If I were a British citizen I would have voted in favor of an independent Great Britian. Free to pursue our own destiny. Free to manage our own. No annual "fees" to the EU. No foreign commercial fishing companies in our waters. Free to farm, produce, stockpile and sell as we please.


A great 4 part series.

 

TRIAR11, as much as I often respect your insight and foresight on this I must avidly disagree. You are making a very simplistic case for Brexit being the actual costs will mount to over £100bn plus £4.5bbn per DAY due to the drop against all currencies of the GBP. There are thousands of EU laws adopted by the UK which will have to be repealed and 'cherry picked' prior to issuing Article 50 (of which there is no going back) . Say, for instance, there are 4000 laws, to gain agreement on these or repeal them will take decades, politicians aren't known for their speed but only their tardiness. Then there are the negotiations, probably thousands of individual issues, you need the rest of the EU members to agree to each which IMO won't be done as a 'blanket' cosnsideration but piecemeal, this will also take decades. In 1973 the UK was in a parlous state and went on bended knee to the EU for entry following an earlier Veto of the application, the UK finally was accepted in 1975, 41 years ago. Now the UK has decided over various non incidental issues to leave the EU but they still want access to the single market but without freedom of movement from member states. The UK Brexiteers believe they can 'menu' pick their way to success but IMO they have a severe shock coming as it's a ratio of 27 to 1. Therefore, IMO, better the devil you know rather than a leap of faith into the abyss. The irony is many Brexiteers think they want to retain certain rules and benefits including subsidies to farming and fisheries, where do they honestly believe the cash will come from 'the tooth fairy'. If you study their success to date not one single trade deal has been confirmed in 5 months. As for the mouthy politicians, they will always have a job to pay the bills, take Farage for instance, he'll be 'cosying' up to Trump as a new employer

 

Mouthy politicians. I remember Farge and those buses he was traveling around on claiming that the $100's of millions of pounds sent to the EU would be spent on NIH if Brexit passed. The day after the vote he was hedging, oh wait, lying about how they never intended on redirecting any money saved (it there really is going to be any after all) to the NIH. I've stepped in dog **** that had more integrity than Farage.

As far as that 100 days nonsense cut and pasted from the Trump website:

First, good luck getting the very people who benefit from unlimited terms, voting themselves out of jobs. Also, what a ****ing mess the House would be in if every 4 years everyone was a freshman. No one would have any idea how or what to do. They'd just be getting familiar with how Congress worked before they were out thanks to term limits.

Second, believe it or not but there are Federal agencies that actually perform valuable services. Letting them slowly die on the vine is not a way to run an efficient government.

Third, what are we, in grade school. If you want one you have to give up two. Yeah, I can see that working out great.

Four and Five, a five year ban on lobbying or lobbying for a foreign entity. Will this be another government regulation or is this what Trump is claiming will be a restriction on those in his administration. If it's the former, again, good luck on getting a law like that passed when so many are making a living that way. If it's the latter, what happens to that ban once Trump is out of office (or is he really going to be our imperial president)?

Six, it is currently against the law for politicians to accept money from foreign entities.
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-20...-sec110-20.xml

On protecting American workers:

First, renegotiate NAFTA. Most of the jobs that went to Mexico in 20 years ago are now in Vietnam, China and other small Asian nations. This whole idea of bringing back the jobs is laughable. The economics simply aren't there.

Second, no worries, the TPP (which was actually an attempt to protect the US and its other Asian trading partners from China) hasn't come close to a vote in Congress.

Third, pick a trade war with China, just what we all want as we're still struggling to get back on our feet after the collapse of 2008.

Fourth, look for everything the rest of the world is doing that is unfair to us while praying that the rest of the world doesn't find anything to go after us about. You really think we are the victims????

Fifth, lift all restrictions on shale. Please keep in mind how environmentally unsound the mining of tar sands really is. The immense use of water (with the corresponding immense amounts of highly polluted waste water coupled with the as yet undetermined impact on methods like fracking have on the increase in seismic activity. Sadly, we are like heroin addicts looking for a fix regardless of the long term impact.

Keep producing natural gas and you'll really keep those coal miners out of work. The idiocy about Obama's war on coal in nothing compared to the impact of cheap natural gas. Coal's never coming back and the sooner people realize that and make the changes necessary, the better. And clean coal, that a riot. Burn even more coal at higher temps to reduce the emissions. People have talked about this chimera for years but no one has really sorted it out.

Six, infrastructure. I'm all for it. But how are all the teaparty no new taxes people in Congress going to pay for it??? Obama wanted a much larger infrastructure bill but was never able to get the cooperation from Congress. And Keystone? Run horribly toxic and difficult to clean up tar sands oil from Canada directly over the aquifer that supplies the breadbasket of the US right on down to the Gulf where that same oil can be easily exported to the rest of the world. Our benefit, versus the risks, makes it an ill advised endeavor.

Seven, cancel payment to the UN for climate change programs. Yeah, because climate change is just a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese so they can take over the world.

I won't get into his tax plan beyond saying that many VERY qualified economist from places like the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, the Brookings Institute, the Center for the American Taxpayer and on and on all agree on one thing, the Trump tax plan will dramatically increase the national debt. It is unworkable in its current form especially if you're one of those people in the rust belt anxious about slipping out of the middle class.

In closing, I'll post an excerpt from a book by Richard Rorty published in 1998. It's pretty scary how he hit the nail on the head 18 years ago in "Achieving Our Country." It's like he wrote the script for Trump's election and it doesn't turn out pretty.

"[M]embers of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers—themselves desperately afraid of being downsized—are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.

At that point, something will crack. The nonsuburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking around for a strongman to vote for—someone willing to assure them that, once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots. A scenario like that of Sinclair Lewis’ novel It Can’t Happen Here may then be played out. For once a strongman takes office, nobody can predict what will happen. In 1932, most of the predictions made about what would happen if Hindenburg named Hitler chancellor were wildly over optimistic.

One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion. The words [slur for an African-American that begins with “n”] and [slur for a Jewish person that begins with “k”] will once again be heard in the workplace. All the sadism which the academic Left has tried to make unacceptable to its students will come flooding back. All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet.[M]embers of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers—themselves desperately afraid of being downsized—are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.

At that point, something will crack. The nonsuburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking around for a strongman to vote for—someone willing to assure them that, once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots. A scenario like that of Sinclair Lewis’ novel It Can’t Happen Here may then be played out. For once a strongman takes office, nobody can predict what will happen. In 1932, most of the predictions made about what would happen if Hindenburg named Hitler chancellor were wildly overoptimistic.

One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion. The words [slur for an African-American that begins with “n”] and [slur for a Jewish person that begins with “k”] will once again be heard in the workplace. All the sadism which the academic Left has tried to make unacceptable to its students will come flooding back. All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet."

 

You know, I was just reading about how Otto the Uber owned autonomous trucking company made it's first successful trip (roughly 120 miles from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs) hauling beer. It's not the first time an autonomous freight delivery has been made but it indicates that things are changing and they'll be changing quickly.

So, with autonomous trucking taking over the nations highways, likely increasing safety and efficiency, another middle class career will disappear. We need to really be thinking about what the not so distant future holds from a large majority of workers in this country. As automation grows into areas we once thought were safe for humans what will these humans do. How will people made redundant earn a living, pay for health insurance, put food on the table, educate their children, feel like they are worthwhile participants in society.

More than ever, especially with the newly elected administration, I can't help but feel we're taking some big steps backwards while technology is leaping forward. More and more people are going to be left behind both socially and economically. I haven't I've felt this uncomfortable about our future in a very long time.

 

Great Britian was once a super power. She was the center hub for world trade. She was techologically advanced. She had the largest most powerful navy in the world. Her lands fertile. Her waters abundant with fisheries. She was truly independent. She fought her own wars. She was proud. She was Great Britain.

 

 

"Great Britian was once a super power. She was the center hub for world trade. She was techologically advanced. She had the largest most powerful navy in the world. Her lands fertile. Her waters abundant with fisheries. She was truly independent. She fought her own wars. She was proud. She was Great Britain."

And then, oh my god, the world changed. Other countries became powerful and challenged England's hegemony. Other countries developed their own empires. Suddenly people who had been colonized demanded their own freedom. We had wars that developed from small affairs of the king into world wars involving tens, if not hundreds of millions of people.

In the end, the great empire that was the United Kingdom was finished. After World War I she was greatly weaken but World War II finished off any sense of her being a world power on her own. Just look at how ridiculous both France and the UK looked in their attempt to retain control over the Suez Canal in '56. The new world power, the US and Eisenhower in particular, treated France and the UK like petulant, spoiled children, spanked them and told them to go back to their respective rooms.

Take a look at a book from a few decades ago by Paul Kennedy, "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers." It will, eloquently, explain to you how and why empires fall. Or, if you're lazy and would prefer, listen to a podcast by Dan Carlin, "Hardcore History" or "Common Sense" to get a broader sense of why things happen in the world. A 40 minute propaganda piece paid for by a billionaire Englishman should, for a wide range of reasons, be viewed with a jaundiced eye.

 

 

Hi TRIAR11, sadly Paul is correct, Britain is no longer a super power and it is finding it hard to find a pot to pee in. Since the golden days of the empire which is now 100 years plus Britain has been in terminal decline and the majority of working class Brits just too lazy to work hence the rise in immigrant labour. Yep the city of London and the hi-tech knowledge makes a few quid but this is overshadowed by the lack of anything else. Every youngster wants to be a footballer, pop star or super model but haven't realised they have no talent so they draw state benefits instead for decades. There seems to be a blame culture and apathy in the UK and indeed across europe where it's the governments fault and it's a about a "me, me, me" culture based upon TV advertising, media, smart phones and social media like Facebook. Learning and hard work are a thing of the past which has given way to scammers and con artists who are part of the failed society. The politicians are invariably interested only in money and deception, unfortunately everyone is only for themselves. No I'm afraid the great has certainly disappeared in Great Britain and it is a very sorry society which believes everyone else owes them something, it's their right.

 

It seems to me that the British fall began when it stopped seeing the world as its oyster and instead began seeing Europe as its partner, then was subsumed within the EU. The smarmy officials in Brussels crow that Britain may have to pay the EU as long as 2030. And the redistribution of money and consolidation of decision making is what they are all about. It is revealed. That's globalism. And both Brexit and the election of Donald Trump are rejections of globalism, elite rule, liberalism (to the extent that it isht already mentioned as globalism and elite rule) and the ceding of sovereignty that all contributed to British marginalization. The State of Texas was once sovereign. Does Britain want to be as a State within the United States? I think the voters said no. Why? Maybe not completely on grounds of sovereignty but as a rejection of the signs of what would come: the end of national identity, the end of British uniqueness and culture, the bleeding of resources to other States over which Britain had no control or direct say, and the imposition of social and economic norms that were as foreign to Britain today as they were prior to the EU. Now, imagine how extreme these effects are seen in the United States, which was founded in a Brexit of its own! Add a forceful liberal agenda and it is no surprise at all that both countries (the United States and Britain) reached similar conclusions when generally silent, mentally downtrodden majorities trying to make a living and raise families in an increasingly chaotic world bothered to go vote.

Anyway, that is my perspective, admittedly from afar.

When a particular Judge many were not fond of, but whose rulings had nationwide effect, was offered a spot in a higher, appellate court, his detractors could not understand the reasoning of "promoting" him. The reasoning was that his voice would be one of several instead of one of one. He wisely declined and remained a "superpower" until his death. Had he made the mistake of accepting the appointment I have no doubt that he would have formulated his own Brexit plan in short order.