Only just
The value of the pound
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Only just
The salient point is that too many politicians, very much including Rees-Mogg have personal investments which make their political motives highly dubious. Far too many MPs are acting on behalf of private companies and lobby groups and being paid to do so, whilst the laws regarding this are full of holes. https://www.theguardian.com/politic...son-lobbied-government-for-firm-he-worked-for
JRMs investments (despite him saying that "it's cloud cuckoo land") in SCM have increased directly as a result of the fall in the pound and it's clear as day that Brexit would result in that.https://www.channel4.com/press/news...e-earnt-ps7m-investments-referendum-according Now you could say that that's just natural overlap, but if that's the case, why doesn't he just say so rather than attempt to hold the premise that the two things, his support for Brexit and his personal financial benefit from it are entirely separate? If he was an honest and principled man, acting as he should as an MP, in the interest of the country and the public, he should forgo any personal benefit he stands to receive from policies he lobbies parliament and the public for.
It's not a conspiracy, it's just that politics in general at the moment is bent. So much so that politicians like JRM are bent in open daylight and it's become normalised.
I'm mixed on this on the one hand I'm paid in dollars so coming back over to the UK will be like visiting a cheap eastern European country. On the other hand I own property in the UK so I'm sitting on a big paper loss in USD terms.
Kinda got me there, I don’t think that I’ve ever bought crisps in any supermarket, but I’d have to say that if 80p is the price in U.K., then 80c in Spain should be about right.
I remember some years back, having a 3 course dinner in a restaurant in Plaza de San Juan, near the cathedral in Murcia, Spain, and the price was €42 p.p., at that time about £28 p.p., as the rate, if I recall it right was €1.45.
If, (who knows), it’s still €42, then that would equate to £38 p.p., that’s what I meant when people say, it’s expensive in Spain, it might still be €42 for that dinner, but that €42 costs more pounds now than it once did.
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One bonus is at least you dont have to work out how much things are in pounds as you can just take it as 1:1 
He doesn't necessarily benefit overall from a fall in GBP. As for whether he benefit from Brexit, well clearly he thinks it is in the countries best interest and that everyone will benefit from it, I don't see that as an issue... you could make the same argument about any MP, remainers think Brexit is a bad idea and think they'll benefit from remaining... most of them have assets of some description and the decisions they make as MPs will affect those. Some MPs are wealthy etc...
Next someone will tell me that Labour targets the votes of the working class/union members and Tories have traditionally looked out for the middle classes etc..
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A coke is about €0.30 in a Supermarket. The record I saw for beer was €0.18 in Carrefour. Many bars do tapa y cana for €1.90 a few of those and you happily fed and starting to get merry. Average restaurant meals are cheap, beer is cheap, public transport is dirt cheap. There are also China shops everywhere to buy cheap tat.
I suppose you just have to know where to go, and not be in a resort type place.
Politicians shouldn't be abusing (or be able to abuse) their positions to further their own personal interests or the interests of companies they're employed by or own. I would have thought that to be relatively straightforward.
JRM really shouldn't be a major shareholder in an international investment firm whilst being a brexit poster boy, there's a clear danger of conflict of interest regardless of what he may or may actually believe about the country's best interests. At worst it's an abuse of power, at best it undermines the perception of all parliamentarians.
That's nothing to do with remainers or other MPs.
Also an investment firm that specialises in foreign "emerging markets" will of course benefit from a drop in GBP. You invest GBP abroad, say £1=$1. If the £ falls to $0.5 then you can buy £2 with your $1. The very last thing investors in foreign business and currency want is a bullish pound.
So yes, JRM stands to gain a great deal from a falling GBP, either that or he's crap at what he does, which he clearly isn't.
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One bonus is at least you dont have to work out how much things are in pounds as you can just take it as 1:1
Maybe you see it as a bonus, personally I think that it wouldn’t be easy to
make out the price tag, as my tear ducts would be working overtime
@inogen — I’m glad someone gets it.
So you found the crystal ball then.
I don’t think that is clear at all.
So you found the crystal ball then.
I don’t think that is clear at all.They're not/he isn't. This notion that he wants the pound to fall is dubious as already pointed out.
What he believes is in the best interests of the country and what you believe is might well differ!
That is dubious. Someone else thinks JRM = bad person and via [handwaving argument] has done something dubious.
You made it pretty obvious in a previous reply that you're slightly jaded by Brexit, your view on this shouldn't really have much to do with your view on Brexit itself or whether you like JRM's politics.
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One bonus is at least you dont have to work out how much things are in pounds as you can just take it as 1:1
Always try to find that silver lining.
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so even at a 1:1 exchange rate, it's much, much, MUCH cheaper than over here
think the last time I remember coke being 30p was in the 80s
Not always a lot of EM funds hedge off the currency risk. The PMs that run these funds are usually investing in a specific business they think will do well and are not taking a macro bet on the countries currency. Actually doing this was one of my first jobs in the city.
Indeed, this was mentioned earlier in the thread too... it isn't like the entire fund is just a big punt against GBP not to mention that it would be rather **** if they had to blame poor performance on some currency risk it no doubt is a factor at times though. Plus they're hardly just targeting UK investors, they have investors from Europe, Asia etc..
The whole point is just pretty dubious anyway even if ignoring that as JRM and his wife have interests in tens of millions of GBP based assets and I doubt his entire investment portfolio is just allocated to the EM funds run by that company.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting that they aren’t investing in the fundamentals of specific businesses — just that the falling pound adds to any profits they make when converted back into GBP.
I said in one of my earliest posts that they will no doubt hedge against currency fluctuations, but I would be surprised if the hedge negated the entirety of the ‘benefit’ — have I got that wrong?
He has a vested interest in the pound falling. That's one of the ways his investment company makes money.
I'm saying what he personally believes is best for the country is irrelevant. As is what he says he thinks.
Not necessarily, but again, as with the rest of this argument you don't know, just as you don't know the extent of his exposure to currency fluctuations through any other holdings he may have. We do however know he's got substantial UK property assets!
Are you just deliberately ignoring the previous comments on this. You don't know to what extent they hedge their currency risk for a start and even then you don't know what portion of his wealth is invested in these funds. We do know he's got substantial GBP based assets.
How do you know how the pound falling affects him personally? Please explain beyond just highlighting that he's got a stake and likely investment in the funds of an EM fund management company.
You’re right, I don’t know for certain. I thought I had a fairly good idea of the process. If @mattx2 (as someone who has done this for a living) comes along and tells me that 99% of the time, the hedge negates all the power of currency fluctuations then my presumption will have been wrong and I will have learned something.
Which again, is irrelevant unless he’s planning on selling those assets to buy other assets overseas in the near future, but as you keep saying — we don’t know. He may be perfectly happy holding his substantial GBP assets for a very long time.
He may even buy more GBP assets on the cheap (following the impending recession) using his overseas profits and then in ~10 years reap the rewards when the economy finally recovers. Maybe he’s playing the long game. I mean, it worked for the ‘top 1%’ [sic] following the 2008 crash.
Before you take that too literally — yes, I’m being hyperbolic.Well it isn't irrelevant... so essentially your argument re: the property is an unrealised loss can be ignored here - as for profiting later that relies on the post-brexit economy doing rather well down the line relative to if we'd not left!
The argument re: the liquid assets is - you don't know. Essentially there is no basis for the claim. Your presumption re: the hedge doesn't matter too much either way as even if completely unhedged you still don't know how much has been allocated to those funds in the first place!
So far you're happy with an unrealised loss on GBP based illiquid property assets, that can apparently be ignored, but a stake in an EM fund which may or may not have been hedge efficiently against currency risk is the reason for a claim that he's profited from Brexit despite not knowing how much he's got invested in the fund itself or what other investments he's got that might well also have been affected either way.
It is a nonsense argument so far yet I still keep on getting quotes about it.