Last year, we were assured, BREXIT would spell doom for Britain, and the conservatives who led it.
It just had to happen; BREXIT was an epic rejection of the political technocrat elite by the rabble and peasants – and the technocrats (and those who suck up to them) warned us that that could lead to nothing but calamity.
It haan’t – and the opinion polls on the upcoming parliamentary votes seem to be bearing this out:
For the first time in this election, YouGov reveals the voting intention picture in each British government office region. The fieldwork, conducted from April 24 to May 5, shows:
- The Conservative vote share is up, sometimes dramatically so, since the last general election in every region of the UK.
- Labour are down on their 2015 vote haul in every region of the UK except the South West and South East where they were already performing poorly.
- The Liberal Democrat vote share is up in most regions, but only by small margins.
- UKIP’s vote share is down seven to ten points in all regions except Scotland and London, where they were already performing poorly.
The Tories have co-opted a lot of UKIP’s messaging. And Labour seems to be eading toward its worst showing since the end of WWI.
Things happen in slow-motion so those pro-Brexit are still under the illusion that all will be well. When you know the train is running inexorably into the buffers, why not step off while it’s still moving relatively slowly rather than wait until it’s too late to save yourself?
Emery: They are sick of the EU. It jumped the shark in the 80’s. The EMU ***will*** have huge problems, soon.
Now they are talking about a fiscal union between France and Germany so they can stick it to everyone else. It’s just thug no-account government feeding back on it’s self.
Things are in flux and it isn’t the UK Brexit voter’s fault.
https://twitter.com/christopherburd/status/864495649772904449
The EU cannot afford to prevaricate over Brexit because a bad Brexit risks causing it immeasurable harm. Not only does big business in Europe want a Britain with which it can freely trade, but confidence in the European Project is rapidly diminishing. The EU is a mega-state that is fading, and no one knows how to ensure its survival. Inevitably, the failings of the EU are catching up with it, and Britain’s leaving exposes the financial consequences of decades of bad management, capital destruction through wasteful redistribution and the lack of any contingency planning.
https://twitter.com/mises/status/864496413828415488
I see that Emery is doubling down on his bet that the remaining EU is going to cut off their noses to spite their faces by driving an incredibly hard bargain on the free(r) trade minded British. Perhaps he is correct that the bureaucrats in Brussels, Berlin, and Paris are idiots, but somehow that does not seem to be a very good argument for remaining in the EU, to put it mildly.
Side note is that it is heartwarming to contemplate Labour getting the thrashing they’ve deserved since 1950 for their idiotic nationalization programs and the destruction of lower middle class cities like Everton. Nil satis nisi optimum!
BB: A recent Guardian editorial asserted that “..in the UK there are broadly two types of leftwing person: those who think markets are a necessary evil and those who think they are an unnecessary one.” The faction that now leads Labour is clearly in the second camp. There is no fool like an old fool and these these two remain wedded to a totally unjustifiable belief in the omniscience, omnipotence and beneficence of the “state”.
The one good thing is that the majority of voters have seen through these old fools and they will have no opportunity to impose any aspect of their economic illiteracy. However, they are determined to remain at the helm of the Labour party until they can change the rules to secure the election of an equally stupid successor.
Emery – well put.
(Or at least well-quoted from the Guardian).
The EU has learned nothing. Surely, Emery, some of the criticisms of the EU are valid. The EU, as a governing entity, can be criticized for being undemocratic, for wasting resources, for creating economic inefficiencies and for institutionalizing high unemployment (among other things). People who believe the social and economic costs of the EU outweigh the return to their country may be wrong, but they aren’t irrational.
Because they don’t feel it, Elites always underestimate the power of national and ethnic identities.
It’s entirely possible Britons have thrown the baby out with the bath water by leaving the EU. But it’s their baby. And they were pushed into doing it by the EU’s endless, intrusive nit-picking.
The best example I can think of is the regulation against selling overly bendy bananas for human consumption. They can only be sold for industrial use. It’s actually against the law to sell too-bendy bananas and you could be prosecuted for it.
To bureaucrats in Brussels, this seems sensible and orderly whereas my instinctive reaction is WHO MADE YOU BANANA SHERIFF OF THE WHOLE WORLD?
I think enough Britons finally got sick of the BS. Good on ’em.
In practical terms, you cannot have an economic union without political union. If you try economic union without political union, you have absurdities like Germans working more so Greeks can work less. Political union in Europe is impossible without tyranny. Ethnic and regional divisions in the United States are small (with a few exceptions). A Floridian can become an Alaskan and vice-versa.
Europe is a group of nations, not states. You can’t make them the equivalent of American states by dictate.
We think that the end of the USSR was due to the collapse of communism. It was also the collapse of a supra-national political state. The USSR split up on the old ethnic and national lines the soviet government had tried to erase.
Systems without controlling feedback are nearly always inherently unstable. The EU lacks effective feedback on its policies and it was designed that way. The lack of feedback from the proles and from most of the members was viewed as a feature by Mannet and Delors, who desired technocratic governance by the anointed “worthies”.
How out of touch is the EU? Every time it is put to a referendum the people are allowed to vote on joining/remaining … but only until they accept membership. And when there is any contention about remaining there always seem to be some reason that “now is not the time” to vote on remaining.
“It’s entirely possible Britons have thrown the baby out with the bath water by leaving the EU. But it’s their baby.”
The EU and the EMU can only be kept together with graft, threats of force, and in some cases, poverty.
Mammuthus Primigenius and nerdbert nailed it.
There is a great under the radar economist–Harold Malmgren–that worked for all of the administrations. He said the EU went overboard in the 80’s.
This thread is therapeutic for me. I follow a RINO that used to live in Germany that ***says*** she is a “classical liberal.” She’s for all of this crap. It’s all regressive BS. Plenty educated, too. Makes me crazy.
How out of touch is the EU? Every time it is put to a referendum the people are allowed to vote on joining/remaining … but only until they accept membership. And when there is any contention about remaining there always seem to be some reason that “now is not the time” to vote on remaining.
Nerdbert nails it. The EU is a political time share resort, or possibly the Hotel California.
TFS wrote: “There is a great under the radar economist–Harold Malmgren–that worked for all of the administrations. He said the EU went overboard in the 80’s.”
From Malmgren’s Wikipedia page: Education[edit]
Malmgren initially studied Physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1953-54. Offered a full scholarship to Yale University, he transferred to study economics, where he also became Research Assistant to Nobel Laureate Professor Thomas Schelling.
I like the cut of the man’s jib already. The Left has incredible respect for economists (that agree with them) because economists can do math. They use mathematical functions to draw graphs. They justify, with math, progressive policies. I once saw a talk (on Youtube) by liberal heart throb economist Joseph Stiglitz (Stiglitz was one of Hillary’s advisers). At one point they panned over the audience. It was at least 50% women. Economics is nerdy. The percentage of economists and economics students is far less than 50%, so a good part of the audience was not capable of understanding Stiglitz’ ideas. I doubt if they knew the meaning of the terms Stiglitz used.
As a rule, a lowly BS physics out a mediocre university knows more math than an academic economist.
Mammuthus Primigenius: Malmgren is so damn cool. His Real Vision interview was epic. Incredibly smart twitter feed. His feed interacts with the best and he always has practical views based on his bipartisan government experience.
On the video he talked about getting hammered with the head of GOSPLAN at lunch once in the 70’s. The GOSPLAN guy predicted we would become overcome by centralization and political bullshit, just like they were.
Well, look around.
FYI, they are about to mega jack up the price of Real Vision soon. I have no idea if you can still get in at the original price.
Mitch,
Since the fact of BREXIT as well as the consequences, have hardly come, I think you may just have the cart a little ahead of the horse here. Friends of mine, conservative Brits, are quite concerned about the trade and financial impacts. Liberal friends of mine are glad the Brits shed themselves of control by the EU banking oligarchs, but it’s far too early to tell whether one crowd or the other is right, much less whether there will be fall-out for the “BREXIT” folks – many of whom were neither conservative nor liberal, but were instead isolationists.
Wait a minute. Did Dunning_Kruger just give an attribution?
A miracle of pharmaceutical science!
“Things happen in slow-motion so those pro-Brexit are still under the illusion that all will be well.”
Good cover, person handling #chatbot Emery today. This way when the UK has a downturn: 2-3 Greek bankruptcies/Euro devaluations/Brussels “migrant trouble” incidents from now; you can re-animate #chatbot Emery and say I told you so on the many comment sections you have infiltrated.
PS: “Wait a minute. Did Dunning_Kruger just give an attribution?” Heh! Indeed.
TFS, I watched the Malmgren interview.
How in the world does an 82 year old man have that much hair? It’s not pretty enough to be a toup.
Mammuthus Primigenius: Seize on your free pass while you can.
***Josh Crumb***Do not miss this.
***All and I mean ALL*** Simon Mikhailovich
Chris Martenson
Russel Napier
***Alan Boyce***THIS IS MUST WATCH
***Daniel DeMartino Booth*** Plain english must watch.
Pippa Malmgren
Andrew Huszar
***Bill Fleckenstien*** This is my main guy.
Kathryn Derbes
Chris Cole
***Diego Parilla*** (the gold part “Yellow gold”) EPIC ***My peeps love this one***
***Doug Nolan*** Must watch.
The Doug Nolan interview is probably the best one to explain the actual nature of the economy. People have no idea. It’s all credit, inflation, asset bubbles and politics.
Fred Hicky. But I’m not sure if this one is sort of dated. He’s a very big deal.
___
If you wanted to cut it way down with stuff that isn’t too technical and or abstract:
***Nolan, Crumb, Boyce, Booth, Mikhailovich***
Pipa Malmgren speaks in plain english too.
Who knows everything? https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/864825461548953604