Original subtitles

Anyone else?

Double 6, double 5...

Are you asleep?

Double 1 with 5...

3 million dollars done...

...90.75...

ABN Amsterdam - 35 and out.

Find a new one.

Do you have 70 dollars Paris?

90 round...

Round is out.

70 dollars-marks.

Find dollars-guilders. - ABN Copenhagen.

3.59.95

I don't know yet.

...95.10...

...work it out!

Dollars finished.

These 2 million are Hamburg, aren't they?

...95.10...

Offer closed!

Scanners.

This is Burleson, developing the industrial applications.

There is medicine.

Healthcare, Laser for Medicine. - That's important?

Healthcare is very important.

Laser for Medicine which makes use of lasers.

It was taken on the Space Shuttle. They did tests.

Then there's General Electric...

...which produces scanners, defence materials...

...fighter engines. They're very good shares.

Exxon has received 214.7 million dollars...

...from the Ministry of Defence.

Then we have Pratt and Whitney...

...that's General Electric again.

They're all defence contracts.

Le Clerq speaking.

Good afternoon.

I'll explain the principles to you...

...so that you know what you're getting involved in.

As you know, the futures market is different...

...from the spot market, because the risks are greater.

I'd appreciate being allowed to explain...

...to avoid misunderstandings later on.

With gold you have two possibilities.

Gold is fascinating, isn't it?

It has been, for as long as people have been on earth.

Gold is something people resort to...

...in times of anxiety and tension...

...under threat of war, as we've seen recently in the Middle East.

If there's any tension, gold rockets.

Could you say that people trading gold are speculating on that tension?

Certainly. Trade reacts to these tensions.

I think that money, capital, gold...

- it's a question of greed, undoubtedly -

...are the only things for which you can wake people in the middle of the night.

If you say: I have news for you...

...about money or gold, they're wide awake, ears pricked up.

If I ring late about anything else, I'll be in trouble.

That reflects the sentiments...

...that keep people's minds occupied all the time.

I had the feeling that gold...

...was somehow involved with death. People get killed for gold.

One moment, we're busy.

Yes, people kill for gold.

I think more people have been killed for gold, and of course passion...

...in any case, things to do with sex.

But I do think that lots of people have been killed for gold or money.

These universal sentiments about gold come about...

...because the market is so fast. That's the whole gamble.

We're in a "short" period at present.

The gold price had dropped from around 800 dollars...

...to 430 to 435 dollars an ounce in April 1983.

We were on our way down to 410, 405...

...when the problems with South American countries started.

They couldn't even pay the interest on their debts.

Brazil threatened a moratorium.

That meant it would unilaterally stop repayments.

At that time there was a threat of a currency crisis.

So the gold price rocketed. In 20 minutes, it shot up 27 dollars.

A large number of small investors world-wide...

...were swept out of the market with huge losses.

You like talking about money, don't you? You sound enthusiastic.

Yes, it's like crossword fanatics...

...who will do anything to get all the squares filled in.

We try the same, but we can't...

...because in spite of all the science it's still largely guesswork.

There are so many external factors over which you have no control.

They can ruin your whole strategy.

And then you have to re-think your whole approach.

But you like the tension.

Yes. The sport is to adapt as quickly as possible...

...and to reach your investors...

...to explain the new approach to them and get them to use it.

You compared it to a crossword puzzle.

But reality is in the background.

Harsh reality. - Which changes things.

Can you see the link?

I try and adopt politics...

...in my financial-economic approach.

In what respect?

Directly. At the moment there are arms talks going on in Geneva.

Many economic factors are directly dependent on them.

In the worst case: assume the talks break down and there's no agreement.

Then there will be a "bearish" response...

...world-wide, in industry too.

That leads to further tension, increased defence spending...

...and increased pressure on the dollar market.

Enormous forces want Star Wars. That's also money.

I think that it's a development that will continue.

It's an expression of power. - The power of money.

Of course. It's related to spheres of influence, free enterprise...

...a policy much of the world doesn't have.

It's a question of markets.

Take China's overtures to the West.

It's a huge market, hence money, and power.

If that were to lead to Star Wars...

...would you have sleepless nights?

I don't really think it will lead to wars.

If people know that the threat is there...

...they will make sure it doesn't happen.

What is your conclusion?

The only conclusion I draw...

...is to try and develop an investment philosophy.

One which is advantageous.

The whole world takes part, not just the multi-nationals.

Everyone is trying to scramble up the tower of power.

That means acquiring capital. It's as simple as that.

Money is power. It means you can buy things.

You can direct people positively and negatively.

But you can only direct people poorer than you.

Richer people have already made it.

That's why everyone tries to come out on top.

But the road to the top keeps getting narrower.

There are victims at every level.

You get satisfaction, but you see the results.

People at the core will be the victims.

I don't feel so involved with the facts.

You feel involved when you see the pictures in the news...

...but the film pictures are still abstract.

It isn't like being on the spot.

Madam, did you have to fight hard for this restaurant?

You want to know if I had to fight?

Well, it's mainly the cooking. I cook to survive...

...to feed my children and to pay off my debts.

When did you start?

In 1970, 1971. Yes, '71.

Was it difficult?

No, because I can cook well.

In Puerto Rico I made snacks to sell in the street, with my mother.

When I came here I started to work in a factory.

But I had pains all over.

A friend arranged for me to work in a restaurant.

The place was owned by a man who was in prison.

He had rented it to a friend of mine who asked me to cook for him.

When the man was released, my friend had to give the restaurant back.

I was in terrible trouble...

...because I had to get money to buy this restaurant.

I borrowed money from my brother...

...and here I am. The restaurant is mine.

Hello Mum, how are you?

Fine, a bit tired.

We won't work next Saturday.

All the better. A day off.

What's on the menu today?

Well, white rice...

...rice with beans, fried cutlets, French fries...

...fried chicken, fricassee...

...fried meat...

Everything to order. Whatever they want.

We should sell a lot of that.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're near 4th Street, by Adela's Restaurant.

She always contributed to our collections...

...for the paralysed children of Puerto Rico.

Tomorrow we are going to take the money...

...to the TV charity show for Puerto Rican paralysed children.

I ask you for a peso, a dollar...

...for Puerto Rican children. They need it.

Because China changed its economic system...

...exporters now work without government control.

They compete with each other by cutting prices.

Chinese state firms in Hong Kong suffer as a result.

Our correspondent reports.

Every day, 6,000 pigs are exported to Hong Kong.

250 dollars!

The other one costs 130. Shall I wrap this up for you?

130 dollars.

130 dollars?

Take your pick.

Do you want this one? - Of course.

Call a doctor, at once!

Your honour, have mercy on her. She's all alone.

Whatever happens to her later, give her guidance.

Don't worry.

You are certain to die...

...but I shall take your daughter as my godchild.

GOD OF THE EARTH

BLESSINGS FROM THE HEAVENLY LORD

33! Not 35!

Special offer.

Fillet it.

Kill it.

No don't. It isn't as nice steamed.

Buy this.

No, it's so poor.

I wish you wealth...

...happiness and fortune.

What does this cost?

One dollar.

3.50 dollars.

No, 13.50 dollars.

I thought it was cheap.

I thought 3.50.

And a shallot, too.

3.50 for the lettuce.

Your low prices were enough to make me happy.

Oh, the shallots.

WE WISH YOU A WEALTHY NEW YEAR

Harry, 2000 for Melchers. - Got it.

Hans, stable 6.20. - OK.

We'll buy at 80. Kees, your rate?

80.6 negotiable!

Oil is 80.6 negotiable.

The price is up a bit. I have oil at 90... 70!

1,000 for you at 70!

The dollar please... 6.5.

Buying 1,000 oil at 6...

1,000 for me at 6.

And 2,500 for Melchers.

And ehm... How is that?

2, 2, 3...

Plus eight.

Opening is 6.80.

Here's Amsterdam's opening.

Royal Dutch Shell: 46 7/8...

Unilever 93 3/4, Philips...

You think this is a great profession?

Fantastic. I compare it to someone who ended up in a circus by chance...

...and who has become so addicted that he can't do without.

It's so stimulating, and every day is so different.

It's so varied... I couldn't imagine having to live without it.

Good God, answer the phone.

Hello Jacques. 2 at 80. Round.

Are you interested? It's up to you. OK, bye then. He's out.

1,000 round for me. 1,000 at .20 for you.

1,000 round for me. - 1,000 at .10 for you.

1,000 round for me. - 1,000 at .10 for you.

A client once told me to buy without restrictions.

I'll never do that again because at that moment...

...I was the only one buying Shell at the Amsterdam Exchange.

All the others were against me.

I was overloaded and a few minutes later I heard...

...that war had broken out in the Middle East.

I was scared to death.

That's five exactly.

The staff of King Do pharmaceuticals...

...wishes you a wealthy New Year. We wish you riches.

The sports desk wishes you a wealthy New Year.

What are you doing?

It hurts.

Come and sit down.

First the soup.

Big boy!

Eat slowly. It's New Year!

Come and sit here.

Hand me the red chair.

Mummy will feed you.

Delicious.

The chicken is very tender.

I want a mushroom.

One mushroom for you.

I told you to keep away from the window. What happens if you fall?

Pull out the table.

The children need a bath.

70,000 people from Hong Kong...

...went to China for New Year.

330.

22 to 10.

2, 3, 6 and 10.

That's all?

50.

10.

80, 90.

700 dollars.

You can place your bets now.

Are you betting on two horses?

Horses numbers 5, 5 and 7.

The computer is overloaded. Please wait.

1, 2, 6 and 10. Every bet is ten dollars.

How are you, Mother? This is Mei Lan.

Oh, Mei Lan, how are you?

Mother, I would like to see you.

I'm about to go out.

Come to 227 Andy Road after ten.

Andy Road? - Do you know the way?

Yes, I know. It's agreed.

I read somewhere that one person costs 408,000 DM.

But that's a few years ago now.

700 more at 80!

Sold!

80.

He wants 26 and we offer 25.80, so...

Those 20 cents, that's the sport.

I must make it up to you. I want to ask you to dinner.

That isn't necessary.

Why not?

We call it 'going short'.

We can sell something we haven't got.

We sell what we haven't got, then buy it back later for less.

From the annual report of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation:

Chile. Four offices.

Our Santiago office continued to do well...

...despite the poor economic circumstances.

Let there be silence for a boy.

Here he is in Mr Koekendorp's class...

...in a T-shirt... (sign of the new era)...

...which he wrested from his mother.

My mother wanted me to wear a collar and tie.

I was fascinated by the girl next to me.

I wanted to be engulfed by her and live with her forever.

Only years later could I express such desires.

Together with other boys I threw her to the ground...

...and saw her undies and her smooth legs.

We used to play by the monument to General van Heutsz...

...an old colonial butcher.

We, too, had to become men one day.

There were fountains put up where a child could drink.

Between then and now, half the world's forests have been cut down.

A price that had to be paid for economic growth.

But the fountains are still there.

What happened this week?

Some central banks have been selling dollars...

...at the right time. So the dollars dropped sharply.

Without us. Without major trading.

The risks of holding dollars were too great.

Is it the greatest drop since World War II?

It's the biggest drop since nobody knows when.

What did it feel like for you?

Well, we're just spectators. We can't do anything about it.

It may be sensational but it's not pleasant, really.

Why unpleasant? - Panic trading never works out.

It costs lots of people money. That's not nice.

People lose money? - Yes, I'm afraid they do.

CALVIN'S CHAIR 1535

Is this where it happened?

Yes, this house was built in the 18th century...

...on the site of the old monastery that stood next to the cathedral...

...where the people of Geneva congregated.

In this monastery, on May 21st, 1536...

...the Reformation was adopted.

There is a well-know theory that says that capitalism...

...also has its origin in the Reformation.

What do you think of that?

There is certainly a relationship...

...between some aspects emphasised by Calvin's Reformation:

Such as each person's responsibility...

..and his work and his place in life as the vocation of man.

And the fact that...

...Protestants acquired riches...

...and thereby contributed to the rise of capitalism.

But I don't think you can argue...

...that capitalism was a result of the Reformation.

People have sought links: the individual, for instance...

Yes, the fact that everyone must answer to God.

If I consider that my work is my vocation...

...and if I do that well, I get richer...

...does God reward me more the richer I am?

That argument can be queried.

So we have different interpretations of the same text, the same idea.

Yes, for instance, the Old Testament could argue...

...that riches are seen as God's blessing.

What do you think of that?

I think that in the New Testament...

...you could say that poverty is a sign of God's blessing.

But that's easily said if you are not poor.

That's true.

I believe that now people are more and more aware...

...that social justice is an expression of love.

Or you could say there is no true love...

...if there is no justice between people.

But that argument has political consequences.

Yes. Because I believe that in the Gospel...

...nothing is more political than love.

Madam's role is very important in the process.

She checks every print after soldering.

Her role is important because she uses only her eyes.

It's a visual check...

...comparing the print with a pattern in front of her.

She has a great reputation, hasn't she?

Her role is very important...

...and I am always amazed at her dexterity.

She is better at it than a machine would be.

Immigrant, immigrant, immigrant...

My father came here to find work.

My brothers and I were sent here to school...

...to learn French.

My father and my mother are at work...

...and I'm at school here.

Do you like it here? - Yes.

It's nice to be here and to learn French.

I live alone with my father.

My brother and sister are at school in Yugoslavia.

In the month of June, my mother is going to bring them here.

I think that I can go to a regular school in September.

When we came here my father said:

Watch out for the police. Watch out for them.

So we were always afraid of the police.

Your fathers all have Permits A.

Under Swiss law you then have no right to be here.

No legal right.

What is a Permit B?

It allows you to go to school and to work.

Permit B allows you to work here and to live in peace...

...and to go to a normal school.

Is it different from Portugal?

I prefer Switzerland to Portugal.

Why? - Why? Because it's more beautiful.

Cleaner? - More beautiful.

Do you want to stay here? - Anywhere but Portugal.

I would rather go to America. To New York.

We've been living here for two years. We sleep here.

Joao and Victor sleep over there.

And the eldest on a mattress in the kitchen.

To rent a flat you have to pay a huge deposit.

Your employer must be guarantor.

A Permit A holder needs his employer's guarantee.

If he agrees, we get a flat. If he doesn't, we don't.

Can you stay here next year? - I don't know.

My boss hasn't renewed my contract. It was a nine-months contract.

If he doesn't will you have to leave the flat?

We can't even come to Switzerland without a contract.

We can't do anything about it.

The bosses decide and the government.

We are powerless.

That's how it is.

If we can't live in Portugal...

...we must look elsewhere in the world.

If you have a Permit B your wife can join you.

Without one, the children can't go to school.

They need a Permit B to go to school.

What's it like being here illegally, with your children?

We feel like thieves or murderers...

...because we've got to stay in hiding...

...like criminals. We were more free in Portugal. Here, we must hide.

It's difficult.

Some men keep cool in those first nine months.

Others lose control and move in with a woman.

They leave their wives and children in Portugal...

...and get divorced on the spot.

As I said: They get into trouble and they are weak.

Many marriages are wrecked that way.

All over the world.

Those are the conditions for immigrant workers.

We are...

I don't know how to say it.

We are nobody and nothing here.

Economic power has been displaced twice.

First from the southern world to Northern Europe.

That was when Calvin and his followers...

...made Geneva into one giant monastery.

But without the sharing of possessions.

Later on, power moved away from Europe...

...to the West and the East.

But the threads of the old web are still taut...

...with Geneva, like a spider, in the middle.

Lots of money arrives in Geneva...

...earnt in miserable circumstances.

One may live among the elite of a poor country...

...and siphon off 1 or 2 millions of the 100 million the country borrowed.

Or one is paid from abroad for importing certain weapons.

Or one charges tax on every glass of water drunk.

It's hot there.

That kind of money often arrives in Geneva...

...and Geneva passes it on...

...to the East and the West where it rapidly multiplies.

For instance, in factories with fewer and fewer workers.

These things are said but no one knows.

It's as if one lived 100 years ago...

...while being frantically busy with the present.

The population is not allowed to look behind the facades...

...but helps to keep them clean.

Geneva has always been a crossroads.

And now all the banks are located here.

Something intrigues me:

The Third World has gigantic debts...

...while new centres of production are created.

That's not a new development.

You can regard money as a product which you can sell.

Just like debts may be saleable products.

A country may have debts...

...but may be interesting for investors, Brazil for example...

...as a long-term proposition.

You can trade the debts to help others invest.

But how does that work?

Well, a trader doesn't give away all his secrets...

...but people who have a claim against a country like Brazil...

...may sell it to others who are prepared to invest.

So someone else takes over the debts?

Someone buys the debt and can use it to invest in Brazil.

Local cash is made available by a credit note.

What if Brazil can't pay? That's what intrigues me a bit.

Brazil cannot repay in one go its 102 billion dollar debt...

...but it can always pay back something.

Most countries like Brazil, Venezuela and all the others...

...are still paying the interest on the debt.

So you don't have to write off the debt.

You just have to have reserves in your books...

...depending on the country you're working in.

But it doesn't have to be written off.

A well-known US banker once said:

"I don't want the loans paid off...

...because I'd just have to find other borrowers."

The problem with developing nations...

...is that they may have the raw materials...

...but they're handicapped by their large populations.

But the industrial nations have their welfare systems...

...which makes them expensive to produce in.

If manufacture is expensive...

...you have to look for somewhere cheaper...

...with a significant home market.

That happened in Asia, in Hong Kong and in Singapore.

That is still happening in Japan...

...where the production costs are still lower than in Europe or America.

You then have a home market of...

...around 500 million people in Asia, excluding China.

The same could happen in South America.

Brazil is setting up industries. They have to find work for those people.

Information is crucial. The banking industry...

...concentrates on financial information.

The banks must also be informed very quickly, so that they have...

...an added advantage...

...so they can serve the clients better and earn more.

An advantage for one person means a disadvantage for another.

Yes, it's always a struggle for a market share.

And there are many players.

That must also be the attraction, the sport you might say.

Fighting is always interesting if you win.

Losing is not much fun. - Does it happen?

Unfortunately it does.

You all win and you all lose, that's clear.

It's part of the game. You have to put up with it.

But if you take bigger risks you also have a better chance...

...of an important transaction. - Make more money, you mean?

It may be possible, but we can't say too much yet...

...that the assets frozen in countries...

...with droughts and famines such as Ethiopia and Sudan...

...where food aid is provided by the Red Cross and other bodies...

...things can be arranged in such a way...

...that the frozen assets belonging to banks and companies...

...are used in that way.

Food and goods can then be bought with local currencies.

More can be bought that way and the money can be paid abroad...

...after consultations with the central banks...

...to the Red Cross or other organisations.

Here, for instance. - A bank can get in on the act.

Because the bank knows several of the parties...

...and can channel information...

...so it acquires the right to earn money.

And a pound of strawberries.

Strawberries. Cherries.

Without stones.

Thanks, dear.

There you are. Who's next?

Who's next? Tell me...

My dear ladies, let your hearts sing.

They make you blush.

You want a pound, too, dear?

I FEEL SO LONELY

IF ONLY I HAD SOMEONE TO LOVE

The American dollar price plummeted world wide.

In Holland by 17 cents.

It follows the decision of the 5 major industrial nations, taken in Washington...

...to join forces and push the dollar down.

The news from the US caused nervous scenes on the foreign exchanges.

European and Japanese currencies increased in value.

The consequences for the Third World...

The Bank for International Settlements states...

...that in the year 1984 the Third World...

...paid twice as much money into the International Banks as it received.