Honest Money

treize monstres softenon c/ état belge

Ivo Cerckel — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:59:48 +0000

Le quotidien La Dernière Heure annonçait le 1er septembre 2010 que treize monstres softenon, représentés par l’avocat bruxellois Jean-Paul Tieleman, ont assigné l’état belge au tribunal de Bruxelles pour que l’état belge soit condamné à leur verser à chacun un dédommagement de 5 millions d’euro(s) pour le dommage qu’ils subissent toujours suite au fait que leur mère a avalé de la thalidomide, commercialisée en Belgique sous le nom de « softenon ». (1)

Selon ce que La Dernière Heure écrit, la citation se baserait sur deux éléments :

Un, la mise en vente libre du truc sans dispositif de protection de l’utilisateur.

Deux, l’Ennemi, l’état fédéral de Belgique, n’aurait reconnu sa responsabilité que récemment.

Commençons par le second élément.

Monsieur l’Avocat Jean-Paul Tieleman était très fier début mars 2010 de pouvoir annoncer à la télévision sur RTL.info que l’état belge reconnaissait sa responsabilité. (2)

Dans son commentaire écrit le 2010-03-03 11:38:03 Anonyme 247094 a écrit :

-J. Custers, le ministre belge de la santé (publique), écrivit (Le Soir, 14 juin 1962. p.3 ?) “le peuple [Ivo : non, pas le peuple, mais l'état, belge] a failli à ses devoirs les plus élémentaires. Il n’a plus qu’à s’en aller”. (Ivo : ça veut dire BUITEN, DEHORS) Les sujets belges se demandèrent pourquoi les irresponsables, les ?responsables? pour Janicki, de la santé en Belgique n’avertirent pas aussitôt la population, par tous les moyens de diffusion, presse, radio, télévision, affiches. (Jérôme Janicki ?Le drame de la thalidomide - Un médicament sans frontières – 1956-2009?, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2009, p. 166). Et cinquante ans plus tard que dit Madame Onkelinx ? Elle ne fait que répéter ce que Custers disait : l’état belge est une crapule. Et entretemps, il n’est rien passé, Et Monsieur l’Avocat Tieleman est très fier d’avoir obtenu cette déclaration de Onkelinx qui ne fait que reproduire celle de Custers. Écraser les gouvernements (les politiciens, les fonctionnaires, les allocataires sociaux (et familiaux) et les avocats – sauf mon avocat) ! C’est pour [cela] que j’ai dû fuir l’Europe il y a dix ans. Sinon, je serais mort car ruiné. (3)

Maitre Tieleman se moque de qui par son second élément?

Par son premier élément, Maître Tieleman reproche à l’Ennemi,

qui obtient ses revenus par l’impôt

alors que le voleur ne revient périodiquement

ni ne prétend voler dans l’intérêt général,

d’avoir mis le truc en vente libre sans dispositif de protection de l’utilisateur.

Commençons par les faits.

L’Ennemi a autorisé le truc sur “son” marché fin des années 1950.

Ainsi que qu’Anonyme 247094 a écrit le 2010-03-03 09:58:55

en réponse à la question de Jappy, écrite le 2010-03-03 09:35:45 :

Juste une question, pourquoi seulement maintenant ?:

Jappy, parce [que] cela ne fait que deux ans que je suis au courant du fait que lors d’un congrès de neurologie à Düsseldorf, les 30 avril et 1er mai 1960, le neurologue Ralf Voss sonne l’alarme à la thalidomide. Et qu’en dépit de ce message d’alarme, les fonctionnaires qui avaient autorisé la thalidomide sur les marchés n’en n’ont pas conclu qu’ils devaient la retirer. Il faudra donc que son fabricant, la Chemie Grünenthal GmbH à Stolberg, Aix-la-Chapelle, prenne dix-huit mois plus tard l’initiative de ce retrait le 27 novembre 1961. Je suis né en février 1962. Mon père est médecin, mais la petite Corinne dont les meurtriers se sont fait(s) acquitter à Liège devait naitre en … mai 1962. Et les Belgicains d’applaudir l’acquittement (en 1962). (3, également)

Voici la source (4).

Le 10 avril 2010, le quotidien Le Monde annonçait que la thalidomide a été retirée du marché en décembre 1961 et que DEUX ANS auparavant, plusieurs médecins allemands signalent des cas de polynévrites (douleurs, sensations de brûlures, troubles vasculaires dans les membres), qu’ils relient à un usage prolongé du Contergan. (5)

L’alerte aurait donc déjà été sonnée deux ans avant décembre 1961, c’est-à-dire en décembre 1959.

L’Ennemi n’a pas réagi.

Les femmes enceintes de Bruxelles et Wallonie n’ont pas compris.

Je suis apparemment le seul monstre softenon flamand (survivant).

Tout ceci ne fait que confirmer :

Le gouvernement aurait dû mettre mon père Henri Cerckel (*), docteur en médecine, en taule lors de ma naissance en février 1962, c’est-à-dire vingt mois après l’alerte softenon de mai 1960. Mais l’état-providence ne pouvait pas accepter cette mise en taule parce que Corinne devait naître trois mois plus tard, en mai 1962, à Liège et ses meurtriers devaient être acquittés.

(*) Hendrik Cerckel sur http://www.infobel.be depuis que j’ai connaissance de l’alerte softenon de mai 1960. (6)

rappel :

Mes parents ont passé leur voyage de noces à bord du yacht, amarré en Méditerranée, de mon grand-père paternel. Ce grand-père y trouva plus tard de la thalidomide. S’il l’a trouvée, c’est probablement qu’elle y avait été cachée, mon père l’ayant administré à ma mère à son insu et ne se rappelant plus ensuite en avoir laissé. (7)

Ivo Cerckel

honestmoney@maktoob.com

NOTES

(1)

Softenon: 13 victimes assignent l’Etat belge(01/09/2010)

http://www.dhnet.be/infos/societe/article/323518/softenon-13-victimes-assignent-l-etat-belge.html

(2)

Bébés “softenon”: des victimes veulent être indemnisées par l’Etat belge

2 mar

http://www.rtlinfo.be/info/archive/310914/bebes–softenon–des-victimes-veulent-etre-indemnisees-par-l-etat-belge/?&archiveYear=2010

(3)

RTLinfo - Aperçu des commentaires du 3 Mars 2010

Bébés “softenon”: des victimes veulent être indemnisées par l’Etat belge

http://www.rtlinfo.be/others/widgets/map/commentaires.php?m=3&y=2010&d=3

(4)

Chronik des Contergan-Skandals - Contergan - WDR.de

Chronik des Conterganfalls

Tragödie - Katastrophe - Skandal?

http://www.wdr.de/themen/gesundheit/pharmazie/contergan/chronik.jhtml

EXTRAIT

30. April/1. Mai 1960:

Auf einem Neurologen-Kongress in Düsseldorf berichtet der Neurologe Ralf

Voss über die Nervenschädigungen, die seinen Beobachtungen zufolge durch

Thalidomid verursacht werden. Die Forschungsabteilung von Grünenthal

versucht daraufhin, die Nervenschädigungen an Ratten zu reproduzieren – ohne Erfolg. Grünenthal-Forschungsleiter Mückter schließt daraus, dass es sich um besondere Situationen handelt, für die Contergan nur selten als Ursache infrage kommt.

(5)

Un scandale qui a renforcé la pharmacovigilance

09.04.10 | 15h58 • Mis à jour le 09.04.10 | 15h58
http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2010/04/09/un-scandale-qui-a-renforce-la-pharmacovigilance_1331285_3244.html

http://aujourlejour.midiblogs.com/archive/2010/04/09/thalidomide-un-scandale-qui-a-renforce-la-pharmacovigilance.html

EXTRAITS

En décembre 1961, […] la Chemie Grünenthal, qui commercialisait avec un grand succès depuis 1957 la molécule sous le nom de Contergan, ordonne son retrait […]

Deux ans auparavant, plusieurs médecins allemands signalent des cas de polynévrites (douleurs, sensations de brûlures, troubles vasculaires dans les membres), qu’ils relient à un usage prolongé du Contergan. A l’automne 1961, des obstétriciens et pédiatres allemands s’inquiètent d’une augmentation du nombre d’anomalies des membres - allant de l’absence d’un doigt à une malformation complète du membre - et du tube digestif chez des nouveau-nés.

(6)

Het Belgisch goevernement had mijn vader, Henri Cerckel (*), doktoor in de geneeskunde,

in de bak moeten steken toen ik geboren werd in februari 1962, da’s twintig maanden na het softenonalarm van mei 1960. Maar dat mocht niet van de welvaartsstaat omdat Corinne drie maand later, in mei 1962, diende geboren in Luik en haar moordenaars dienden vrijgesproken.

(*) Hendrik Cerckel op http://www.infobel.be sinds ik weet heb van het softenonalarm van mei 1960

(7)

Témoignage thalidomide – Les Monstres de Heidelberg

Originally posted by Ivo Cerckel on September 2nd, 2009

http://bphouse.com/honest_money/etat-belge-assassin-softenon

Softenon: 13 victimes assignent l’Etat belge

Ivo Cerckel — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:28:20 +0000

Softenon: 13 victimes assignent l’Etat belge(01/09/2010)

http://www.dhnet.be/infos/societe/article/323518/softenon-13-victimes-assignent-l-etat-belge.html

Het Belgisch goevernement had mijn vader, Henri Cerckel (1), doktoor in de geneeskunde,

in de bak moeten steken

toen ik geboren werd in februari 1962,

da’s twintig maanden na het softenonalarm van mei 1960.

Maar dat mocht niet van de welvaartsstaat

omdat Corinne drie maand later, in mei 1962, diende geboren in Luik

en haar moordenaars dienden vrijgesproken.

Ivo Cerckel

honestmoney@maktoob.com

(1)

Hendrik Cerckel http://www.infobel.be sinds ik weet heb van het softenonalarm vam mei 1960.

EU president gives new impetus to thalidomide research

Ivo Cerckel — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:00:15 +0000

Last week, European Union president Herman Van Rompuy has given new impetus to thalidomide research.

“The euro became a strong currency with very small interest rate spreads [on government bonds]. It was like some kind of sleeping pill, some kind of drug. We weren’t aware of the underlying problems.”, [said EU president Herman Van Rompuy]

(Van Rompuy says strong euro hid underlying fiscal problems

By Tony Barber in Brussels

Financial Times, Published: June 14 2010 03:00 | Last updated: June 14 2010 03:00

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5387ff54-774b-11df-ba79-00144feabdc0.html

Ivo Cerckel
honestmoney@maktoob.com

EU president Herman Van Rompuy confessed that EMU lured countries into a fatal trap. “It was like some kind of sleeping pill, some kind of drug. We weren’t aware of the underlying problems,” he said.

(Gold reclaims its currency status as the global system unravels

We already know that the eurozone money markets seized up violently in early May as incipient bank runs spread from Greece to Portugal and Spain, threatening the first big sovereign default of our era. Jean-ClaudeTrichet, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), talked days later of “the most difficult situation since the Second World War, and perhaps the First”.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Published: 5:43PM BST 20 Jun 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/7841961/Gold-reclaims-its-currency-status-as-the-global-system-unravels.html

EU president Van Rompuy attacks euro

Ivo Cerckel — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:33:11 +0000

Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Union. BLAMES the strength of the euro in recent years for blinding the eurozone to its underlying fiscal problems. (1)

Van Rompuy forgets that the euro not only has severed the link to gold but also to the nation state (s’ budgets) . (2)

What’s the problem, Mr Van Rompuy?

Money is a good readily acceptable in exchange by everyone in a given geographical area and is sought for the purpose of being re-exchanged. (3).

Money has no fiscal aspect, whatsoever.

Ivo Cerckel
honestmoney@maktoob.com

NOTES

(1)
Strong euro hid crisis, says EU chief
By Tony Barber in Brussels
Published: June 13 2010 22:05 | Last updated: June 13 2010 22:05
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7148137.ece
SNIP

Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Union, has blamed the strength of the euro in recent years for blinding the eurozone to its underlying fiscal problems.

(2)

International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen for 2002
Acceptance speech by Dr. Willem F. Duisenberg, President of the European Central Bank, Aachen, 9 May 2002
http://www.ecb.eu/press/key/date/2002/html/sp020509.en.html

SNIP

The euro, probably more than any other currency, represents the mutual confidence at the heart of our community. It is the first currency that has not only severed its link to gold, but also its link to the nation-state. It is not backed by the durability of the metal or by the authority of the state. Indeed, what Sir Thomas More said of gold five hundred years ago – that it was made for men and that it had its value by them – applies very well to the euro.

(3)

George Reisman, “Capitalism – A Treatise on Economics”, Ottawa, Illinois, Jameson books, 1998. 3rd ed. p. 142

Prosecute ECB president Trichet at ECJ in Luxembourg!

Ivo Cerckel — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:43:01 +0000

On Thursday 10 June 2010, European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet held his monthly press conference after the decision of the ECB governing council leaving interest rates unchanged.

The main news was about additional offers of unlimited three-month liquidity, which will cover the period until the end of the year. On the controversial government bond purchases, there was no additional detail. Just as it would with foreign currency intervention, the ECB is maintaining an air of mystery. (1)

Why the air of mystery?

World trade is being conducted with unbacked, at least irredeemable, paper money.

A major event was threatening in the last 24 months the functioning of the European economy and market?

Let it threat. And then it was up to the ECB come forward with its, or to say in the open that it has, gold reserves which are marked to market (-price) on a regular basis.

No, Trichet also maintained the air of mystery by declining to further comment on his argument that the euro is a credible currency that keeps its value and whose track-record in maintaining price-stability is exceptional and that this capacity to maintain price stability is a major asset for domestic and international investors.

What’s the problem with this man?

Jérôme Kerviel is being prosecuted in Paris for having taken “enormous” and “stratospheric” risks for the future of Société Générale . (2)

Trichet should be prosecuted at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg

for taking such risks for the future of the euro

by not speaking explicitly about the ECB gold reserves.

Ivo Cerckel
honestmoney@maktoob.come

NOTES

(1)

ECB plays it safe (except with the UK)

June 10, 2010 5:55pm
by Ralph Atkins

blogs.ft.com/money-supply/2010/06/10/ecb…/

(2)

Ex-colleague ‘revolted’ by Kerviel’s ‘risks’

By Scheherazade Daneshkhu in Paris

Published: June 11 2010 03:00 | Last updated: June 11 2010 03:00

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a6490e4c-74f6-11df-aed7-00144feabdc0.html

SNIP

Jérôme Kerviel was denounced by a fellow former trader yesterday for taking “enormous” and “stratospheric” risks that had put Société Générale in danger.

Jérôme Kerviel and Jean-Claude Trichet

Ivo Cerckel — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:19:21 +0000

From Times Online
June 11, 2010
Jérôme Kerviel’s stock market gambles ‘crazy’ and ‘absurd’
Adam Sage, Paris
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article7148025.ece
SNIP
Former colleagues of rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel denounced his stock market gambles as absurd and crazy in a Paris courtroom yesterday.
Selim Nemouchi, also a trader at Société Générale, told the Paris Criminal Court that Mr Kerviel had broken banking rules and customs to stake tens of billions of euros on the stock market. His evidence was significant because Mr Kerviel insisted that it was standard practice for traders to break official limits with the approval of managers.
Mr Kerviel, 33, faces a maximum sentence of five years in jail and a fine of €375,000 (£309,000) if found guilty of breach of trust, computer abuse and forgery.
UNSNIP

Money is a good readily acceptable in exchange by everyone in a given geographical area and is sought for the purpose of being re-exchanged. (George Reisman, “Capitalism – A Treatise on Economics”, Ottawa, Illinois, Jameson books, 1998. 3rd ed. p. 142)

Today, paper is considered to be money.

On Thursday 10 June 2010, European Central bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said, at his monthly press conference after the decision of the ECB governing council leaving interest rates unchanged, that he wants to restore the appropriate functioning of the monetary-policy transmission-mechanism.

There’s nothing to be transmitted. Money is no longer a good.

Trichet nevertheless went on to argue that the euro is a credible currency that keeps its value and whose track-record in maintaining price-stability is exceptional and that this capacity to maintain price stability is a major asset for domestic and international investors.

He declined to further comment, that is, he declined to come forward with the ECB’s, or to say in the open that the ECB has, gold reserves which are marked to market (price) on a regular basis.

Absurde, n’est-il pas?

Ivo Cerckel
honestmoney@maktoob.com

the USA dollar’s semblance of credibility

Ivo Cerckel — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 01:36:14 +0000

From The Sunday Times June 6, 2010

City watchdog fears euro disaster

Financial Services Authority probes banks’ exposure to the eurozone as sovereign default concerns grow

Iain Dey

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article7144835.ece

Ivo Cerckel wrote:

IF there really is a link between the economy of euroland (plus Hungary) and the euro

and IF the problems in euroland influence this country’s economy,

THEN this should also influence sterling.

The word “sterling” nor the word “pound” does however appear in the article.

Money is a good readily acceptable in exchange by everyone in a given geographical area, and is sought for the purpose of being re-exchanged.

The European Central Bank (ECB) should come forward with its gold reserves which are marked to market (price) on a regular basis. (A chancellor of the exchequer named Gordon Brown sold half this country’s gold reserves a decade ago.)

All this negative euro-talk is done in order to keep the failing dollar, and his sterling little brother, virtually strong in order that a semblance of credibility can be upheld. The Masters of the dollar-International-Financial-and-Monetary-System are faking this credibility, while the huge amounts of dollar debt (among others the subprimes on/at the expiry dates) are being rolled over.

It is to be hoped that when the price of gold skyrockets later this month

http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2010/06/its-debt-stupid.html ,

the ECB will display its golden deus ex machina in the open.

Traders have begun to raise concerns about the health of other countries, including Belgium, says the article also. On the first of July, Belgium takes over the rotating presidency of the council of the European Union. As Belgium will at that moment still have no government (the elections are only scheduled for next Sunday, 13 June), the chair next to the permanent president of the EU council, one Herman Van Rompuy, will be an empty chair. At that moment, that is, after this month’s parabolic rise of the price of gold, it will be up to the ECB to take the initiative.

June 6, 2010 1:11 AM BST

Ivo Cerckel
honestmoney@maktoob.com

Open Letter to Warren Buffett

Ivo Cerckel — Sat, 29 May 2010 05:15:17 +0000

Dear Mr Buffett,

You have been issued with a subpoena to force you to appear before a government panel in Washington examining the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.

Tell them that the crisis is due to the frauds of irredeemable, at least unbacked, paper money and of fractional-reserve banksterism.

Refer to page 45 of your 2008 biography “The Snowball” by Alice Schroeder (Bantam Books} where it is being demonstrated that after going off the “gold standard” in September 1931, England, – which was deeply in debt – would, to avoid bankruptcy, simply print more money to pay off its loans.

A footnote on the same page adds that the “gold standard” stopped the government from provoking inflation simply by printing money.

Tell the government panel in Washington examining the causes of the 2008 financial crisisthat the flaws that could be remedied through reforms are,
ONE, preventing government from creating money out of thin air through the (digital) printing machine
TWO, preventing commercial banksters from doing the same thing through fractional-reserve banksterism.

They may ask you how the banksterism system can ever get into problems if it can create money of out thin air through fractional-reserve banksterism.
I don’t know the answer to this question.

Good luck!

Warmest regards,
Ivo Cerckel

From Times Online
May 29, 2010
Warren Buffett subpoenaed to appear before US commission
Alexandra Frean
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article7139615.ece

Is oil being priced in euro? Trichet didn’t know

Ivo Cerckel — Sun, 16 May 2010 02:50:56 +0000

Eurozone uncertainty reason for oil volatility: Qatar
http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidANA20100515T115152ZSDU99/Eurozone%20uncertainty%20reason%20for%20oil%20volatility%3A%20Qatar
SNIP
MANAMA, May 15, 2010 (AFP) - Qatar’s energy minister on Saturday blamed the uncertainty over eurozone debt problems for the volatility in the oil market and the slide in crude prices.
“The uncertainty, especially in Europe, the bailout (for Greece), and the euro (decline), all those put a lot of pressure on the economy and oil prices,” Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told reporters on the sideline of an economic forum in Bahrain.
“It is volatile. There is uncertainty, and we are watching with nervousness,” he said, as oil prices tumbled to a three-month low on Friday.
“Oil prices are not reflecting demand and supply,” he said, adding that it was “very difficult to predict” the movement of prices. UNSNIP

So the volatility of the euro influences the price of oil?.

I thought oil was being priced in USA dollar.

If the euro does fail, gold will become the “world oil currency”.
http://bphouse.com/honest_money/2010/05/15/abu-dhabi-hotel-expects-euro-to-fail/

From The Sunday Times
May 16, 2010
Euro heads for parity with dollarSingle currency set for long-term slide, sparking fears for Britain’s export-led economic recovery
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7127642.ece
SNIP
The Bank of England warned last week that weakness in the eurozone was one of the main risks to Britain’s recovery. Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, said in an interview with Der Spiegel, the German magazine, that “profound changes” were needed in the oversight of countries’ fiscal positions within the eurozone.
UNSNIP

This is a currency crisis, a crisis of money.Money has three functions, a means of exchange, a unit of account and a store of value, right. But what IS money? (The definition, please!)

Money is a good readily acceptable in exchange by everyone in a given geographical area, and is sought for the purpose of being re-exchanged.

But Trichet wants a quantum leap by euro guv’mints, headlines Der Spiegel. (1)

Quantum mechanics contradicts special relativity.
Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity is based on the idea that the laws of science should be the same for all observers, no matter how they are moving.

Trichet wants a quantum leap. For Trichet, the laws of monetary “science” are no longer the same for all observers.

“A report this weekend from UBS suggests that the appetite for holding euros among [...] managers of official currency reserves is fading. [...] That is the verdict [...] of reserve managers that we’ve been visiting around the world “, writes The Sunday Times.That’s money in its function as store of value - or rather as a means of fouling forex markets – for central banksters.

As I said, money is however a good readily acceptable in exchange by everyone in a given geographical area, and is sought for the purpose of being re-exchanged.
Since the gold standard is a barbarous relic, there is no good available. That’s not enough for Trichet. He wants a further quantum leap
.”Houston, we’ve got a problem!”

“Wir haben es nicht gewusst!”

Trichet didn’t know.

Ivo Cerckel
honestmoney@maktoob.com
http://twitter.com/ivocerckel/

NOTE

(1)
Trichet fordert “Quantensprung” von Euro-Staaten
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,694891,00.html

Abu Dhabi hotel expects euro to fail

Ivo Cerckel — Sat, 15 May 2010 08:19:24 +0000

If the euro does fail, gold will become the “world oil currency”.

We do know this full well, “the Central Banks will horde all gold and buy any offered if this new European currency does not work” and “debt currencies fail”. If this does comes, no paper asset of world economic system will survive, nothing! Not a good thought, no? (1)

Hence, Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace Hotel on Wednesday unveiled the United Arab Emirates’ first ATM-type machine that gives those staying there the chance to withdraw 24-karat gold bars and coins. (2)

Gold is money.

Hence, now you can withdraw ingots from an ATM (3)

http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2010/05/hair-of-dog.html
SNIP
FOFOA said…
As you all know, I don’t expect the euro to fail. The euro is designed for transition. It is designed for Freegold. And the specific value of a currency doesn’t matter in its primary role as a medium of exchange. Only stability matters, and the euro could handle a big one-time devaluation to a more stable level. It will have to devalue at one point or another. Devaluation is inevitable for all fiat currencies today. The European politicians apparently understand less about this than the central bankers do.
Even still, exiting the euro would be a Herculean task for any country. They’d have to reissue currency and re-denominate all long term private contracts, and then face the old risks of war and hyperinflation once again. For this and other reasons I am highly skeptical about reports of politicians making boisterous threats to leave the euro. They seem pretty empty to me.
Jim Rickards: “Now, political unification has had modest success. Military and foreign policy unification has really had no success at all. But the crown jewel of European unification is their monetary system, the euro and the European Central Bank. So that’s the pinnacle of their world historical efforts to unify the continent. They’re not going to give that away lightly. I mean, they view it in a much broader historical context than Wall Street and Americans. And so it’s of the utmost importance to them. And they’re going to do everything they can to preserve it.”
Jim Sinclair: “If the EU fails so does the USDX. With no mirror image to hold up the dollar artificially, the US dollar will fall faster than Greece’s credit.”
ANOTHER: “…If the Euro does fail, gold will become the “world oil currency”. We do know this full well, “the Central Banks will hoard all gold and buy any offered if this new European currency does not work”
May 14, 2010 4:40 PM - UNSNIP

Ivo Cerckel
honestmoney@maktoob.com
http://twitter.com/ivocerckel/

NOTES

(1)
5/22/98 ANOTHER (THOUGHTS!)
ANOTHER(THOUGHTS!)
Foundational Gold Trail Commentary
The Inside Story on the Gold-for-Oil Deal that could Rock the World’s Financial Centers
-Page Four
http://www.usagold.com/goldtrail/archives/another4.html

(2)
UAE gets first-of-its-kind gold bar vending machine
Agencies -14 May 2010
\http://saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2010051472255
SNIP
ABU DHABI - Abu Dhabi’s top hotel on Wednesday unveiled the UAE’s first ATM-type machine that gives those staying there the chance to withdraw 24-karat gold bars and coins.
The ATM-style kiosk cash-for-gold dispending machine is the brainchild of CEO of Ex Oriente Lux Thomas Giessler and the first international foray for the German entrepreneur’s Gold to Go” brand, which was first tested in his native country in 2009

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Abu Dhabi hotel installs gold vending machine
(AFP) – 14 May 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jh-I81XFnWmsFxqrrfJytXQWZYvw?index=0
SNIP
ABU DHABI — There’s no mistaking what’s in this vending machine. The well-heeled in the Gulf can now grab “gold to go” from a hotel lobby in the United Arab Emirates, when the need for a quick ingot strikes.
On Thursday, a day after its inauguration, the shiny machine attracted spectators of many different nationalities who gathered to watch whenever an enthusiast was struck with the urge to splurge on a bar of the precious metal.
Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace Hotel became the first place outside Germany to install “gold to go, the world’s first gold vending machine,” said a statement from Ex Oriente Lux AG, the German company behind the vending machine.