aaaaand...its gone! (Bitcoin to gold?)

[metallica73]

3 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

 

It's not a council's job to be investing anything. They collect rates and spend it on services, end of. If they have money to "invest", their rates are too high.

They all do though. I remember when Iceland went tits up, several councils were on the hook after investing in companies there. I actually wonder how many ISA fund managers dabble in crypto, i admit i'm ignorant how that works

[austack]

39 minutes ago, Goldhooked said:

He hasn't lost anything unless he has sold it.  Please tell me he's not stupid enough to have sold it?!  All he needs to do is wait, it will come back.

Its the panic sellers who are thinking they have lost that are fuelling the drop.

As far as I know he hasn't sold it, I told him to wait until it goes back up to minimize his loss, then just buy a house with it.

[Xander]

10 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

IMO the question was stupid. Why should a councillor know what bitcoin is? If he "invested" taxpayers money in bitcoin and it went tits up, can you imagine the backlash. I certainly wouldn't want my council speculating in cryptos!

It's not a council's job to be investing anything. They collect rates and spend it on services, end of. If they have money to "invest", their rates are too high.

Councils certainly do invest our money...that was the whole point of Mr Vines interview, it was to expose how useless they are.

[sovereignsteve]

2 minutes ago, Xander said:

Councils certainly do invest our money...that was the whole point of Mr Vines interview, it was to expose how useless they are.

Bitcoin isn't investing.

I hope this guy doesn't now go and stick a couple of million of his local resident's money into cryptos, just to prove how "cool" and clever he is.

[swAgger]

Irrespective of the guy not knowing what bitcoin was, tbh i think that was a stupid question by Jeremy Vine to an elected official responsible for the public's money. And if they were to lose money on that or any other volatile investment, the public would be the first people demanding heads to roll, followed by a sarcastic Jeremy Vine then asking what the hell were they thinking.

[Xander]

4 hours ago, swAgger said:

Irrespective of the guy not knowing what bitcoin was, tbh i think that was a stupid question by Jeremy Vine to an elected official responsible for the public's money. And if they were to lose money on that or any other volatile investment, the public would be the first people demanding heads to roll, followed by a sarcastic Jeremy Vine then asking what the hell were they thinking.

The question by JV was meant to be irony, something that was lost on this excuse for a councillor in charge of investing tens of millions of taxpayers money and didn't even know what a bitcoin was which proves he should not be allowed anywhere near public funds.

[swAgger]

2 hours ago, Xander said:

The question by JV was meant to be irony, something that was lost on this excuse for a councillor in charge of investing tens of millions of taxpayers money and didn't even know what a bitcoin was which proves he should not be allowed anywhere near public funds.

mmm ok. Does it prove that though? I'm not convinced that no knowledge of the one means being incapable of doing the other in a safe, steady manner expected. Wouldn't it be cool if it turned out the crafty councilor was using reverse irony on JV? But...yeah... i doubt it too

You obviously have a better handle on how the interview went, anyway, and maybe this guy really isn't the best for that responsibility. I'm giving an opinion without having the whole context. I don't mean to detract from your overall point that maybe local elected officials shouldn't always be handed the reigns of finance which would be best left in the hands of experienced investment managers.

I will just add though, that in my own investments in precious metal, outside of gold and silver i admit to being happily and totally ignorant of what and where other metals stand in the markets. But i do a decent job with what i do know. At least that's what i try to convince myself