Thread by @charlieboylert

Regarding all the #ShortingThePound
from a former insider!
While I agree that this looks terrible & exposes the toxic closeness between government & influential donors, it's the government we should be purely focusing on, here's why. A thread! @D_Blanchflower @Ian_Fraser @Peston

1, Many professional investors regard government as complete idiots, & are much better at predicting market moves, than the Daily Mail or the UK government! It was common knowledge the £ was due to fall over the last few months, due to deteriorating market conditions in the UK!

2, Hedge funds are by their very definition, set up to protect their client's assets, in any market. They put on multiple positions for 1 month +, in order to make money in different scenarios in the market, then close & flip the position when they achieve a specific price level!

3, When a currency falls, like the UK £ did, it is very likely that this hedge fund that shorted, will have lost money on other existing positions they hold. However, the gains from the shorting position will no doubt outweigh that loss, hence why the overall fund value increased

4, The other problem with these hedge funds is that, even though the crash damaged pension funds, these hedge funds are ALSO PENSION FUNDS! Like I said earlier, these are institutional assets, not assets of the individuals that manage them. So do we prosecute pension funds now???

5, If as a society, we decide that shorting the markets is something that should be banned, then so be it. But I can't help but think that we are being distracted from the following question:
Why did pension funds almost collapse last week? This is nothing to do with Crispin Odey

6, I am not inferring either way, regarding the meetings between @KwasiKwarteng and these hedge fund managers. I'm simply making the point that after 15 years of being told UK financial system is safer than ever, it nearly collapsed again last week!! @D_Blanchflower @Ian_Fraser