QE2, Global Economy and a Single Currency

This is a story that has been percolating for a few weeks now, and its apparently on the verge of happening soon. There is an international uproar over the U.S. plans to begin (again) this so-called "Quantitative Easing" (QE), or in this case QE2. Russia, Germany and China have been the most outspoken critics of the U.S. taking this measure. It has been referred to as "currency manipulation", as it devalues the dollar.

Under this policy, the U.S. will essentially print money in order to buy $600 billion of government bonds. Because of the tenuous nature of global financial markets at this time - and a number of other factors - this move by the U.S., at this time may set up a series of international financial events which are receiving a lot of world wide attention. This information is potentially significant from a prophetic perspective for several reasons:

1) The potential effects on an international financial scale

2) The fact that the dollar would be devalued and abandoned by major nations

3) The end of the dollar as the world's reserve currency

4) The formation of new global reserve system which would be the last step preceding a central currency

A few articles below describe the situation:

Obama can't escape economic debate

It wasn’t a question about last Tuesday’s election, but one on a widening international rift over exchange rates, fueled in part by Germany’s anger over the U.S. government’s recent efforts to spur the American economy.

The conflicts with Germany began in 2009, when Obama called on other nations to spend hugely to help stave off a global economic collapse. There was little dissent inside the White House about whether such a stimulus was the best policy, but Germany’s conservative government felt differently.

The currency issue will be a major topic at the G-20 meeting Obama will attend later this week in Seoul.

“The American growth model … is stuck in a deep crisis,” said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble in a magazine interview over the weekend. “It doesn’t add up when Americans accuse the Chinese of currency manipulation then, with the help of their central bank’s printing presses, artificially lower the value of the dollar.”

Reuters provides some more information regarding this situation:

Global Economy: Obama returns fire after China slams Fed's move

U.S. President Barack Obama defended the Federal Reserve's policy of printing dollars on Monday after China and Russia stepped up criticism ahead of this week's Group of 20 meeting.

The G20 summit has been pitched as a chance for leaders of the countries that account for 85 percent of world output to prevent a currency row escalating into a rush to protectionism that could imperil the global recovery.

The summit has been overshadowed by disagreements over the U.S. Federal Reserve's quantitative easing (QE) policy under which it will print money to buy $600 billion of government bonds. The move could depress the dollar and cause a destabilising flow of money into emerging economies.

Resentment abroad stems from worry that Fed pump-priming will hasten the U.S. dollar's slide and cause their currencies to shoot up in value, setting the stage for asset bubbles and making a future burst of inflation more likely.

The Fed's quantitative easing policy was unveiled last week to jeers from emerging market powerhouses from Latin America to Asia. Russia renewed its assault on Monday.

What does all of this mean?

Joseph Stiglitz writing in "The Guardian" ("A currency war has no winners") stated that "a new global system or an expansion of IMF "money" (called special drawing rights, or SDRs) will be central to this co-operative approach. The world is at a critical juncture."

This simply means that the IMF "money" would replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency.
If we do indeed end up using the IMF money (SDRs), it would then be a very small step towards having a central currency.

And perhaps more importantly - it would set the stage for a world leader to gain access to and control the world's economy - just as Revelation 13 describes. The Mark of the Beast will represent the final stage of this process.

The process is in motion, and once again, we see the road being paved to the Tribulation.