Re-emergence 6. (Cedric Venture - 06 Dec 2008).

Re-emergence (Cedric Ventures - 6 Dec 2008). 1

CEDRIC: Well, we' ve reached the final report of the year and let's hope there will be many more in the next. 2008 has been a year of lots of variations, hardly to mention significant occurrances in the financial domain. Don't forget readers, that Cedric Ventures intends to hold its 4th anniversary party on the 12th of January next and of course you are all welcome guests. So drop in sometime during that week, in which the party will be posted in this forum. Either just to browse around or to join in with the 'festivities' and discussion. In the meantime, if you have any questions post them in as either comment(s) to one of the Ced Vens installments, or as a forum Message. Now I think the Financial Advisor would like to say a few words.2

FINANCIAl ADVISOR: Indeed. Thank you Cedric. I believe the Interviewer made a reference, a short while ago, about how, in the old days, they used to chalk up and rub out the changing stock prices on blackboards. Some of you readers might be thinking: ' Well, just a minute, didn't they originally hold their meetings in places like coffee houses, where such matters were resolved through discussion and debate?' Quite possibly readers; but the point is, for finance to be viable at all, it has to rest on a reliable and legally justified foundation. Without this expedient, organized finance would not even be possible. It couldn't be realistically centered around mere conversation. For one thing, who knows what might be said and whether what is being said can be taken as trustworthy? All kinds of things are being said, for various reasons, in the business world now and always have been. But if they are not verifyed by this foundation, I mentioned, they may only be off-the-cuff comments. It stands to reason, that you can't have every and anybody making up their own rules. The essential rules have got to be reliable and legally credited. All right, the law may not have the time or appreciation to track all the facts and details of all the transactions that are going on. But if it suddenly emerges that they are not legally justified, it isn't going to be very long before they start rolling up and arresting everyone in sight. An acceptable exchange can't be run like some kind of clandestine 'speakeasy'. In the South of Europe, where modern finance was developed, there had always been an emphatic rivalry of families. Because these families couldn't agree to work together in every sense, only basic grass roots finance was possible; the accepted universality of which was a matter of commonsense. It had to be in the North of Europe, governed by general overruling national authorities that modern investing could find the necessary environment to enable its development. Much more could be said on this subject but I don't want to burden you with too many particulars at one time so, I think that I will now let the Interviewer make some comments.3

INTERVIEWER: Thank you with much appreciation. Now to render some development on this universality that was mentioned. It is obvious, of course, that such a concept of universality needed to apply wherever the strictures of finance did. Such a system was developed in both the East and West, and not just there; even in places such as the Americas. Oh yes, there was finance in the Americas, before the Europeans arrived. If one goes to pre-european Mexico for example. Not just among such as the Aztecs, but don't forget, there were many who lived there before them, the Tezcucans, etc. The sort of currency they used varied according to the area. By the sea they tended to use sea shells as money. The value of the money being according to the rarity of the shell. Elsewhere, bags of coca beans were used. These were fastened at the top and their value was according to the number of beans the bag contained. A person could either use the beans as currency or as a condiment for cookery. For financial transactions, they used quills filled with gold dust. These were stoppered at one end and had signs marked on the outside. They could be held up to the light and according to which sign the dust reached, was the value of the quill. When a transaction was completed at a market place, they would go into a kind of booth. The quill would be unstoppered and the contents tipped on to a white cloth. It would thence be an easy matter to tell if any other material, such as clay, had been added to the gold; because it would be easy to detect. The guilty person, it was considered, would be bound to be the owner of the quill as he should have checked it at the previous transaction and re-checked it before that one.4

CEDRIC: Thank you very much for this very interesting information. I'm sure we could listen all day to these fascinating conversations. But time marches on and I think that our readers would like now to be retiring to their own concerns. So it only remains for me, on behalf of the entire staff of Cedric Ventures to wish all our readers a very happy Christmas and New Year. Don't forget either, what was said earlier, about you all being invited to the 4th anniversary party early next year. Though I should think we'll be back in this forum before that's due to be held on the 12th of Jan. Farewell now and mind how you go.