a non event--there were no rumblings or undertones about it. Since this was the last major economic conference for the year and the millennium, and in light of several other high level economic meetings earlier in the year where Y2K was a non-event, I concluded just that--a non event. If the "big boys" who run the world's monetary system were not concerned, then there was no reason to be concerned. Furthermore I realized these same "big boys" probably were not going to go out of 1999 on a market down, but they were going to go out on a major up swing (right before the IMF/World Bank meeting, the market dropped to a low for the year). I then realized and predicted that we would have one of the strongest bull markets ever. Furthermore, I made this statement at a number of conferences, on radio, and wrote about it in my September Veon Financial Services Inc. economic newsletter.

THE Y2K BUG

The Agenda

When there were no meltdowns, blackouts, or incidents of any kind on December 31, it was declared on national television, "The Y2K BUG HAS BEEN MET AND CONQUERED." This statement, along with reading Y2K Czar John Koskinen's press briefings provided me with new insight as to the real agenda behind the Y2K scare. I was correct with regard to The Report From Iron Mountain and a number of other observations but I was obviously wrong with regard to a physical transition into "official world government." Exactly what did Y2K do?

In addition to the things mentioned above, Y2K provided a once in a lifetime opportunity for the nation-states of the world who were not Internet savvy to get wired, it provided an opportunity to transition business and government into a new working relationship which compliments reinvented government, it sets up an electronic network (brains) which is unparalleled in all of history, it spurred the economies of the world and sets the tone for a cashless society, all of which facilitate world government and control.

When a new house is built, the foundation is laid, then the structure and roof are added. The wiring allows for the structure to have power and for the builder to chose the type of power which that house is going to use. Y2K was the wiring of the house of world government. Y2K provided the excuse to transfer the world from individual nation-states into an electronically knit together world--a world which is now ONE and which includes both governments and corporations. Beginning January 1 2000, we entered world government electronically--we now transcend time and space!

A follow up question then is, "Were we misled or deceived by our government as to the seriousness of the situation?" While each person will have to decide for him or herself, I believe Y2K had to be painted as being serious (and we are told that it was) in order to have sufficient reason to get Americans to agree with Congress that the money had to be spent. Telling American that the real reason for Y2K is to get the world wired or telling them that we have to spend money to fight the Y2K bug because of all the damage it will do creates that unifying desire to "meet the enemy eye to eye and win"! With regard to foreign countries, many of them do not have and cannot provide the basics for their people let alone spend monies on getting wired. In order for them to justify the repositioning of critical dollars, a "global problem had to be created."

This picture begins to make sense when you look at how the United Nations painted Y2K. It does appear that Y2K provided that timeless opportunity for the nation-states of the world who were not Internet savvy to get wired. In a speech at the second UN conference on Y2K in June 1999, UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette said in part,

[The Threat]

"The millennium bug threatens to disrupt finance, trade, shipping, telecommunications, air traffic control and other vital public services such as electricity and natural disaster preparedness. It casts a shadow over issues of peace and security.

[Solution]

"The International Y2K Cooperation Centre was created with remarkable speed following the [UN] meeting in December 1998. The number of countries with a Y2K plan and a national coordinator has risen. New coalitions are being forged among business, industry, governments, and international organizations. Such solidarity and problem-solving shows the United Nations in action (emphasis added). Working Groups [have] forged innovative partnerships with all available expertise, including the private sector and academia; and it has facilitated the efforts of the Secretariat and wider United Nations family to create an electronic organization.

"Ambassador Ahmad Kamal [of Pakistan] helped all of us harness the Internet, e-mail and other new communications technologies to our global mission of peace, development and human rights (emphasis added).

[Goal]

"We must all continue to take advantage of what the new technologies have to offer--for diplomacy and development, for advocacy and education. We must all pursue a vision of a new century in which all people are [technologically] empowered (emphasis added)."

From this speech, it becomes clear that the need to battle the "Y2K bug" was basically an excuse and opportunity to synchronize the whole world electronically in order to bring the lesser developed countries into the electronic age--a different agenda than what we had been told by the American press starts to emerge.

So what did Y2K do? Let's take a look at what was said by Koskinen at several press briefings in early January as well as look at several publications.

(1) Electronic Network or Brains

The press briefings which John Koskinen gave in the first few days of this new millennium provided us with the real truth of what Y2K was--an excuse to "wage war" in order to integrate the world using an electronic medium which can only further erase borders, and make us ONE, facilitating global integration in a new way for a new century.

Koskinen outlined the following ways we were integrated (my word, not his):

  1. The United States created the $50B Information Coordination Center-ICC
The ICC, which now is at the center for state and local governments, the private sector, multinational and transnational corporations, and our federal government to interact on a daily basis in order to coordinate all systems from an electronic basis point. In other words, it appears that the electronic brains of the global system was created in the United States to monitor and coordinate all of the perceived electronic problems in the world!

The ICC was established, designed and run by General Peter Kind. It is an information collection mechanism focused on dealing with information from around the world, the country and various levels of government. Koskinen organized more than 25 task forces to reach out to industry groups, corporations, the United Nations, and foreign trading partners. He has collected confidential industry information to assess the potential Y2K risks (Washington Post-WP, 12/16/99, G8). Reports sent to the center came from all federal agencies, domestic agencies, the Federal Reserve Board, every area of the executive branch and FEMA.

In explaining the vastness of the ICC, Koskinen said, "What we have [en]capsulated here in the Information Coordinator Center is a unique operation. Communication going on, back and forth, with not only all of our embassies, but national coordinators in over 100 countries around the world, all freely exchanging information back and for now, which is the final step in a long process of exchanging technical information and advice over the last couple years. We have begun to look at the question of how we can build on this sort of unprecedented amount of cooperation and work together."

Interesting to note, at the 1996 United Nation's Habitat II Conference, the secretary-general of that conference, Dr. Wally N'Dow declared, "Now what we are doing here is building...the global brain." N'Dow was discussing the cooperation found in partnerships with governments, corporations, and civil society. When you "wire" this global brain, you get a powerful interconnectedness which cannot be taken apart.

  1. On May 22 1998, the Policy on Critical Infrastructure Protection program was released which set up the "National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), which includes the FBI, the Secret Service, other federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense and the intelligence agencies which are all ordered to cooperate with the NIPC." We will live in a totally controlled society where everyone cooperates for the sake of one another.
C. Financial markets were coordinated from an information standpoint both nationally and globally.

Every major financial institution created a Y2K committee. At the Bank for International Settlements- BIS in Basel, Switzerland, they held several Y2K coordinating meetings. The Market Authorities Communication Service was established for financial authorities and involves and has involved for some time periodic conference calls between central bankers and market regulators on a regular basis to determine at key critical times if they were or are any issues which needed to be discussed and dealt with (Chapters 5,6,7)

In short, if you could encapsulate what transpired, it would be that an x-ray was taken of every aspect of life, business, industry, manufacturing, communications, defense, police--fire--rescue operations, water---electric-- gas--coal natural resources, hospital services, the operations of local, country, municipal, state, and federal government in order to determine how to change the system from what it was to meet that of 21st century global governance using technology.

(2) Partnerships (Chapter 2 of Global Straitjacket)

Joe Lockhart, White House Spokesman said this about Y2K, "I think the Y2K success story to date is very much a testament to the government working in partnership with local governments, communities, and corporations."

At the heart of Bill Clinton's "Reinventing Government" program begun in 1993 is a new form of government which is based on partnership---public-private partnerships which is a marriage between government, business and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In the old days, this was recognized for what it is--fascism. Throughout the United States, this new governmental form has been replacing representative government rendering politicians nothing more than paper pushers as the multinational and transnational corporations use their deep pockets to fund projects which heretofore had been the responsibility of county, local, municipal, state and federal governments.

For example in the area of utilities, there are 3200 independent electric utilities in which electric power is generated 51% by coal, 20% by nuclear energy, 15% by gas, and 10% by hydro. In order to come together, it required numerous levels of interaction: the Department of Energy (federal government), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to coordinate Y2K re-mediation efforts, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Rural Utility Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission (federal agencies), the North American Electric Reliability Council (non- federal entity, state public utility commission), along with the American Public Power Association, the Electric Power Research Institute, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Edison Electric Institute, the Nuclear Energy Institute and the Canadian Electric Association (associations/institutes) (Source: Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Program, published February 24, 1999). Most of the associations represent electric companies.

With regard to state and local government, in addition to the 50 state governments, there are 3,068 county government jurisdictions and approximately 87,000 other local government jurisdictions in the United States. In order to help these governments deliver police, fire, and emergency medical services response, financial support networks, welfare, and Medicaid, unemployment insurance, basic utilities such as water and wastewater, sanitation and local transportation, numerous intergovernmental councils and professional organizations were engaged: the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the International City/County Management Association, as well as the National Governor's Association which focused on state, local, and private-sector coordination and on establishing a common agenda" (Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Program, published 2/24/99, 113). In addition, you will see that there was a interconnectedness which occurred between the local fire, police, rescue and the global level. This was facilitated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and a number of international fire, police, rescue organizations.

We were told that in order to defeat the Y2K bug, it was necessary for government and business, industry, manufacturing, along with their respective associations to come together, and form partnerships in order to "fight it", when it now appears to be clear that the real reason was to wire the world. The more you mix and marry government and business on all levels, in all areas of government and society, the less likely it will be that the marriage can be undone as it becomes more and more complicated.

In early January 2000, Koskinen said "We have private sector associations and industries headquartered right now in federal agencies working together hand in glove, exchanging information, make sure that, if there are any issues, we all deal with them immediately. Again, we have been doing that for the last 18 months or so, [and] we hope that there are productive ways to continue and build upon this infrastructure that now exists but it won't happen automatically. We have connectivity and information exchange, both ways, going on between the federal governments, state and local governments, and private sector industries across the United States."

Lastly, there were several other permanent partnerships which were created to fight Y2K. U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and his Russian counterpart created a permanent partnership in the area of energy (WP, 1/4/00, A13). In addition, the United States and Russia created a joint team to monitor Y2K from the U.S. Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. This agreement was set up under an agreement signed in 1998 by Defense Secretary William Cohen and his Russian counterpart, Marshal Igor D. Sergeyev. Ultimately the experiment begun will evolve into a permanent Joint Warning Center to be built near Moscow and staffed by officers from both countries (WP, 12/31/99, A29).

(3) Provided Corporations with a Leading Edge for the 21st Century

BusinessWeek declared that the "Y2K Bug Repellent Wasn't a Waste." As it "ultimately it forced

some companies to rethink the role of technology. With new, more 'robust' networks in place, companies can take full advantage of the Web and e-commerce to streamline their businesses and reach new markets. [It] forced companies and government agencies all over the world to get rid of buggy old software and aging hardware and invest in new technology. Now systems are in place to provide a solid foundation for all sorts of new online systems for e-commerce and e-government."

Furthermore, it allowed some companies to now hook up all their employees to the Net for the first time, making it possible to share information and coordinate activities of different operations." The Government was able to get rid of around 20% of their old systems.

DaimlerChrysler got rid of 15,000 old computer programs and made it possible for two-thirds of its plants to connect with each other on the same network for the first time, all for a cost of $260 million.

Technology departments had new discipline imposed by Y2K. Marriott's Y2K czar Ina Kamenz said, "We've got tougher standards in place for the installation, purchase and care of technology" (BusinessWeek-BW, 1/17/00, 35).

Lastly, e-commerce reduces the cost of doing business. Overall most industries will save between 5- 15%.

(4) Spurred the Economies of the World - An Economic Substitute for War (Chapter 4)

It was the Kennedy Administration which commissioned fifteen hand-chosen men who were

experts in their own chosen fields to come together and determine what would have to change in America if we were to enter a permanent time of peace. This top secret report was published by one of the fifteen whose identity still is not known to this day. Their conclusions stated that we would have to find another enemy than our fellow man. They suggested the environment. Since war is an economic stimulus, they determined that ten percent of our Gross Domestic Product would have to be wasted per year. They suggested a number of ways to do that. While the environment was to be the new chief "enemy", other "enemies" included: space, medical research, free housing for the poor, etc.

In Global Straitjacket, I suggested that the cost to fix Y2K would more than pay for any global war. To fight this enemy, the United States government spent over $8.5B and the country, as a whole, spent $100B. In comparison, the cost of the Vietnam War was $300B over ten years. Our legislature made numerous arrangements to accommodate the problems multinational and transnational corporations would encounter. Special legislation was passed giving them immunity from Y2K law suits and for small companies and a special one time tax write-off, limited to $40,000, for the expenses they would incur in fixing their (antiquated and obsolete) computer systems. Furthermore we assisted numerous foreign countries, including Russia and China. The global cost is estimated at $600B.

To what do we credit NASDAQ's stellar rise of 85.6%? I believe it was a combination of the spending to "fix" computers, i.e. to bring the rest of the nation-states on line, as well as a birthing of a new electronic era in business, industry, society, and politics.

The performance of the stock market reflects spending to stimulate the economy in the absence of war as 1999 witnessed the greatest rise in our stock market's history since 1914.

Besides the NASDAQ, the Dow was up 25%, and the Standard and Poor up 19%. It only took 38 trading days for the NASDAQ to climb from 3000 to 4000. Internet stocks were hot at the beginning and end of 1999. The cover of the 70th anniversary edition of BusinessWeek in October 1999 showed two hands edged in yellow to simulate a power surge with the two index fingers extended to meet. The cover read, "the Internet age." In 1998 Charles Schwab emerged as the giant of online trading, controlling 30% of the market and half of the assets in online accounts. In an effort to catch up, Merrill Lynch & Co, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter were both working on plans to be offered later in 1999. Instead of television commercials telling you to call their representatives, brokers are now competing for online traders. The December 27,1999/January 3, 2000 BusinessWeek reflected what happened in 1999 as it read, "Smart Investing for the Internet Age Where to Invest."

What is the product which the Internet stocks are touting? Is it a tangible like steel, automobiles, food, or housing? No, it is knowledge, an intangible something you cannot see or show, but something that gives you the edge over your competition. This alone has prompted politicians and economists alike to call it the "New Economy" as all of the rules for business, the economy, and investing are changing. Does the price/earnings ratio still have relevance in the New Economy? Time will tell.

The rash of Internet initial public offerings made millionaires of people. When E-Loan went public, at the end of the first trading day, the stock rose 164%, increasing its value to $1.4 billion and VA Linus shares went public at $30 and rose to $299 a share in ten days, making the company worth more than $9.5B more than Black and Decker, the steelmaker USX or Wigley (Financial Times-FT, 12/21/99, 14).

In commenting on the 1999 market rally, Allen Sinai, chief global economist at Primark Decision Economics said, "The powerful rallies, and particularly the strength in the NASDAQ, is a sign of the global economy picking up and continued prosperity in the United States. There is no end in sight."

Those looking into the future now predict that besides smart toys, a smart card, smart computers and cars will be "smart appliances" where the refrigerator will be able to tell you which items you need to reorder.

Time has moved from that of a graceful society where there was time to be polite and to smell the roses to one of real time in which knowledge is not only instant but power.

(5) Set the Tone for a Cashless Society

In a society where everything is cashless--American Express, Visa/MasterCard, etc., where we can go anywhere and obtain cash through our check cashing card, where everything can be done through the telephone or by Internet, the next thing to be fully changed is the monetary system. In 1999 there was a concerted effort to make gold obsolete. In 1998 a number of central banks declared their intentions to sell up to 50% of their gold holdings in order to diversify and invest in interest producing investments. This prompted the value of gold to drop to a 25 year low of $255 an ounce. In response a number of highly indebted poor countries were caught in a global squeeze as their indebtedness far exceeds the proceeds received from their gold mining sales. Is gold obsolete? Has it lost its shine?

No. Interestingly enough, the buyers of the gold which the central banks are selling are secret. In an interview with the World Gold Council, they told me there is no way to find out since most of the buying is done by third parties. In November I visited London and was able to look upon some of the extremely valuable gold serving pieces and objects d'art which the British Royal family have at Windsor. Do you think they are going to sell these pieces? No.

What is gold? In the early days of the ancient Middle Eastern trading routes, before there was any kind of currency, traders used several different kinds of specie for money: clothing, food, animals and gold/silver, in addition to jewels. In the Old Testament there are many stories about gifts given and financial exchanges made using any one or all of the above. For money to last, it must have four components:

Medium of Exchange--Durable, portable, divisible, homogenous (uniform structure)

Store of Value--Stable in value

Standard of Value -- Incapable of being counterfeited

Standard of Deferred Payment The purchasing power remains the same

How does gold compare as a form of money?

Medium of Exchange Durable: Gold in a sunken ship is still useable

Store of Value It still has value after all these years

Standard of Value Divisible If you divide a four carat diamond into one carat sizes, you lose value. If you divide gold, it retains value

Standard of Deferred Payment No matter when you use your money, it retains purchasing power. It will always buy the same amount of goods.

We can readily see that gold, over clothing, food, animals, and jewels is the best form of currency as it retains all of the above values. God is not supposed to fluctuate like stock. It's value has been brought down temporarily by the massive selling of central banks. Furthermore, in light of Y2K not being the catastrophic problem which was predicted, many more people have soured with regard to their opinion of gold--which was the objective all along. But for those who understand the possibility that the electronic age renders to "lose account records" with the pressing of a button, they also know and discern the real reasons for owning gold. Lastly, the old adage, "He who owns the gold makes the rules" still applies and always will.

The bottom line? While an electronic system increases production, reduces costs, eliminates waste and basically makes everything sustainable, it is also capable of tracking every individual, rendering them nothing but individual production units with value for as long as they can produce.

Conclusions

In Global Straitjacket, I wrote that Y2K would: (1) require global compliance in ways that companies would never adhere to as they now had to account to numerous government agencies, (2) cause local, state, national and international agencies to interact with each other about disaster relief and other issues which comprised a new level of global cooperation, all of which were needed for global government (chapter 8), (3) present a multitude of problems for which the UN and its nation-states must find solutions, (4) provide an excellent opportunity to merge the world's policemen, firemen, emergency management systems, military forces, national guardsmen, etc., (5) transfer wealth from the rich countries to the poor countries (chapter 8), (6) reinforce the implementation of "reinvented government" at the community level (chapter 2), and (7) would equate the economic stimulus of war without a real war through the expenditures of monies, a goal which " The Report From Iron Mountain" said would be necessary in the absence of war (chapter 4). It appears that all of the above is "right on the money."

Koskinen said, "We view this, not only in the federal government, not only in the state and local governments but in the private sector around the world, as a great accomplishment, meeting what I continue to believe is the most significant management challenge the world has faced in 50 years. Y2K has taught all of us is that the amount of reliance that we have on information technology now, the fact that the famous global economy is increasingly linked electronically, and over the next 5 to 10 years, all of that reliance, and all of that interconnectedness will increase, not decrease. If nothing else, the whole question of information security will become more and more critical to everyone around the world, not just the United States."

STRENGTHENING OF THE GLOBAL

FINANCIAL ARCHITECTURE

We have been told by the "big boys" who run the world's monetary system that it is the Asian crisis which prompted them to make changes to the global financial architecture. I maintain that when you create the problem in the first place, you then can "solve" it your way--which is what they wanted all along. In 1999 there was a very deep and major restructuring of the global financial architecture which was very deep and very strong. While there were numerous changes and empowerments, we will deal with only two: the Financial Stability Forum and the creation of the GX or G20.

(1) Financial Stability Forum

Since 1975 it is the Group of Seven (G-7) presidents and prime ministers who have set the tone for the way the world turns. Over the years their "powers" have grown as they have expanded their influence over every aspect of life and government. The G-8 is assisted by their Foreign Ministers (our U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright) and their Foreign Finance Ministers (our U.S. Secretary of Treasury Lawrence Summers). It was the Foreign Finance Ministers who stated, "As a result of the Asian crisis, we agreed on the importance of intensified cooperation among us to work together to strengthen the international financial system." Their list was pretty extensive. They called on Hans Tietmeyer, the German Central Bank President to talk with all of the international financial institutions and agencies to recommend new structures.

On February 22 1999, Teitmeyer brought together the G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors as well as many of the global financial to establish the Financial Stability Forum. The first meeting was chaired by Andrew Crockett who is the General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements, the bank's central bank in Switzerland. The members of this new forum basically represent the most powerful international financial organizations in the world. Those organizations participating include: the Group of Seven central bank governors, G-7 finance ministers, G-7 presidents and prime ministers, and G-7 Regulatory agencies (our Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), along with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, the International Organization for Security Commissions, the Organization for Security and Commissions, and the Bank for International Settlements. When one considers the power in this new structure, one cannot help but conclude that it resembles a "World Economic Security Council"! The group will meet two times a year to review the "state of the world's economy" and have formed four committees to help monitor changes in the world's economic balance.

(2) GX or G20

In September 1999, an extension of the Group of Seven was convened. It comprises the Group of Seven plus twelve large economies along with representation by the European Union and the IMF/World Bank. They include: China, Mexico, India, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey (Note: Currently China and Russia are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council while Argentina's two year participation ends the end of this year). The Finance Ministers from these countries along, with their central bankers, will meet several times a year. Canadian G-7 Treasury Minister Paul Martin will chair the new body which will focus on the future of the international financial system and globalization. The GX or G20 now represents 80% of the world's economic production and about 65% of its population. (When you consider that China is a member of this new body and that they now lease the Panama Canal from Panama, are still being considered by the Clinton administration for "most favored nation" trading status as well as being considered as a new member of the World Trade Organization, you can see how their power is growing.)

What you can see is the transfer of national economic sovereignty to the international level through central banks, the Group of Seven, and the Financial Stability Forum. On the global economic level, we are now one and we act as one.

Lastly, in addition to a major re-wiring of the world so that we are all on the same "electrical system", the celebrations which we witnessed on television on December 31 1999 and the comments made by those who moderated sent a clear message, "We are one." On the PBS station which I watched, the moderator said, "In a sense, the lines between nations and borders are our own contrivance. As we go from capital to capital tonight to ring in the new millennium, we can see that we are one on earth--we are one people united." The songs sang worldwide had a common theme--"peace." Even the Queen of England joined in the celebrations at the Millennium Dome, singing a peace song. Bill Clinton in his Millennium address called for a "just and lasting peace" (the Bible says "Peace, peace when there is no peace").

Going back to building a new house--if the United Nations structure put in place since the 1940's is the foundation and walls, and if the Y2K bug was the wiring (and plumbing), then the only task remaining to complete the house is the finish work. Wonder what that will be comprised of. It will be interesting to see what kind of "moving van" is used to complete the "house of world government."

Tell me, were we hoodwinked? We must keep our options open as we may not have seen the last of Y2K since Executive Orders and the ICC mean something!