I see that on a day when the financial markets TUMBLE yet again (despite the international bail outs which the BBC crowed would save the day) the main headline on the BBC news portal is that “Councils not reckless with cash” How re-assuring – for the Councils. Why is the BBC running this angle and giving it such priority?
STILL DEFENDING COUNCILS.
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No-one seems to be asking how ‘cash-strapped’ councils have £1bn of our money to invest in dodgy banks. The assumption is, of course, that they have much more squirreled away in other banks, unless they have been spectacularly stupid (not such a long shot).
Mmm, and the biggest council affected by this?? A Conservative council. So the BBC are defending a Conservative administration? Must be Conservative bias, no?
if councils have enough money to throw at “investments” , then hang on a minute – why cant they give OUR money back to us in tax cuts?
Of course councils are wreckless with cash. I worked at one.
In the gents toilet in Lambeth Council offices, they used fifty pound notes for toilet paper. I couldn’t believe the waste. I used to get through about a thousand pounds a week wiping my arse. In the end, I started collecting the notes and spending them in supermarkets. Only THEN did the council crack down on it. Having me arrested and sectioned for spending their precious money instead of flushing it down the toilet!
AND they tried convincing me that £50 notes aren’t blue and two ply.
I’m not falling for that!
The money has to be invested somewhere – and apparently the Icelandic banks has a (meaningless) AAA rating. However, Rob has hit the proverbial nail on the head. Why did they have £1 billion on deposit when they refuse to empty my bin every week, and have slapped on average 7.5% increases on Council tax every year for the last 10 years.
Just watched the Breakfast bouffant lay out for us the two options we council tax payers face as a consequence of some of those (and I don’t care if they a red, blue or sky-blue pink) who impose such taxes blowing the civic wad with bad investments.
The only choices were, to him:
1) Taxes go up
2) Services go down
I had to suggest that there was surely, Yoda-like, ‘another’:
3) Pay, pensions and/or perks go down… or at least get held
Oddly, such a thing seems not to have occurred to the employee of an entity who, like councils, does not serve in, and hence suffer from the vagaries of the real world.
One pities those who may not have been directly responsible within any organisation in such a case, but as one who has shared the pain with many a company in my career, it may aid understanding of how life is amongst the income generators who co-fund the licence fee.
When will someone, CEOs say be prosecuted for misuse of public money? There is no way this is not criminal, it is not their money to squander on get rich schemes. It is in their trust for use in their area for the benefit of their people. The Icelandic problem is not that new.
and apparently the Icelandic banks has a (meaningless) AAA rating
No (as I posted on the previous story on this subject) that is a lie (spin). The Icelandic banks were never rated as high as AAA – very few banks are – & Moody’s had downgraded Icebank to ratings no better than a regional building society by last Febrary.
Will
“Icebank to ratings no better than a regional building society by last Febrary”
The building society I work for (Skipton) funds its mortages through its retail deposits as (like other building societies ) they are required to do so by Law .As such they are immune to this nonsense brought about by bankers acting like city spivs.
In other words , if Icebank was as well managed as a “regional building society” it would not have gone bust