I hear you can get a great exchange rate on Drachmas!

This is but another in a long series of hairbrained ideas he's come up with, that aren't worth a pound of beans, and which should be viewed in the same light as was his apolyptic warning of this nation being on the "precipice" of collaspe." Not to mention the omimous threat posed to our very way of life by U.N. Agenda 21 he fostered.

Richard Rothschild, the Glenn Beck of Carroll County. Next thing you'll see him peddling gold as an investment on Goldline. The problem with gold and silver is that these are highly speculative investments. If Rothschild wants to gamble with his money, great, but he has no right to gamble with taxpayer dollars. Haven't the banks done enough of that? We see what that resulted in.

Next he will be suggesting we stockpile ammo, canned goods, and "Crisis Garden" seed packets to feed ourselves through the pending collapse of Civilization As We Know It.

Lol, here we go again, pile on the commissioners! So he wants to look into diversifying the investments, what's wrong with that? Seems to me he's being a good stewerd of the county's money. I see all you yahoos are poo pooing the idea of being prepared as well, especially you Fried! You were probably one of those idiots during the blizzard that complained about the lack of snow removal because you didn't prepare & "stockpile" food & beer. True Carroll Countians know what to do & can appreciate Rothschild's thinking.

One has to wonder about the emotional state of a man who lives with such paranoia. Fear of the government taking his property, fear of identity theft, fear of others trying to silence him, fear of financial collapse, fear of minorities or the less fortunate, fear for his personal safety to the point that he has to carry a concealed weapon. What's next?....fear that the sky is falling? I don't know how the man sleeps at night. When will the other commissioners see what the rest of us see???

He's kidding, right??? And as far as fiscal matters...how quickly we forget Mr. Simpson, the faux forum, the all-but-invisible lobbyist, the Bible oriented for-staff-only Constitution class....com'on now Native...responsible ?? What other endeavors are being discussed behind closed doors...that 2 cent property tax reduction has already been spent...And by the way, just who DID pay for uprooting the homeless people on those two private pieces of property??? That should be looked into ....

The one thing about the right is that they never identify themselves. For example, the right-wing nut job that continually sends me anonymours hate mail because I exercise my first amendment rights. You know, the Constitution that the right says the love for temselves and to hell with everyone else. To Native, you can get by without food in Carroll County for several days but I'm not sure you'd last a few hours without the beer.

Funny how some people throw around the words "fear" and "paranoia". Probably the same people who are all puckered up about party politics. What's the big deal about looking at investment alternatives to the dollar? People only need to open their eyes and see their food and gas bills to understand that the dollar is rapidly losing purchasing power. Metals have "increased" for the past 12 years, and this will likely continue, but not because they have become worth MORE - it's because the dollar has become worth LESS.

I wonder what friend of his sells these things.

We've all seen those late night infomercials on this topic. It's disturbing to think that one of our elected officials actually buys into it and would want to put our county reserves at such risk. I'm really beginning to question his state of mind. He seems to have serious emotional issues.

Here's a very interesting article by Forbes magazine that discusses the current state of gold prices and if there is/has been a "gold bubble" developing

http://www.forbes.com/sites/feeonlyplanner/2011/08/28/gold-bubble-or-not

Article's conclusion: It is anybody’s guess when gold will correct, but it is very likely that it will be ugly when it does.

WatchingInMtAiry, articles like that are a dime per dozen. The government and its friends at the Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs want you to believe that the dollar is sound, while they keep printing it madly from thin air to fund everything from guns to butter. Because of this, the dollar (not gold) is one the greatest speculative investments, dying a protracted death as a former world reserve currency. It's simple supply and demand - the more they print, the more dilution and less value it has. At least gold cannot be produced from nothing. It has closed at a higher price for 10 straight years - not because of a bubble on its part, but because of the implosion of the dollar and other currencies. Gold had been a lynchpin to currencies for centuries and, when implemented properly, keeps monetary policy honest and stable. But few seem to be concerned about history or honesty these days. By the way, I would disagree with the Commissioner about investing in other foreign currencies, since none are much better than the dollar. While some may race ahead in performance, relative to the others, all fiat currencies are in a race to the bottom if they are backed by nothing more than faith that a sovereign government will always pay its debts.

No it's cool guys, he has to put it in foreign currency so he can send it to Africa to help that deposed prince of Kenya that has been emailing him. It seems pretty legitimate.

But on a serious note... why is this even a county commissioners business?

How much of his money is invested in commodities? It's risky, and those ads are just driving a run that will dry up for most buyers. I would rather see the county's (our tax) money invested in solid traditional sources even if the ROI isn't all that high. Ask any financial planner or investment advisor or any other person in the industry (Rep or Dem - doesn't matter party affliation), and they will all advise you against this.

Like with most things Rothschild pontificates about or has taken pride in wasting taxpayer money on, he doesn't understand the very basics of being a good fiduciary. There's a reason it's against the law to invest county surplus in speculative investments...it's called taking unnecessary risk. As someone else said, let his paranoid delusions govern his own personal investment decisions, not county government's. Just because his warped views of monetary policy make him think that holding dollars is risky, doesn't make it true. He'll say anything he can to be noticed. While he may be a savant to his sychophant followers, he's simply sounds ridiculous to those who know how to think for themselves! He's comfortably dispensed planning advice to professional planners and refuted global warming with pseduo-science. Why wouldn't he show prowess in investment advisory? He can probably cure cancer and talk to God too...just ask him!

The thing that is being missed is: Gold (and silver and platinum and palladium to a lesser extent) is NOT an investment, it IS savings.

I wonder what is really driving Rothchild on this issue, paranoia or greed? No doubt there is a gold bubble and eventually it will correct, it did before and it will again. Guessing the timing of the bubble is not something to do with our tax dollars. If it is paranoia driving him, I love that fact that this flag waving all American politician is scared to invest in America and would like to divest in foreign currency. So much for investing in the US dollar and our economy, but that is nothing new.
So, I guess we are now going to outsource our currency?

America does not have enough gold to back the currency that the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank has printed at the continued request of our government.
That would make the US currency fiat currency... or in other words, not worth the paper it's printed on with nothing to back it up. Most people assume that the Federal Reserve Bank is a part of the US Government, buts in reality it is a privately held corporation not owned by the US or it's citizens....what an illusion ..!!

Rothschild is probably just responding to the gold adds that cover the websites that he hangs on...he knows nothing about investing county taxpayer funds..

Jackie, excellent points. Native, did you watch the video, by chance? He did more than ask for advice. He admitted in open session that he had initiated an earlier conversation about this with the county comptroller. I don't think Rothschild makes inquiries; he makes demands that sometimes sound like inquiries. Go back and watch the tape. Our illustrious county commissioner denounces the American dollar, proclaims it will fail, and then instructs the comptroller to contact the legislature or the State Comptroller to see what can be done to change MD law. Honest to goodness, I think Rothschild is anti-American. He's certainly anti-US Government. And doesn't that seem odd, coming from someone who professes to bow at the feet of the US Constitution and is sworn to uphold it?

If the intent is to do some doomsday prepper investing...I would recommend that the County buy hands on physical gold.... maybe set up cash for gold County stations.... stockpile the hell out of it !