Brown lost £2 billion selling UK's gold

[milanbenes]

Zathras,

you are missing one fact from you analysis,

you are missing the: Why did he sell ?

And I ain't gonna write the why here, but with a little research
you will find the answer.

Whether or not you agree with the answer is another thing, but at least the pieces of the puzzle will fit together.


Wheels within wheels and higher beings eh.

Milan.

[BoredBloke]

Actually he sold our gold and be invested it in some magic beans. Shortly he is to announce the growth of a large plant in the garden of number 11 and he is to send a task force to obtain some free gold from a giant who is believed to live at the top of it.

[Ruprect]

Actually he sold our gold and be invested it in some magic beans. Shortly he is to announce the growth of a large plant in the garden of number 11 and he is to send a task force to obtain some free gold from a giant who is believed to live at the top of it.

[Benny]

Whether or not you agree with the answer is another thing, but at least the pieces of the puzzle will fit together.

Wheels within wheels and higher beings eh.

Milan.

So it's those bl**dy Lizards again is it?

[Troll]

Usual suspects involved

The story starts on May 7, 1999. For all but the most eagle-eyed financial experts, it seemed like another dull Friday in parliament. The Treasury, however, hoped it would be the perfect moment to bury news that it was to launch an unprecedented sale of Britain’s gold reserves.

The news was slipped out by Patricia Hewitt, then a junior Treasury minister, in answer to a written parliamentary question placed by a Labour backbencher. “Today we are announcing a restructuring of the UK’s reserve holdings to achieve a better balance in the portfolio by increasing the proportion held in currency. This will involve a programme of auctions of gold,” she said.

“The Treasury intends to sell 125 tons of gold, 3% of the total reserves, during 1999-2000, with the Bank of England conducting five auctions on the Treasury’s behalf. Auctions will be held every other month starting in July.”

The answer was later shown to be wholly misleading as the government actually planned to sell 400 tons before 2002, representing more than half the country’s gold.

Hewitt’s figure of 3% referred to “total reserves” which, apart from gold, included tens of billions that the government borrows on the international currency markets, rather than the gold reserves actually owned outright by Britain.

[sasguru]

GB has pursued classical Keynesian policies which have worked reasonably well, provided there isn't a massive economic shock to the system. The Tories (of which I am one) in the past had too simplistic an economic theory - monetarism.
There has to be some unwinding of debt which may cause problems later, but not necessarily. We are in uncharted economic waters at the moment - never before has there been a global economic expansion which is spread across all economic regions in the world (bar Africa which is a basket case anyway).
As populations in India and China get more prosperous, their demand is increasing - this is behind Germany now starting its own boom and overtaking the US as the biggest exporter in the world.
We may well be in a new golden economic age.

[OwlHoot]

he didn't gamble,

lads, before you draw opinions do some effing research and get your facts,
there's more to this story

Milan.

Well if you know then stop acting all mysterious and tell us.

Otherwise, cynical people might suspect you don't have a clue.

[milanbenes]

sasguru,

thank you for that,

I too have heard it said that we will look back on these times as a golden era

Milan.

[wendigo100]

Interesting that, milan.

There is a good reason why many might look on this now as a golden age - when it all goes pop I'll look back on these times and say "how did we let everyone borrow so much?"

[milanbenes]

Owlhoot,

you might have noticed by now I am not worried what cynical people think.

Wendigo, as long as you me and the rest here are wise with our rewards we have nothing to worry about and everything to gain,

therefore enjoy the sustained good times, plan for the future, and you'll be fine


Milan.