InvestorCanada interview with Sprott Asset Management President John Embry

9:45p ET Monday, January 5, 2003

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Gold banker Ferdinand Lips, author of quot;Gold Wars,
The Battle Against Sound Money as Seen from
a Swiss Perspective,quot; which includes generous
mention of GATA, has sent a copy of the book's
Swiss edition, titled quot;The Gold Conspiracy,quot; to his
country's political leaders along with the covering
letter reproduced below.

While Lips argues that Switzerland's basic
sovereignty has been put at risk by the country's
growing subservience to the U.S. dollar, he could
say the same about most countries -- which is
why the gold cause is an anti-imperialist cause.

You can learn more about Lips' book at the
Internet site of its American publisher, the
Foundation for the Advancement of Monetary
Education, here:

a href=http://www.fame.org/goldwars.htmhttp://www.fame.org/goldwars.htm/a

Lips' open letter to the Swiss leadership
follows.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

* * *

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE LEADERS OF SWITZERLAND

December 22, 2003

Members of the Swiss Federal Council
Members of Parliament
Supervisory Council of the Swiss National Bank
Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank
200 selected opinion leaders of Switzerland

Re: Festive Season, World Crises,
and the Welfare of Citizens and the State

Gentlemen:

Here is my most recent book, quot;The Gold Conspiracy.quot;
First of all, let me say why a retired Swiss banker took
such an initiative and why you should study this book
in your own interest and in the interests of our country.

Since 1968, when I was part of the management team
that formed the Rothschild Bank AG, Zurich, and later
in 1989, when I formed Bank Lips AG, my main
endeavour was always to invest my clients' wealth
prudently, to maintain safety of principal, and to
achieve capital growth.

To a much greater extent, this is the task of our
Nationalbank and of our politicians, because they
are charged with the much bigger task of managing
our nation's social security systems. They are
responsible for investing the national savings for
old-age retirement and for safeguarding our nation's
patrimony, built up over many generations, in order
to transmit it to successive generations. This is an
increasingly difficult task since our current fraudulent
irredeemable-paper-ticket-fiat monetary system does
not allow for sound politics. Workers and pensioners
eventually suffer most under this regime.

An uninformed Federal Government, an uninformed
Swiss parliament, and -- either incompetent or already
involved in the international gold-price-manipulation
scheme -- the Swiss National Bank finished the job of
selling a great part of the Swiss gold reserve by
investing the proceeds mainly in soon-to-be worthless
U.S. quot;dollars.quot; I put the word quot;dollarsquot; in quotation
marks because they are no longer in conformity with
the dollars mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.

What were those who must have been, or who should
have been, aware of the dimension of this fatal decision
thinking?

In any discussion of the future of gold, or the price of
gold, the first thing that must be acknowledged is
that gold is a political metal for the simple reason that
gold, in its historical role as a currency, is
fundamentally incompatible with the modern financial
system.

Up until August 15, 1971, there was never a period
when no paper currency was linked to gold. The
history of money is replete with instances of currency
debasement, devaluations, coin clipping, printing,
debt defaults, other fraudulent practices, and
bankruptcies. But in prior times one could always
escape to a currency whose gold backing remained
intact.

Since 1971, when President Nixon unilaterally
defaulted on the U.S. sovereign obligation to pay an
ounce of gold for $35, with the exception of the
Swiss franc until 1996, there has been no escape
because, in accordance with the 1978 modifications
to the IMF's Articles of Agreement (Section 4-2-b),
no currency of any member country may be linked
to gold. All economic, monetary, and financial crises
of the past 30 years flow from the Nixon default.

The global irredeemable-paper-ticket-token currency
system is very young. Its continued functioning
depends on the belief that the debt upon which it
is based will, someday, be repaid and serviced along
the way. The one thing, above all others, that could
shake that faith, and therefore the foundations of
the modern financial system is a rise (especially a
sharp rise) in the U.S. dollar price of gold. This is the
real reason why Switzerland was persuaded into
disposing of half of its gold.

The prosperity of the Swiss banking system, the
Swiss insurance industry, and the Swiss economy in
general was based on its currency being tied to gold.
As a consequence, the Swiss franc was considered
the strongest currency in the world. Concomitantly,
the Swiss banking industry gained international trust
and admiration. That trust is now being irresponsibly
wasted by uninformed organizations.

Russia and other oil-producing countries are beginning
to sell their oil for euros. This is extremely negative
for the dollar because it reduces demand. Furthermore,
some of the world's best-informed investors, such as
Sir John Templeton, Warren Buffett, and George Soros,
are expecting the quot;dollarquot; to lose purchasing power.

Regardless, the Swiss National Bank continues to
squander Switzerland's golden treasure, which had
been built up by generations of hardworking Swiss
under severe privations. The proceeds of the sales
are quot;investedquot; in soon-to-be worthless quot;dollars,quot;
which the U.S. banking system, thanks to its
quot;exorbitant privilege,quot; as General de Gaulle called it,
is creating daily out of thin air by the billions. It is
about time that our authorities realize that the best
alternative, and the free-market choice, to
irredeemable paper-ticket-fiat money is gold.

Even in a global world one needs reserves to be
respected. For 15 years the Swiss have experienced
an estranged government that does not respect for
the will of the people and which is striving to become
part of the European Union. Switzerland is becoming
financially weakened, its social systems are beginning
to tumble, and savings are declining. The country
simply will not be in a position to face looming
economic and financial dangers. This is only because
a dishonest elite has been lulled into a false sense of
security and either does not know what it is doing or
is consciously doing everything to weaken and to sell
out our country.

I wish that during the coming festive season you will
find the leisure to read Chapter VII about Switzerland.
Since I no longer have confidence in our institutions,
I will make my analysis known and it will be my pleasure
if I can give some inspiration to honest minds.

It may be that you are not too familiar with these
thoughts or ideas, but I assure you that my friends
worldwide are alarmed that central banks are
exchanging gold for paper and liquidating the savings
of their people in the process. This concern is probably
responsible for the fact that the American version of
my book, quot;Gold Wars,quot; is enjoying a continued high
rating among professional books.

If this book finds your favour and you agree with my
hypothesis as a worried citizen of our country, then
you manifest this by using the enclosed deposit slip
in favour of the International Red Cross. I am
obviously at your disposition if you desire to discuss
this topic further.

With best wishes for the coming festive season and
a happy new year for you and your family.

Sincerely yours,

Ferdinand Lips
Zurich

----------------------------------------------------

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----------------------------------------------------

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