|
Nominations and Campaigning for the 2024 RationalWiki Moderator Election are now open |
Amero
| Some dare call it Conspiracy |
|
| What THEY don't want you to know! |
| Sheeple wakers |
The Amero is the hypothetical[note 1] currency of the hypothetical[note 2] North American Union. Its name, though extremely dumb in every other way, is ingenious in that it both references the Euro and plays into anti-Mexican paranoia with its vague Spanish-soundingness. Nobody can ever reasonably explain why a common North American currency wouldn't just be called the "dollar," at least in English, (since the US and Canada both use dollars, and there's nothing keeping a currency from being called different things in different languages) so long as the sign/symbol remains the same (which, since both the dollar and Mexican peso use the "$" symbol, shouldn't be too hard).
Origin
The name "Amero" appears to have been coined in a serious but speculative 1999 paper written by Herbert Grubel, an economist for the Fraser Institute, a Canadian libertarian think tank, discussing why he thought such a monetary union would be a good idea.[1]
Conspiracy!!
Conspiracy theorists contend that the governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico are already taking steps to implement such a currency, as part of a "North American Union (NAU)."[2] This has even reached the point where rumors and conspiracies were being made up that stated that the coins were already being made. No current members of any country's government have officially stated a desire to create such a body,[note 3] nor has anyone introduced a common currency as part of this concept. On the other hand, someone has begun making the coins... and they have about as much worth as the coins you see sold on TV.
Conspiracy-monger and racist web-radio host Hal Turner has promoted the concept that there were actual Amero coins and bills ready for circulation when the North American Union started. He even posted images of what he claimed were the actual currency.[3] The "coins" were nothing more than fantasy medallions designed and minted by artist Daniel Carr,[note 4] and the "bills" were political commentary artworks created by someone on Flickr named "aleatorysort."[4]
See also
Want to read this in another language?
External links
- Snopes page on Amero coins
- Quick, stock up on Ameros now before you're left with those useless dollars! (Warning: Poe's Law in action!)
- See the Wikipedia article on North American monetary union.
Notes
References
- ↑ Herbert G. Grubel. The Case for the Amero
- ↑ Drake Bennett. "The amero conspiracy." The New York Times. 2007 November 25.
- ↑ 'The Amero' Is Real; I Have One to Prove It!
- ↑ Proof - proof that Amero bills are fakes! Above Top Secret. (True to the conspiracy-minded spirit, this article concludes with "I just hate hoaxers who make this up. The fake images will cause the public to deny the existence of Amero.")