Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Mansfield who wrote (3870)	12/5/1997 4:41:00 PM
From: Sean Beingessner	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116844

A lot of French and Germans still remember being hungry at the end of the world war, some very hungry. This has a big impact on how they look at the world. My parents, in Canada at the time complain about rationing and not having enough sugar to make cakes, etc., but in Canada there was food, and lots of our food was going to Europe. The Germans in some sense seemed to come to the conclusion that there was lots of food, but they were hungry because the problem was their money was no good so they could not buy anything with it. They remembered when their money was no good in the 20's. They resolved to take care that they have good money. The French seemed to conclude that they were hungry because they did not grow enough food. So they resolved to be self sufficient in food. Since the war the French and Germans have co-operated in the Germans have supported French agriculture and the French the German industrial economy. This way the French had their food and the Germans their money. The older French are very touchy about their ability to grow enough food so if all else in the world fails they will eat. They may import Canadian grain to spiff up their bread, but they make damn sure they export more food then they import. I was working in France when the gulf war broke out and a lot of French reacted by stripping the grocery store shelves of food. I do not know how you Americans out there reacted, but I doubt Iraq caused a run on Macaroni and Cheese or canned food anywhere in the US. For most Canadians and Americans the prospect that we could run out of food is very remote. Since the French do not really care about their currency, I am not sure why they have large gold reserves. Maybe, it has to do with prestige. I never worked near Paris and the people who live there and run things do not have to think the same way as those I lived and worked with near Geneva. Certainly many things the French government does, make no sense to me, but seem to be some kind of 19th century search for lost glory. Old and new empires do not mean much to Canadians, unless someone is trying to add us to theirs. But I digress. I think as far as the new European currency goes, there will be three French/German forces that have to sort themselves out. The older Germans will want a rock solid currency and probably view gold as a thing with a place in it. The older French will want a prestigious currency as long as it is convenient, i.e. they will want to be able to trash it when ever it is convenient, then go back to prestige when thing settle down. These will want to keep gold as long as it is not a bother. The third force is the new youth, the ones who do not remember any hard times and think the older generation is stuck in a world that can never come again. These guys and girls will ditch gold at the first opportunity, as they probably see no use in it. I think it is almost all up to the French and Germans. They are used to working together to get the things that they want done, done. They may have trouble deciding what they want, but when they do, they do it. The Swiss are not at the table. The British cannot decide what they want so they sit on the outside looking in, instead of joining in and helping to run things. The Italians and Spanish seem to focus more on cleaning up their own finances so they can come and play, then what the rules will be when the game starts, but I may be misreading that. The smaller countries cannot overrule France and Germany on this, maybe they can nudge, but not overrule. So how much gold backs up the new currency will depend on the relative strength of the three factions. The older German who never again want to have the weight of the paper money need to buy a loaf of bread to be greater then the loaf of bread. The older French, interested in prestige, but more interested in seeing food grow close to home and the new generation for whom gold is just a commodity. But in time all the old will die, what the young grown older will think then is hard to say. Sean