PAUL VOLCKER

Former chairman, Federal Reserve Board

Now serving as a director of several major commissions, including one to reform banks in Thailand, the 71-year-old, 6-foot-7 economist says forget the euro-or-the-dollar question, we’re going to have a dollaro — or something like that.

“We’re going to end up with one worldwide currency within the next 100 years. Over the next 10 to 15 years there will be a lot fewer currencies. Far more of the world will use dollars.

“We’ll have crises and ups and downs. Some people will make some money and some people will lose some money.

“There are lots of reasons to be optimistic, but there are a few challenges and threats on the horizon. There’s lots of ethnic conflict. The potential for terrorism looms around the world. There’s nuclear proliferation. These are the obvious problems for the next millennium.

“I like to paraphrase John Adams: ‘We’ve got to be soldiers, so our children can be engineers and their children can be artists.’ “