The Rest In Peace (RIP) Thread

[Cooper]

De Gaulle claimed back France's gold in the 1960s foreseeing the end of the dollar being pegged to gold, bringing back 3,000 Tons from the NY Fed. That made him a big target.

How France Secretly Repatriated All Its Gold Before Nixon's Dollar Devaluation​

• Jan Nieuwenhuijs
• Publisert: tirsdag 08. oktober 2024

President de Gaulle of France initiated the secret operation “Vide-Gousset” and repatriated 3,313 tonnes of gold reserves from the vaults of the Federal Reserve in New York and the Bank of England in London from 1963 until 1966. De Gaulle feared America’s deficit in its balance of payments would rupture Bretton Woods and lead to a devaluation of the dollar against gold.

All France’s dollars were converted into gold, and to avoid treachery, the metal was repatriated over the course of three years. It took 44 boat trips and 129 flights to bring home more than three thousand tonnes of gold to the Banque de France in Paris.

France’s decision turned out extremely well. As was foreseen by the French, the price of gold in dollars increased sharply, from $35 to $800 dollars an ounce, from 1968 until 1980—the dollar lost 96% of its value against gold. Countries that held on to their dollars were less fortunate.

More recently, after the Great Financial Crisis, the Banque de France repatriated 211 tonnes, upgraded all its bars to current wholesale standards, overhauled its vaults, revived Paris as a trading hub for institutional investors, and history repeats itself as we are in a gold bull market presently.

Most of the excess US$ printed in the late 60s was from the US financing the Vietnam War.

We're kind of in the same conjuncture today with the $38 trillion deficit and the onset of dedollarization.

 

[Thomas More]

Day of the Jackal was probably a real life plan the intelligence agencies had to kill De Gaulle, that was turned into a novel after he died.

After I saw that Forsysth had died, I got this book. I just finished it last night (after staying up to 1:30am to finish it!)

I had previously seen the movie The Jackal from 1997, which is loosely based on this book, but I didn't know the original was set in the 60s, and written in 71. It was super good. It was his first book, but he had been a journalist for several years already so he had a lot of writing experience and knowledge about the kinds of details he included in the book. Besides being an excellent adventure story, it offered a good look at French and English society back in those days. Of course, he presented a fictionalized version of things, but when you read a book now that was written more than 50 years ago, it reveals quite a lot about the way things were different back then.

I highly recommend this book. Strangely, a lot of his other books seem to have topics that seem badly dated to me, like things dealing with the Soviets. I probably will still read more of his books.

 

[RedLagoon]

RIP Michael Madsen

View attachment 22215

Michael Madsen Dead: 'Reservoir Dogs' Actor Was 67 https://share.google/u7SO3Dn2Ekzln5A7x

Great actor, probably best known for his roles in the Kill Bill movies and Reservoir Dogs. His hidden gem (for me) was as Rudy in 1994's "The Getaway" with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger.

Oh my not another clot shot death? RIP you were an awesome actor / persona who probably had to take the thing to keep your job.

67 is way before expiry date for a man with his wealth.

 

[Read_Lives_of_Saints]

His actress sister, Virginia, is still alive.

 

[RedLagoon]

His actress sister, Virginia, is still alive.

View attachment 22226

She was good in this:

Sideways (2004) ⭐ 7.5 | Comedy, Drama, Romance

2h 7m | R

m.imdb.com

 

[EuropeanCanon]

After I saw that Forsysth had died, I got this book. I just finished it last night (after staying up to 1:30am to finish it!)

I had previously seen the movie The Jackal from 1997, which is loosely based on this book, but I didn't know the original was set in the 60s, and written in 71. It was super good. It was his first book, but he had been a journalist for several years already so he had a lot of writing experience and knowledge about the kinds of details he included in the book. Besides being an excellent adventure story, it offered a good look at French and English society back in those days. Of course, he presented a fictionalized version of things, but when you read a book now that was written more than 50 years ago, it reveals quite a lot about the way things were different back then.

I highly recommend this book. Strangely, a lot of his other books seem to have topics that seem badly dated to me, like things dealing with the Soviets. I probably will still read more of his books.

Its a classic. I read this back in the 80s and reread it just recently, still a great read and one of the classics of the genre

 

[Gazza]

Oh my not another clot shot death? RIP you were an awesome actor / persona who probably had to take the thing to keep your job.

67 is way before expiry date for a man with his wealth.

I couldn’t separate between him and Christopher Walken as my all time 2 favourite actors. It’s not often that I’m grieved about a hellywood actor, but I am with MM. RIP.

 

[Read_Lives_of_Saints]

She was good in this:

Sideways (2004) ⭐ 7.5 | Comedy, Drama, Romance

2h 7m | R

m.imdb.com

One of my all-time favorite films from the category of Hollywood demoralization cinema. I think the director, Payne (apt name), who won the writing Oscar for this, elicited the best performances of their careers from Madsen and the other actors.