i love this quote.."Attention Donald Trump voters: this is what happens to a country that falls for hucksters who think that life can just imitate Twitter ".... what exactly happened Tom? oh wait a minute, You mean people can vote for sovereignty if they listen to people like Trump....Nobody has any idea whats going to happen but my guess is that this is much worse for Europe than Britain ( if its bad at all)... too bad for them but it seems for the moment that nations still matter... I applaud that fact consequences be damned... Funny how angry the elitists are though
29
One could successfully argue that the European Union was actually the dog that was chasing the car, and didn't know what to do once Greece's economy collapsed, or how to manage the Middle East refugee crisis, or respond to the discontent of the citizens of member countries, or how to handle a belligerent Russian Federation.
The European Union fell victim to a lack of success in handling current problems and no good plans in place for addressing future ones.
The European Union fell victim to a lack of success in handling current problems and no good plans in place for addressing future ones.
60
'...people are feeling deeply anxious...story of our time: the pace of change in technology, globalization and climate have started to outrun the ability of our political systems to build the social, educational, community, workplace and political innovations needed for some citizens to keep up...'
One of Friedman's best columns. He's focused on the macro-problem quite well. He doesn't say the word poverty or downward mobility or gentrification, but he's more eloquent about the real troubles than any writer I've read lately. We are advancing so much in technology and moving backwards socially. We allow, even promote, the few gaining monstrous amounts of wealth/power/property/income (while cutting their taxes!) that the many are inevitably left in the dust. Gates has over $60 billion? Really? How healthy is that for a country? Such concentration is a sign of bad economics. Our large % of children in poverty is just it's wake. I'm not sure who the future belongs to, but a bright future will indeed commit itself to compassion, the people, a more perfect union of humanity and less to personal gain and wealth and hegemony. Private equity firms as landlords of the common citizen? That's where we are, that's where we're heading. Brexit and Trump are a result of civilizations falling into few haves and many have-nots. Friedman is right in his assessment; but he needs to go farther and tell us about higher top tax rates, a wealth tax, equality and love for your neighbor.
One of Friedman's best columns. He's focused on the macro-problem quite well. He doesn't say the word poverty or downward mobility or gentrification, but he's more eloquent about the real troubles than any writer I've read lately. We are advancing so much in technology and moving backwards socially. We allow, even promote, the few gaining monstrous amounts of wealth/power/property/income (while cutting their taxes!) that the many are inevitably left in the dust. Gates has over $60 billion? Really? How healthy is that for a country? Such concentration is a sign of bad economics. Our large % of children in poverty is just it's wake. I'm not sure who the future belongs to, but a bright future will indeed commit itself to compassion, the people, a more perfect union of humanity and less to personal gain and wealth and hegemony. Private equity firms as landlords of the common citizen? That's where we are, that's where we're heading. Brexit and Trump are a result of civilizations falling into few haves and many have-nots. Friedman is right in his assessment; but he needs to go farther and tell us about higher top tax rates, a wealth tax, equality and love for your neighbor.
57
White Americans ,whether they are lowly or highly placed will never dump Trump! Trust, me, Mr Trump is going to be the next President of USA
18
The weapon that has been used against people around the world has been fear. Fear of those other people, fear that "my money will be used to help the undeserving", fear of losing the job that results in working for plantation wages. These fears have been stoked by the corporate elites in their bid to consolidate all the gains for themselves, leaving only the crumbs for the rest of US.
As we see in this campaign, it is easy to rile up the rabble with talk of how the "deserving" are not getting their share. They being the deserving.
But.....the event that seems to have precipitated this so called crisis is the Syrian refugee problem. And that problem was brought on and is being exasperated by Global Climate Change....Warming. We had better start addressing that issue or the current crisis is going to look like the Roaring 20's.
As we see in this campaign, it is easy to rile up the rabble with talk of how the "deserving" are not getting their share. They being the deserving.
But.....the event that seems to have precipitated this so called crisis is the Syrian refugee problem. And that problem was brought on and is being exasperated by Global Climate Change....Warming. We had better start addressing that issue or the current crisis is going to look like the Roaring 20's.
56
Can a system that disenfranchises enough people to vote for its own destruction really be considered "one of humankind's greatest achievements?" I think it is easy to put the blame on xenophobia, demagogues, and ignorance and completely ignore the fact that the surest sign of a failing government is when people feel the need to rise up against them.
66
The point about the missed opportunity of remarkably low interest rate infrastructure projects is no national secret, while apparently the goofy Grover pledged GOP even the minimalist rate apparently cuts no ice.
There has got to be ways & means to do infrastructure projects that would ironically employ millions of very fed-up Trump voters.
I propose "lottery bonds," which by the way, the British have utilized since circa 1953: and please look it up in WIKIPEDIA if ya think I am distorting the win-win, no loser of the player's principal bonds/tickets: see their "national savings" or "premium bonds."
There has got to be ways & means to do infrastructure projects that would ironically employ millions of very fed-up Trump voters.
I propose "lottery bonds," which by the way, the British have utilized since circa 1953: and please look it up in WIKIPEDIA if ya think I am distorting the win-win, no loser of the player's principal bonds/tickets: see their "national savings" or "premium bonds."
27
Friedman acknowledges that we have opened borders to illegals deliberately yet he opposes the candidate who has brought this problem to the surface.
The borders must be sealed tight and THEN we can integrate those who are here.
The borders must be sealed tight and THEN we can integrate those who are here.
62
The U.S. has a dog in this fight, too. Its ability to project power and influence in the EU has been contingent upon close ties with with the UK, a member state. London has been America's back door to Brussels. Washington's partnership with Westminster has given the US a louder voice in influencing internal EU policy. The UK and US usually prefer to speak with a united voice in matters of trade and commerce. This door may be about to close. However, the closure of one door may open other doors with new and unexpected opportunities.
46
Middle part of the essay tells a whole lot about the messy situation. The endless flow of Syrian refugees and on their backs and boats fortune seekers from Somalia to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Bangladesh has created shock and panic in my soul, even though I consider myself a liberated center left western intellectual. Fru Merkle´s shameless, open arm "invitation" was a political suicide not only for her Germany but also for many other EU nations, let alone the rise of far right wing political hooligans from Hungary to France.
About the endless emigration of nationals of the former East Block countries in UK have also created a kind of fear in the minds of the ordinary people. Now that the Polish economy is running on sound tracks, why don´t many Polish citizens migrate back to rebuild their country?
To my utter frustration, I have been noticing that no EU leaders are saying strongly about how to end the war in Syria. Nobody is saying that the refugees can go back after the war ends to rebuild their country? The argument that Germany economic machines need cheap labor from third world countries sounds like a neo-imperialistic proposition to me.
So there are many sick sectors that need to be corrected in Brussels otherwise Brexit will pitifully recur in the form of Nexit, Grexit, and so on. I won´t be surprised if only Germany and France ( the pillars of the EU) would be hoisting this (once) star studded flag that as of today symbolize a EU, albeit dysfunctional.
About the endless emigration of nationals of the former East Block countries in UK have also created a kind of fear in the minds of the ordinary people. Now that the Polish economy is running on sound tracks, why don´t many Polish citizens migrate back to rebuild their country?
To my utter frustration, I have been noticing that no EU leaders are saying strongly about how to end the war in Syria. Nobody is saying that the refugees can go back after the war ends to rebuild their country? The argument that Germany economic machines need cheap labor from third world countries sounds like a neo-imperialistic proposition to me.
So there are many sick sectors that need to be corrected in Brussels otherwise Brexit will pitifully recur in the form of Nexit, Grexit, and so on. I won´t be surprised if only Germany and France ( the pillars of the EU) would be hoisting this (once) star studded flag that as of today symbolize a EU, albeit dysfunctional.
72
June 29 2016
Language is messy - even with the grand design of the political elites - just some glue will fix the UK exit now that we understand what is the object lessons on the nature of worldly political narratives that could, did go gaga and now is the time for as usual to own up to making the patterns of behaviors acceptable towards proper governance and then all will produce the news fit to print here, there and in a rational modern worldly life to share the in the gains and losses - hopefully more gains than.....
jja Manhattan, N. Y.
Language is messy - even with the grand design of the political elites - just some glue will fix the UK exit now that we understand what is the object lessons on the nature of worldly political narratives that could, did go gaga and now is the time for as usual to own up to making the patterns of behaviors acceptable towards proper governance and then all will produce the news fit to print here, there and in a rational modern worldly life to share the in the gains and losses - hopefully more gains than.....
jja Manhattan, N. Y.
5
Friedman clearly lays out the situation, but fails to show us the trick being pulled on the majority of our people; private benefit paid for with public costs. In his words "technology...globalization...AI...connectivity...commerce" are benefits largely flowing to owners and shareholders, while the attempts at "social safety nets...trade surge protectors...integration...educational etc. innovations" become cost burdens on public institutions. Friedman should congratulate Trump and Sanders for exposing the trick being played by on us by our political representatives, their contributors and agents of influence.
51
It's amazing--but helpful, in terms of understanding--that so many commentors here are swearing up and down that UKIP and the "Leave," campaign told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2016/06/27/brexit_supporters_are_sta...
See the bus? What are the forty foot long, four foot high letters on the bus saying?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2016/06/27/brexit_supporters_are_sta...
See the bus? What are the forty foot long, four foot high letters on the bus saying?
10
Yes...what a horror, those Dumas little people actually getting a say...and the technocrat top down Bruxelles structure was perhaps the real reason Brexit passed. (I wonder, has the Rexit petition reached 16 million yet? Talk about astroturf arranged by the usual elite suspects... along with the anecdotal spin tales of "regret", the Brexit vote today would gain a per cent or two...and how about the prefab story that, had the margin been thousands, "torrential rains in London"?)
It is about control, not "Xenophobia" or "Love". Politics is power and its Economic affect. Not luv, luv.
Now the usual elite spin meisters here managed to change the primary season from who has the power and why the rest of us are sinking. But maybe that won't work come Fall.
Hillary's phony baloney lawyer wriggle on the TPP's "current edition" fools no one. Who she flies with will be no secret. Maybe even her foreign interventionist (only for "humanitarian" reason, of course...that hellfire from the drone on the wedding, that was LOVE, luv) bent will come back to bite, though those in charge have managed to keep it off the radar, despite the "51 letter".
But...if the whole world background becomes very uncertain, insecure...terror and paychecks, it is almost baked into human DNA to pick the man. Forget ads, talking heads and econometrics...it will be the feel...
And looking at Orlando in Istanbul I can say that problem ain't a goin' away. & no gun control and rainbow washing works then...
It is about control, not "Xenophobia" or "Love". Politics is power and its Economic affect. Not luv, luv.
Now the usual elite spin meisters here managed to change the primary season from who has the power and why the rest of us are sinking. But maybe that won't work come Fall.
Hillary's phony baloney lawyer wriggle on the TPP's "current edition" fools no one. Who she flies with will be no secret. Maybe even her foreign interventionist (only for "humanitarian" reason, of course...that hellfire from the drone on the wedding, that was LOVE, luv) bent will come back to bite, though those in charge have managed to keep it off the radar, despite the "51 letter".
But...if the whole world background becomes very uncertain, insecure...terror and paychecks, it is almost baked into human DNA to pick the man. Forget ads, talking heads and econometrics...it will be the feel...
And looking at Orlando in Istanbul I can say that problem ain't a goin' away. & no gun control and rainbow washing works then...
15
BrExit Leavers took a page out of our American playbook. In 1776 we fought to separate from an oppressive England that was not sensitive to the need of our ancestors. It is only hypocritical to criticizing England for following our wisdom.
Thankfully, in the case of the emancipation of Britain, no lives were lost. But the causes were not dissimilar. The American colonialists wanted to remain part of England, but their complaints fell on deaf ears (Boston Tea Party?).
Britain was targeted for 100,000 immigrants and instead had 333,000 immigrants last year instead that generally came from poorer countries and were displacing the working class.
The British political elites and media elites were totally deaf to the suffering of the British working class, which like our US working class which is responding to Trump have suffered enormously.
Like the rise of Trump, and our own separation from Britain over 200 years ago, the BrExit leaved happened because of a clueless leadership that failed to respond to the feelings of the people they were governing.
Thankfully, in the case of the emancipation of Britain, no lives were lost. But the causes were not dissimilar. The American colonialists wanted to remain part of England, but their complaints fell on deaf ears (Boston Tea Party?).
Britain was targeted for 100,000 immigrants and instead had 333,000 immigrants last year instead that generally came from poorer countries and were displacing the working class.
The British political elites and media elites were totally deaf to the suffering of the British working class, which like our US working class which is responding to Trump have suffered enormously.
Like the rise of Trump, and our own separation from Britain over 200 years ago, the BrExit leaved happened because of a clueless leadership that failed to respond to the feelings of the people they were governing.
24
I believe that a huge driver of social unrest and anger is the gift of tax cuts to the wealthy and the subsequent imposition of austerity measures by conservative governments during a recession, when they should have been stimulating the economy with spending on badly needed infrastructure improvements. This worsened the recession and hurt low- and middle-income families while making the rich richer. This creates the perfect environment in which to divide and conquer. The angry low-income conservatives and the angry low-income liberals are at each others throats. We've seen it many times in the past: striking union workers fighting with "scabs" who need work. Now the unions have been decimated and decent paying jobs have disappeared along with them. Meanwhile, the owners get their tax cuts and tax shelters and laugh all the way to the bank aided and abetted by the friendly politician living in their pocket.
33
I think Europeans (and Americans who believe in Trump's nationalism) could reflect on the history of Europe during the two centuries before the formation of the Common Market, then the EU. It's a history of almost continuous, ruinous war, driven by nationalistic impulses. Do we want to return to that? The choice isn't between bureaucracy or freedom; it's between cooperation or conflict.
11
It's the austerity, stupid. And, yes, the immigrants. But first, austerity. After the crash, England's elites decided to cut their budgets, including social
services, such as the NHS. Remember "expansionary austerity?" Of course it didn't work. What it did is make a smaller pool of resources which regular folks had to fight for. This is what allowed the ramp up of anti-immigrant fervor. Brexit mania was then fed by the English tabloid press, who, not surprisingly, pushed a fact free, even anti-fact, agenda. According to Simon Wren-Lewis, the English version of Paul Krugman..."Brexit is perhaps the first major casualty of the political populism that has followed the financial crisis and austerity. That populism triumphed in the UK because the establishment underestimated its power and did nothing to tackle the resentment on which it feeds and the misinformation on which it thrives. It has been strong enough to turn a traditionally outward looking nation into one that turns its back on its neighbours. The leaders as well as the people of other countries should not make the same mistake as the UK just made."
The larger story here is tribalism brought on by decades of neoliberalism from both the left and the right. The problem is not the speed of globalization but neoliberal globalization. As usual, Friedman misses the point entirely. http://crookedtimber.org/2016/06/26/tribalism-trumps-neoliberalism/
services, such as the NHS. Remember "expansionary austerity?" Of course it didn't work. What it did is make a smaller pool of resources which regular folks had to fight for. This is what allowed the ramp up of anti-immigrant fervor. Brexit mania was then fed by the English tabloid press, who, not surprisingly, pushed a fact free, even anti-fact, agenda. According to Simon Wren-Lewis, the English version of Paul Krugman..."Brexit is perhaps the first major casualty of the political populism that has followed the financial crisis and austerity. That populism triumphed in the UK because the establishment underestimated its power and did nothing to tackle the resentment on which it feeds and the misinformation on which it thrives. It has been strong enough to turn a traditionally outward looking nation into one that turns its back on its neighbours. The leaders as well as the people of other countries should not make the same mistake as the UK just made."
The larger story here is tribalism brought on by decades of neoliberalism from both the left and the right. The problem is not the speed of globalization but neoliberal globalization. As usual, Friedman misses the point entirely. http://crookedtimber.org/2016/06/26/tribalism-trumps-neoliberalism/
19
The elites of the western world constantly pushing for the free flow of capital, labor, and goods across what the hope should be a borderless world is running into resistance from many countries citizens. The middle and working classes have seen the benefits flow almost exclusively the upper classes involved in global business and banking. The globalist main argument seems to be,if you change anything it will be worse. The climate meme attached to every problem gets tiresome.
16
Under the 1957 Treaty of Rome the Common Market included France, W.Germany, Italy and the 3 Benelux countries. The goal was to ensure peace and prosperity by removing barriers between the economies and moving towards a united Europe. The Marshall Plan had helped reconstruction after WW2 and the Soviet threat was a key incentive.The Common Market was so successful that other nations, including Britain, joined in the 1970s; more did in the 1990s after Eastern Europe was freed from Soviet rule and Germany re-united.
And so the European Union was established. It now has close to 30 members and is economically and culturally very heterogenous. It is an international organization with regulatory powers over its member states under treaty provisions in effect limiting national sovereignty. Its authorities are not popularly elected.
This does not sit well with everybody and the Greek crisis of recent years has highlighted the risks of limited sovereignty and of disparate economies under one system. The glaring contrast between North and South Europe has called into question the single currency created under the 1992 Maastricht treaty the Euro. Britain did not adopt it and now she's leaving
But, despite the problems, much has been achieved: peace for 71 years, lowered borders, free trade, mutual understanding.
The EU has done much good but may need to be revisited and if, in the worst case scenario, it were to be dissolved its strong legacy would certainly endure.
And so the European Union was established. It now has close to 30 members and is economically and culturally very heterogenous. It is an international organization with regulatory powers over its member states under treaty provisions in effect limiting national sovereignty. Its authorities are not popularly elected.
This does not sit well with everybody and the Greek crisis of recent years has highlighted the risks of limited sovereignty and of disparate economies under one system. The glaring contrast between North and South Europe has called into question the single currency created under the 1992 Maastricht treaty the Euro. Britain did not adopt it and now she's leaving
But, despite the problems, much has been achieved: peace for 71 years, lowered borders, free trade, mutual understanding.
The EU has done much good but may need to be revisited and if, in the worst case scenario, it were to be dissolved its strong legacy would certainly endure.
9
Back in 1776 about 17% of the population could read with understanding it was after all the height of the age of reason. In 2016 17% of the population possesses the same literary skills. The percentage of people who read newspapers continues to decline but the NYT refuses to acknowledge who is their readership and refuses to provide the intellectual stimuli necessary to understand today's world.
For decades the NYT has given us Thomas Friedman and Paul Krugman the High Priests from the Temple of Conventional Wisdom to enlighten its readership while the Galileos, Copernicuses and Darwins have been given short shrift as its pays homage to a failing economic and social system.
John Ralston Saul was on the NYT best seller list in non-fiction in 1992 and has been writing and lecturing on the Cult of Neo-liberalism and the collapse of globalism ever since, the late Stephen Clarkson was teaching and writing about political economics (a legal profession not par of the dismal science) for many decades. Clarkson and Saul are not part of the punditocracy and although they have been correct throughout the decades we see only the Krugmans and Friedmans in the US newspaper of record.
Saul and Clarkson are Canadians but they have provided wisdom and insight throughout the decades while the batting average for the High Priests is hardly major league. Newspaper readers deserve better than minor leaguers.
For decades the NYT has given us Thomas Friedman and Paul Krugman the High Priests from the Temple of Conventional Wisdom to enlighten its readership while the Galileos, Copernicuses and Darwins have been given short shrift as its pays homage to a failing economic and social system.
John Ralston Saul was on the NYT best seller list in non-fiction in 1992 and has been writing and lecturing on the Cult of Neo-liberalism and the collapse of globalism ever since, the late Stephen Clarkson was teaching and writing about political economics (a legal profession not par of the dismal science) for many decades. Clarkson and Saul are not part of the punditocracy and although they have been correct throughout the decades we see only the Krugmans and Friedmans in the US newspaper of record.
Saul and Clarkson are Canadians but they have provided wisdom and insight throughout the decades while the batting average for the High Priests is hardly major league. Newspaper readers deserve better than minor leaguers.
28
Western governments -- our own included -- are failing their tests of legitimacy because they are largely illegitimate. The U.S. and Britain suffer this particularly acutely because of our first-past-the-post electoral systems that routinely disenfranchise fully half of voters (and that's to say nothing of the swaths of eligible people who don't vote because they don't feel the given choices represent them). At least in Britain head of government and legislative majority go hand-in-hand, though that doesn't help a whole lot when both major coalitions are stuck in the same neoliberal intellectual framework.
The Brexit vote was despicable, racist, stupid, avoidable, and yet, inevitable. Government's refusal to meet the needs of its people manifests itself in desperation. The Leave campaign and the candidacy of Donald Trump say nothing if not "desperate". Yet what's the remedy Mr. Friedman proposes here? Ignore the voters' choice, because the 'experts' know better! (Oh, and please don't remind us that we're the same 'experts' who created this mess under the slick euphemism of "innovations!!!".)
The abject refusal of the intelligentsia to even slow down -- let alone halt -- the gears of the class war machine that's chewing up the working people of post-industrial nations is what's lighting the way for, as Mr. Friedman puts it, "the end of the world". Imagine Syria*10 when most of Bangladesh sinks into the ocean. Brexit will look like a high point in race relations, then.
The Brexit vote was despicable, racist, stupid, avoidable, and yet, inevitable. Government's refusal to meet the needs of its people manifests itself in desperation. The Leave campaign and the candidacy of Donald Trump say nothing if not "desperate". Yet what's the remedy Mr. Friedman proposes here? Ignore the voters' choice, because the 'experts' know better! (Oh, and please don't remind us that we're the same 'experts' who created this mess under the slick euphemism of "innovations!!!".)
The abject refusal of the intelligentsia to even slow down -- let alone halt -- the gears of the class war machine that's chewing up the working people of post-industrial nations is what's lighting the way for, as Mr. Friedman puts it, "the end of the world". Imagine Syria*10 when most of Bangladesh sinks into the ocean. Brexit will look like a high point in race relations, then.
21
Perhaps the Brerxit vote will do the E.U. a favor by convincing it to get its act together. Perhaps it will accomplish what the Balkan wars did not. Perhaps Americans will learn something from this. One can hope.
The world needs a Europe with liberal, humanistic values to serve as a counter-balance to an America with similar values. Unfortunately, the odds of that continuing are diminishing quickly. Such values are not common in the world and presently not in the ascendancy.
For 70 years Europe has been building exemplary social structures courtesy of America's military umbrella. That has had the effect of allowing Europe to live in a bit of a fool's paradise, largely ignoring what was happening in much of the rest of the world, especially things which would soon dramatically affect Europe itself.
The Balkan wars should have woken Europe up to its inability to collectively cope with serious issues. Unfortunately, the opportunity was wasted.
Europe became focused through Brussels more on what ought to be than what is. Though people live in the "is", Brussels remained in the "ought", as mass migration, Russian adventurism, a disconnect between fiscal and monetary policy, and terrorism have all fairly quickly become impossible to ignore. As a result, the most worthy, noble, and important "European project" is seeing centrifugal forces rip it apart, as Europeans and their leaders forget why, after World War II, they began creating international structures in the first place.
The world needs a Europe with liberal, humanistic values to serve as a counter-balance to an America with similar values. Unfortunately, the odds of that continuing are diminishing quickly. Such values are not common in the world and presently not in the ascendancy.
For 70 years Europe has been building exemplary social structures courtesy of America's military umbrella. That has had the effect of allowing Europe to live in a bit of a fool's paradise, largely ignoring what was happening in much of the rest of the world, especially things which would soon dramatically affect Europe itself.
The Balkan wars should have woken Europe up to its inability to collectively cope with serious issues. Unfortunately, the opportunity was wasted.
Europe became focused through Brussels more on what ought to be than what is. Though people live in the "is", Brussels remained in the "ought", as mass migration, Russian adventurism, a disconnect between fiscal and monetary policy, and terrorism have all fairly quickly become impossible to ignore. As a result, the most worthy, noble, and important "European project" is seeing centrifugal forces rip it apart, as Europeans and their leaders forget why, after World War II, they began creating international structures in the first place.
19
I appreciate having this kind of insight available to those of us who read the NYT; but how do we get this kind of assessment into the hands of folks who do not read it -- those who listen to other voices of fear and Trumpism. What voices can convey that message in a forum that is credible to Trump voters and Brexit supporters? Is the Republican Convention that place to do that? And WHO -- Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, John McCain (those who claim to he the strong Republican voices of our time) -- will do that?
Sorry, Tom, but I disagree with your politically motivated tale of woe and destruction.
The price of gold rose, the dollar is stronger than it has been in awhile. Stocks down will spur a buying frenzy. So far, aside from scary stories in politically motivated newspapers, everything since the Exit has been positive. What good ever came out of the paper doll EU anyway?
The price of gold rose, the dollar is stronger than it has been in awhile. Stocks down will spur a buying frenzy. So far, aside from scary stories in politically motivated newspapers, everything since the Exit has been positive. What good ever came out of the paper doll EU anyway?
5
A large part of what we are experiencing, both in Europe and in the US, are regions that currently are experiencing breakup and violence, causing large migrations of refugees. For the Europeans, it is the violence of the middle east, partially caused by the unnecessary US wars of the 2000's and the presence of tyrants who continue to fight to retain their holds on their people and nations; for the US it is the violence of gangs, drug barons, and poor policies of the regions to the south of us. To regain the middle ground and to impose stability, the west needs to figure out a path for these regions to regain their stability. Those in the west who have a sober understanding of what is needed at this time have to speak forcefully to the futile wish of the new, regressive leaders trying to move back to some mythical "good" times of the past. Trump, et. al., need to be defeated soundly in the fall in order to forestall the true fall of the west.
2
My bet is all these people decrying elitism yet believe in American Exceptionalism. Tom is right. This is about losing a place in society. America can't just squat at the top any longer. It has to earn it. And one way to do that is to engage with the challenges, not hide from them.
5
Integration isn't just about integrating immigrants, important as that is. Brexit exposed many other cultural divides: urban and rural, tech/knowledge economies and "old" economies, young and old. We need to do a better job of bringing people together, so that no one is falling behind, not just economically (maybe the easiest thing to "fix", if there was the will), but culturally and socially. It is a paradox that in the age of instant global communication, we live in evermore fragmented, isolated, and atomized worlds. Sadly, most politicians are failing to provide an exciting, uplifting, and optimistic vision that would call on us to pitch in, but also offer the promise of a much healthier and human society. All of us need to "rediscover" our fellow citizens who have often been made as foreign as the immigrant by the deep divides in our society.
2
The real issue before us is population. Decades ago, people were predicting the political unrest, environmental damage, and heavy immigration that will arise from a growing population with limited resources. Political and economic solutions are band-aids. Unless we address the elephant in the room, population control, we don't have much of a future.
13
Maybe there could be a silver lining to all this: The Brits could redo the vote. It seems the people who voted leave didn't really expect it to happen and now many have buyer's remorse.
If they recast the vote and Stay vote wins this time - then the UK can offer to stay on the condition of EU reform which addresses some of the issues- namely, giving more immigration control to the individual countries. I don't think that is unreasonable and I believe other EU countries might want the same thing.
I wonder if the recent move by Merkel opening the floodgates to massive numbers of Syrian refugees was the final straw that broke the camel's back? I don't know the answer but I doubt it helped the Stay vote.
If they recast the vote and Stay vote wins this time - then the UK can offer to stay on the condition of EU reform which addresses some of the issues- namely, giving more immigration control to the individual countries. I don't think that is unreasonable and I believe other EU countries might want the same thing.
I wonder if the recent move by Merkel opening the floodgates to massive numbers of Syrian refugees was the final straw that broke the camel's back? I don't know the answer but I doubt it helped the Stay vote.
3
I suspect Mr. Friedman dislikes the Brexit decision and ridicules the leave voters mostly because he, like most pundits, didn't see it coming and the vote went against them. Similarly, most political writers probably dislike Trump not so much because of his policies but that almost none saw the enormous crowd of voters in the middle who at last heard someone speak to them. It irks these writers to be so wrong about a now obvious change in public sentiment, so they poke fun at it.
There is little evidence that the EU has done much for the broad middle class and while most writers laud it as a major move towards peace and prosperity, the ledger shows few achievements and mostly a lot of bumbling. Backing out of this bureaucratic quagmire might be one of the better moves by a group of people to regain their feeling of representation and that concept might just be a powerful force in politics for some time, leaving pundits laughing increasingly to themselves.
There is little evidence that the EU has done much for the broad middle class and while most writers laud it as a major move towards peace and prosperity, the ledger shows few achievements and mostly a lot of bumbling. Backing out of this bureaucratic quagmire might be one of the better moves by a group of people to regain their feeling of representation and that concept might just be a powerful force in politics for some time, leaving pundits laughing increasingly to themselves.
7
There are many reasons to keep the EU, and for that matter ALL of the US, Texas included.
Global problems will require global solutions, or there will be no solutions at all.
The unspoken, extremely uncomfortable truth about the hyper-flexible global economy is that the undereducated and slow will not be able to keep up. That was known from the beginning. These populist revolts truly are harkening back to the "old days". The thing about the undereducated and the slow, is that change is the thing that takes away your home or changes who lives next door. People who look different than they do, or talk differently, or dress differently are perceived as Them.
This is a direct result of our 10 million years of evolution as tribal, family-unit creatures.
This all means that unless the tribalists literally don't pass their genes on, then this battle will only get worse. Unless of course climate catastrophe reduces population down to the point where global government is either completely necessary or breaks down further to tribal groups.
Global problems will require global solutions, or there will be no solutions at all.
The unspoken, extremely uncomfortable truth about the hyper-flexible global economy is that the undereducated and slow will not be able to keep up. That was known from the beginning. These populist revolts truly are harkening back to the "old days". The thing about the undereducated and the slow, is that change is the thing that takes away your home or changes who lives next door. People who look different than they do, or talk differently, or dress differently are perceived as Them.
This is a direct result of our 10 million years of evolution as tribal, family-unit creatures.
This all means that unless the tribalists literally don't pass their genes on, then this battle will only get worse. Unless of course climate catastrophe reduces population down to the point where global government is either completely necessary or breaks down further to tribal groups.
1
As usual Friedman doesn't get it. People are just sick and tired of central control and the unaccountable political elites pushing it. I suspect Briton will do just fine without the Brussels bureaucrats dictating to them. They just through off the yolk of central control and good for them.
10
" It's the economy, stupid " , I think people who voted to leave and people who support Donald Trump are not able to integrate into new economy. Does anyone in Silicon valley supports Trump? Did London vote to leave? No! People who are not able to educate themselves for new job market are the ones who are having problem.It is the survival of the fittest!
6
Accurate, and timely, article about our ability, with help of demagogues and charlatans lying their way, to alter order and reason and logic, in favor of the unknown. It is true that 'the establishment' has failed the poor, and even the middle class, left behind by globalization and technology, without the safety social net for some, and without the tools to catch-up for others. Trouble is, our legislators, many being millionaires themselves, having created a wide social distance, a divorce of sorts, from the majority, fell into an institutionalized violence of the 'haves' vs the have-nots'. Now we see the revolt, its consequences be damned. In the U.S., we have a dangerous know-nothing charlatan, trying his best to rabble-rouse all the unhappy campers into rebelling and electing him to the highest office. This is, of course, crooked lying Trump, instilling unfounded fear, fanning hate and racism and xenophobia and even misogyny, to misinformed and prejudiced folks that feel left behind by the unrelenting 'progress' towards globalized competition. We need to educte ourselves, and fast, about the facts, reality, and the need to keep our heads above water, keep at bay the hucksters ready and willing to sell you chafe...and keep the grain.
5
-- and that small men can rearrange big complex systems by just erecting a wall...
These elements seem far afield today so the "dog catching car" metaphor works. Perhaps it is also symptomatic of the situation that it ignores the insidiousness of the problem. Twenty years ago could a Nigel Farage or a Donald Trump even be allowed to take a podium on a world stage? Would the British or American people entertain the silliness of Ozymandian walls or soap operatic - "Who's laughing now?" comments in an international venue? More dogs are going to be catching cars, and buses, and earth moving machinery, and M1 tanks.
We have entered a world where Joe six-pack has taken the controls and suddenly realizes he has no clue how to read an altimeter.
The survival of all of us depends then on doing one of two things: convince Joe to hire a pilot who can take society where he wants, or teach Joe to fly.
These elements seem far afield today so the "dog catching car" metaphor works. Perhaps it is also symptomatic of the situation that it ignores the insidiousness of the problem. Twenty years ago could a Nigel Farage or a Donald Trump even be allowed to take a podium on a world stage? Would the British or American people entertain the silliness of Ozymandian walls or soap operatic - "Who's laughing now?" comments in an international venue? More dogs are going to be catching cars, and buses, and earth moving machinery, and M1 tanks.
We have entered a world where Joe six-pack has taken the controls and suddenly realizes he has no clue how to read an altimeter.
The survival of all of us depends then on doing one of two things: convince Joe to hire a pilot who can take society where he wants, or teach Joe to fly.
15
I wonder if the people in the US who think Brexit is a good thing, like Trump, can imagine what such a policy, carried to it's logical extreme implies? What if various important states were allowed to secede? After all, the Federal Government, with all its regulations and taxes is a burden on the citizens and businesses of, say Texas, right? Just like those bureaucrats in Brussels were a burden on the UK.
6
Friedman has jumped on the fear mongering bandwagon, as everyone knew he would. The one world order he, Obama and all of the remaining E.U. bureaucrats want to implement will have to wait a while. Great Britain has decided to maintain their independence economically and socially. And they have rejected forced multiculturalism in favor of their own national identity.
6
Given the backlash expressed by the EU commissioners and Merkel, one can see why Swiz. and Nor. haven't joined.
5
The EU is responsible for the crisis it is experiencing. It is arrogant and bureaucratic. It told Cameron when he was negotiating to have a better deal within EU, take it or leave it. It should be more asymmetric if it is going to survive the current crisis. The core structures to which countries are bound to adhere to should be much fewer to allow countries to adjust EU policies to their own political reality and economic situation.
The United Sates of Europe cannot happen over a couple of decades because the EU unlike the USA is a Union of Nations and not a union of states, as geographical entities more than anything else, which have coexisted since they were first created and which have the same culture, language and values.
UK can still walk out of Brexit since the referendum is not legally binding and in UK the sovereignty lies in the parliament. A general election should be called once the two main parties have their new leaders. Since the majority of MPs in all three major parties a pro EU, voters would be invited to vote for the candidates according to their stance on Brexit. Once the new parliament is called, its members would be free to vote on the EU question, given that the newly elected MPs would vote on that question as they told their constituents. If they vote to remain, then UK stays. That’s the way parliamentary democracy works.
The United Sates of Europe cannot happen over a couple of decades because the EU unlike the USA is a Union of Nations and not a union of states, as geographical entities more than anything else, which have coexisted since they were first created and which have the same culture, language and values.
UK can still walk out of Brexit since the referendum is not legally binding and in UK the sovereignty lies in the parliament. A general election should be called once the two main parties have their new leaders. Since the majority of MPs in all three major parties a pro EU, voters would be invited to vote for the candidates according to their stance on Brexit. Once the new parliament is called, its members would be free to vote on the EU question, given that the newly elected MPs would vote on that question as they told their constituents. If they vote to remain, then UK stays. That’s the way parliamentary democracy works.
2
If the panacea for the jobs crisis (and it is a crisis) were education, we would have solved it. Enough already of trying to hammer square pegs into round holes, wasting money on better hammers, more stimulation for the pegs, whatever. The elites must realize the one thing the young Sanders voters and the unlearned Trump voters already know: technology has stood the too-comfortable assumption that employment rises alongside wealth in a free market economy on its head.
For this society to remain coherent and cohesive, people need work to do that makes them feel needed and important. We need all the genius we can muster and all the taxes we can raise to invest in infrastructure and deal with climate change and put people to work, by conscriptive approaches in all probability, to achieve important social goals. This is of course not a new solution. It has been the modus operandi of civilization for most of human history, with the liberal economic revolution being a mere blip on time’s screen. The demagogues who are addressing inchoate fears and yearnings need to be pushed off the stage in favor of brave responsible and responsive leaders, supported by the giants of business and the public at large.
For this society to remain coherent and cohesive, people need work to do that makes them feel needed and important. We need all the genius we can muster and all the taxes we can raise to invest in infrastructure and deal with climate change and put people to work, by conscriptive approaches in all probability, to achieve important social goals. This is of course not a new solution. It has been the modus operandi of civilization for most of human history, with the liberal economic revolution being a mere blip on time’s screen. The demagogues who are addressing inchoate fears and yearnings need to be pushed off the stage in favor of brave responsible and responsive leaders, supported by the giants of business and the public at large.
5
Tom,
Profound. Spot on.
Perfect recognition that the leadership erred terribly in try to convert a complex basket of complex global issues to a binary question. It was just plain stupid to obviate the purpose of representative government. I think you know that these issues with lots of interest groups require horsetrading and political goodwill to achieve a political consensus in the government. The Parliament was irresponsible to allow the Prime Minister to call for this referendum. They and the media were also negligent in allowing lies to stand.
Thanks for using your ink to remind us of our own policy issues. I frequently comment on the foolhardy approach to global warming and infrastructure investment. Dr. James Powell has authored along with others, Silent Earth, to show a technology pathway to reducing the threat of global warming with space solar power launched with Maglev to provide the Earth with cheap electricity and then using the cheap electricity to make gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from air and water. This pathway and its economics are described in Silent Earth. I can promise you that this pathway has been carefully thought out by brilliant scientists. In our other books, The Fight for Maglev and Maglev America we describe a much more efficient and much more affordable 300 mph passenger and freight national transport network to complement our existing Interstate Highway System.
Profound. Spot on.
Perfect recognition that the leadership erred terribly in try to convert a complex basket of complex global issues to a binary question. It was just plain stupid to obviate the purpose of representative government. I think you know that these issues with lots of interest groups require horsetrading and political goodwill to achieve a political consensus in the government. The Parliament was irresponsible to allow the Prime Minister to call for this referendum. They and the media were also negligent in allowing lies to stand.
Thanks for using your ink to remind us of our own policy issues. I frequently comment on the foolhardy approach to global warming and infrastructure investment. Dr. James Powell has authored along with others, Silent Earth, to show a technology pathway to reducing the threat of global warming with space solar power launched with Maglev to provide the Earth with cheap electricity and then using the cheap electricity to make gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from air and water. This pathway and its economics are described in Silent Earth. I can promise you that this pathway has been carefully thought out by brilliant scientists. In our other books, The Fight for Maglev and Maglev America we describe a much more efficient and much more affordable 300 mph passenger and freight national transport network to complement our existing Interstate Highway System.
2
Blah. Blah. Blah. Nowhere does Mr. Friedman identify the advantages accruing to the U.K. as a result of this vote, nor can he even begin to see the disadvantages inherent in membership.
The European Union is an anti-democratic construction, initially conceived to encourage trade relations, and a backward-looking institution murkily intending to avoid the pitfalls that led to two world wars. The Union has shown little ability to confront the realities of today's world, or to foster the kind of innovation and economic development necessary in a competitive world(think China). Instead, it's just more and more socialism and more and more regulations.
The European Union will fall of its own dead weight.
The European Union is an anti-democratic construction, initially conceived to encourage trade relations, and a backward-looking institution murkily intending to avoid the pitfalls that led to two world wars. The Union has shown little ability to confront the realities of today's world, or to foster the kind of innovation and economic development necessary in a competitive world(think China). Instead, it's just more and more socialism and more and more regulations.
The European Union will fall of its own dead weight.
8
“But they so dumb down the debate with lies, fear-mongering and misdirection, and with only a simple majority required to win…”
Yes, sad but true, it happened across the pond, and it could happen here. Let’s hope we are, notwithstanding Trump, more pragmatic than our British counterparts. After Brexit was approved, the 2nd highest ranked Google search term was, “What is the EU?” So it is apparent that many Brits voted to get out of the EU without really knowing what it was and what it meant to the U.K. in an overall economic and geopolitical context?
The globalization genie is out the bottle and no democratic country that believes in free trade can put it back. Let’s hope that Trump supporters don’t wake up on November 9, 2016 and ask the question “Who is Trump and what does he really believe in?”
Yes, sad but true, it happened across the pond, and it could happen here. Let’s hope we are, notwithstanding Trump, more pragmatic than our British counterparts. After Brexit was approved, the 2nd highest ranked Google search term was, “What is the EU?” So it is apparent that many Brits voted to get out of the EU without really knowing what it was and what it meant to the U.K. in an overall economic and geopolitical context?
The globalization genie is out the bottle and no democratic country that believes in free trade can put it back. Let’s hope that Trump supporters don’t wake up on November 9, 2016 and ask the question “Who is Trump and what does he really believe in?”
6
There have been a few panelists on Brexit issues who make the case that the attractiveness of Britain as a destination and a lifestyle choice is a double-edged sword in terms of immigration. Should California secede from the US because of its historical atrractiveness and the resulting influx of and issues concerning immigrants? One of every people in the US live there now. And while income disparity is a clear issue, it's a petrie dish for integration American-style. People who can't make it leave; those that aspire go there and try, and those who can't tolerate its browness (no pun intended) go where somewhere less progressive. Generations of families there will never relocate. Ballotpedia has a state profile that reads like a case study in the tension between cultural values, politics and competing economic interests.
4
The EU is responsible for the crisis it is experiencing. It is arrogant and bureaucratic. It told Cameron when he was negotiating to have a better deal within EU, take it or leave it. It should be more asymmetric if it is going to survive the current crisis. The core structures to which countries are bound to adhere to should be much fewer to allow countries to adjust EU policies to their own political reality and economic situation.
The United Sates of Europe cannot happen over a couple of decades because the EU unlike the USA is a Union of Nations and not a union of states, as geographical entities more than anything else, which have coexisted since they were first created and which have the same culture, language and values.
UK can still walk out of Brexit since the referendum is not legally binding and in UK the sovereignty lies in the parliament. A general election should be called once the two main parties have their new leaders. Since all three major parties a pro EU, voters would be invited to vote for the candidates according to their stance on Brexit. Once the new parliament is called, its members would be free to vote on the EU question, given that the newly elected MPs would vote on that question as they told their constituents. If they vote to remain, then UK stays. That’s the way parliamentary sovereignty works.
The United Sates of Europe cannot happen over a couple of decades because the EU unlike the USA is a Union of Nations and not a union of states, as geographical entities more than anything else, which have coexisted since they were first created and which have the same culture, language and values.
UK can still walk out of Brexit since the referendum is not legally binding and in UK the sovereignty lies in the parliament. A general election should be called once the two main parties have their new leaders. Since all three major parties a pro EU, voters would be invited to vote for the candidates according to their stance on Brexit. Once the new parliament is called, its members would be free to vote on the EU question, given that the newly elected MPs would vote on that question as they told their constituents. If they vote to remain, then UK stays. That’s the way parliamentary sovereignty works.
I am alarmed by the growing use of the term "elites". Who are they exactly? Do we all agree on it? I think the people complaining about The Elites also the people who are unhappy that they are no longer birth- righted into being one. It is all about integration. This is the first Tom Friedman article that I want to share. It is right in the money.
3
Globalists like Friedman have always been paternalistic when it comes to the middle and working classes. "Be patient, and you'll reap the benefits", is what they say as they gaze out over their insular metropolitan skyline, but after a generation of hearing this, those for whom globalism hasn't delivered as promised aren't buying into this latest iteration of trickle down economics. So going forth, we'll see the globalists to play the race card, and label their opponents as xenophobic, illiterate Luddites. Look for them to stoke any societal conflicts they may leverage to their advantage.
9
What the globalists like Mr. F. failed to be truthful about was the fact that globalism is a great leveling. Those on the bottom will surely rise, those on the top must fall to meet somewhere in the middle. Had they admitted that perhaps they would have moved more cautiously, but they broke it so now they own it.
9
Incredible how stupid the left believes the public to be. All I've heard from the editorial pages of this newspaper since Brexit is how politicians have exploited a generally ignorant public, playing to immigration fears. This completely ignores the reality that almost every politician, business leader, and "establishment" player was against the Brexit. But, obviously, the public is too stupid to fully understand the consequences of wishing to control their own destiny. Good thing we have Friedman and other intellectuals to explain it to the rest of us.
12
What were the lies that drove the Leave campaign?
Perhaps the 50% youth unemployment rate in Greece. Or the failure of the Euro project. Or the sight of the bodies of small children washed up on the southern shores of the EU.
The failures of the EU are all too visible and don't need to be lied about. If there were major positives no one on the Remain side was really prepared to argue for them.
Perhaps the 50% youth unemployment rate in Greece. Or the failure of the Euro project. Or the sight of the bodies of small children washed up on the southern shores of the EU.
The failures of the EU are all too visible and don't need to be lied about. If there were major positives no one on the Remain side was really prepared to argue for them.
8
"A major European power, a longtime defender of liberal democracy, pluralism and free markets, falls under the sway of a few cynical politicians..."
I'd gotten no farther than, the second sentence of this bit of drivel, when I decided it wasn't worth my time to read the rest of it.
This is yet another perfect example, right up there with Jonathan Gruber, of the contempt in which those of the left hold anyone so benighted as to deny the wisdom of their so-called "philosophy-." (The word "philosophy" is from the Greek and literally means "love of wisdom." It doesn't mean "love of leftist dogma," that being the precise antithesis of any kind of true wisdom.)
Apparently, Mr Friedman is of the opinion that millions of Brits, being too stupid to know their own minds, must have been the pitiful victims of "a few cynical politicians who see a chance to exploit public fears of immigration to advance their careers." Apparently, all these simple-minded Brits were wrong to consider the possibility of attacks such as the one that just killed 41 people and injured 239 more in Istanbul. They were supposed to have ignored the attack that killed 49 people in Florida. Considering those possibilities was rampant xenophobia and no right-thinking, or perhaps properly "left-thinking," person would ever be so ignorant and crass as to do so.
I'd gotten no farther than, the second sentence of this bit of drivel, when I decided it wasn't worth my time to read the rest of it.
This is yet another perfect example, right up there with Jonathan Gruber, of the contempt in which those of the left hold anyone so benighted as to deny the wisdom of their so-called "philosophy-." (The word "philosophy" is from the Greek and literally means "love of wisdom." It doesn't mean "love of leftist dogma," that being the precise antithesis of any kind of true wisdom.)
Apparently, Mr Friedman is of the opinion that millions of Brits, being too stupid to know their own minds, must have been the pitiful victims of "a few cynical politicians who see a chance to exploit public fears of immigration to advance their careers." Apparently, all these simple-minded Brits were wrong to consider the possibility of attacks such as the one that just killed 41 people and injured 239 more in Istanbul. They were supposed to have ignored the attack that killed 49 people in Florida. Considering those possibilities was rampant xenophobia and no right-thinking, or perhaps properly "left-thinking," person would ever be so ignorant and crass as to do so.
9
There were some very "big lies" in the aggressive,slick advertising campaign that was used in creating the EU. Jean Monnet may legitimately have looked forward to the evolution of a 'United States of Europe', but voters rarely were asked for their opinions. Sovereignty was an issue swept under the rug, as an increasingly entrenched elite in Brussels kept patronizing and neglecting the people. This arranged group marriage was always abstract and intellectual, never heartfelt,
Every attempt was made to convince the general public in Europe that their national sovereignty was intact -- it was the "third rail" of Europolitics -- while Germany, in particular, gamed the common currency ( the Euro is a pretty thinly veiled Deutschmark with a little camouflage) and was able to amass a huge trade surplus with the rest of Europe on the back of loans made to Greece, Italy, et al, that enabled them to buy stuff they couldn't afford with borrowings they couldn't repay.
Greece 2012 began the process of pulling back the Wizard's Curtain. The Germans showed their true colors -- surrender your sovereignty or die! -- and some of the rest of Europe took notice. The vote in England was not not all close or the victory narrow. If continent-friendly Scotland had not voted by a 25-point majority to 'Remain', the 'Leave' vote would have been close to a landslide. The worst Fear Mongers are the elite who panic over any signs of national sovereignty resurfacing.
Every attempt was made to convince the general public in Europe that their national sovereignty was intact -- it was the "third rail" of Europolitics -- while Germany, in particular, gamed the common currency ( the Euro is a pretty thinly veiled Deutschmark with a little camouflage) and was able to amass a huge trade surplus with the rest of Europe on the back of loans made to Greece, Italy, et al, that enabled them to buy stuff they couldn't afford with borrowings they couldn't repay.
Greece 2012 began the process of pulling back the Wizard's Curtain. The Germans showed their true colors -- surrender your sovereignty or die! -- and some of the rest of Europe took notice. The vote in England was not not all close or the victory narrow. If continent-friendly Scotland had not voted by a 25-point majority to 'Remain', the 'Leave' vote would have been close to a landslide. The worst Fear Mongers are the elite who panic over any signs of national sovereignty resurfacing.
8
A family of refugees aged 13-48 reach Europe. How long (and how) will it take to educate and integrate them into the economy of Europe, much less socially integrate them? It's very inspiring to build webs and not walls, but is Europe even equipped, much less have the desire to do the work of integrating the migrant and/or refugee?
6
I think what we are missing in all of the talk about bigger is better, is that it is not. Met a former retired teacher at the grocery check out line, and he said that he has fond memories of my two children he had in school. I told him that both of my kids, now 43 and 44 said his class, called, "Re Care," was one of their classes that helped them the most when they entered college. One went to a Catholic college and the other to a Methodist one, both private. They had student jobs, loans, grants, and went when it was not cost prohibitive. That said, both managed to graduate with honors, and have had successful careers in many fields. What I have learned is that bigger is not necessarily better, in fact it is often worse. Take small hospitals for instance, which have almost ceased to exist in Minnesota, unfortunately, they are able to have better outcomes with hospital errors and death while a patient. Since medical errors are the third leading cause of death in America, behind heart disease, and death, it is something to ponder. My husband, who is with the VA has had not had consistent care. My local doctors have all said that care should be delivered closest to where one lives with local doctors, but do you think that is what the VA wants or delivers, no, they want more bureaucracy. Having spent 2 years of our lives in Europe because of family, I can tell you that things were better for most of the people before the EU and the euro existed.
5
This was all about immigration and job loss. Make no mistake, it's just the beginning of a mass exit from the EU. Countries are sick and tired of being ruled from Brussels by a bunch of out-of-touch elites. France will be next.
8
".... tells you that people are feeling deeply anxious about something."
Yes, they are upset because globalization hasn't worked for them, and it can't work for them.
"Reinhart and Rogoff brought a focus to government debt burdens that lent support to austerity movements; Piketty, meanwhile, suggested that inequality was destined to get worse because the rate of return on capital is higher than economic growth.
"What's now captured the interest of intellectuals is the elephant chart, the idea that over the past 30 years the winners were emerging market middle classes and the 1 percent in developed markets, but the developed markets' middle classes were stagnant," he wrote. "And I think we've finally found the correct framework for thinking about intersection of politics and macroeconomic trends.""
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-27/get-ready-to-see-this-...
Yes, they are upset because globalization hasn't worked for them, and it can't work for them.
"Reinhart and Rogoff brought a focus to government debt burdens that lent support to austerity movements; Piketty, meanwhile, suggested that inequality was destined to get worse because the rate of return on capital is higher than economic growth.
"What's now captured the interest of intellectuals is the elephant chart, the idea that over the past 30 years the winners were emerging market middle classes and the 1 percent in developed markets, but the developed markets' middle classes were stagnant," he wrote. "And I think we've finally found the correct framework for thinking about intersection of politics and macroeconomic trends.""
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-27/get-ready-to-see-this-...
3
A Times op-ed by Philippe Legrain quoted Michael Gove, one of the UK "Leave" leaders explaining why he should be trusted more than the "Remain" advocates: "people in this country have had enough of experts." And therein lies Trump's appeal: his reliance on short, easy answers to extraordinarily complex issues has lulled his supporters into thinking he has a plan. Unfortunately for us, Republican leaders also have a plan if Donald Trump wins in November; they have shown it to us for the past 15 years and it's not pretty. It basically involves Karl Rove's fantasy of a "permanent Republican majority" in which they control state houses and gerrymander Congressional districts creating "safe" seats for Republicans; they pass ALEC-inspired legislation and restrict voting rights; they reverse years of progress on civil and LGBT rights using the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act; they enact stringent anti-abortion measures and shut down Planned Parenthood; they take their cues on any gun controls measures from the NRA; they hand social benefit programs to the states to administer; they lower taxes for the 1%; and they appoint judges who will rubber stamp their policies. The November presidential election is about who we are as a nation; Trump is not the solution for our problems and Republicans have provided ample evidence of how they will govern if handed control.
5
You cannot have freedom for some things and not for others.
Open borders are good, but not when the public good that countries offer differ significantly. It results in well managed rich countries footing the bill for mismanaged poor countries.
A bleeding heart liberal may see nothing wrong in it, but most people who work (or worked) to earn their living find it wrong.
There is a reason why young people voted to stay while old people voted to leave. But have faith - young and naive eventually grow up.
Open borders are good, but not when the public good that countries offer differ significantly. It results in well managed rich countries footing the bill for mismanaged poor countries.
A bleeding heart liberal may see nothing wrong in it, but most people who work (or worked) to earn their living find it wrong.
There is a reason why young people voted to stay while old people voted to leave. But have faith - young and naive eventually grow up.
4
In the UK's case it would appear that Karma was run over by the Dogma.
Or as Cat Steven's once sang :
But if you wanna leave, take good care
I hope you make a lot of nice friends out there,
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware.
Oh Baby, it's a wild world...
Or as Cat Steven's once sang :
But if you wanna leave, take good care
I hope you make a lot of nice friends out there,
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware.
Oh Baby, it's a wild world...
2
I have been skeptical of Mr Friedman's advocacy of globalisation for quite a while. Here again, he falls into the trap of saying all the right things.
But those things will never get done.
The world, alas, is not as ideal as the columnist believes; not by a long shot.
The only practical way to tame globalisation is to limit it intelligently.
Which are the products that can best be manufactured, assembled or grown locally? (An interesting question.)
Let us then reserve those products and services for local production, and thus protect the jobs base in ALL countries, ALL regions.
Let us have global formal agreement on this.
This means that -- for these products and for some segments of their productive chains only -- the most efficient production will be sacrificed to the imperative of having jobs everywhere.
It is a trade-off. But isn't it a worthwhile one?
Ideologically, this notion does tamper with the core capitalist idea that profits must be maximised.
But profit maximisation as your only goal in life, that is for three-year-olds.
For in its real application to the real world, as the present situation unquestionably shows, such maximisation has proved to be socially unproductive.
Indeed, it leads to crisis.
Ultimately, jobs are the most rational and most real way to distribute income.
Thus: protect jobs. Gear economic and trade policies to that.
But those things will never get done.
The world, alas, is not as ideal as the columnist believes; not by a long shot.
The only practical way to tame globalisation is to limit it intelligently.
Which are the products that can best be manufactured, assembled or grown locally? (An interesting question.)
Let us then reserve those products and services for local production, and thus protect the jobs base in ALL countries, ALL regions.
Let us have global formal agreement on this.
This means that -- for these products and for some segments of their productive chains only -- the most efficient production will be sacrificed to the imperative of having jobs everywhere.
It is a trade-off. But isn't it a worthwhile one?
Ideologically, this notion does tamper with the core capitalist idea that profits must be maximised.
But profit maximisation as your only goal in life, that is for three-year-olds.
For in its real application to the real world, as the present situation unquestionably shows, such maximisation has proved to be socially unproductive.
Indeed, it leads to crisis.
Ultimately, jobs are the most rational and most real way to distribute income.
Thus: protect jobs. Gear economic and trade policies to that.
8
Your elitist tome "The World is Flat" doesn't seem to be working so well Thomas. Brexit was justified; actually returning sovereignty and currency to each nation would be much better than having to follow the dictates from Brussels or pay for the decisions of "the coalition of the willing" and their disastrous Middle East Wars, not to mention lack of capital constraints as the bankers suck the blood from one nation after the other.
5
Friedman's excellent article neglects a major point--the difficulty of a large government carrying out complicated activities in many sub-governments. The EU currently faces obvious problems of dealing with migration. But it also faces the significant problem of the EU centrally defining regulations and then carrying them out in many "countries". This problem is not as obvious as the political migration issues, but it represents a complicated problem that is increasingly coming to the fore in the EU.
3
Resisting free trade could be our Brexit. This is not 1945 when we were the last country standing. Our focus should be on equiping our country, and its citizens, to capitalize on the change that has already started. This includes making college more readily available to those citizens who qualify.
The U.S. cannot live in a cocoon and block trade with other nations and remain a world power. If you are under 45 the only place you read about opening relations with China in the 1970's is in history books. China is challenging us for world dominance while at the same time our economies are interdependent. We cannot hide in the sand.
If we do not establish trading relationships with other countries China will and we will be left out in the cold.
Unskilled jobs will be lost because of TPP. We can choose to cut off our nose to spite our face by backing out of the agreement and handing it over to China or we can go through with it and simultaneously pass legislation that provides free two years of collegel to anyone who academically qualifies. THe second option gives displaced workers the opportunity to raise their skills, and thus their standard of living, as we solidify our economic ties with these other countries before China does..
The UAW and other unions are looking out for their own interest and not the interest of their members. History shows as education rises union membership falls. It is time unions reinvent themselves in this new century....
http://lstrn.us/1GBRddV
The U.S. cannot live in a cocoon and block trade with other nations and remain a world power. If you are under 45 the only place you read about opening relations with China in the 1970's is in history books. China is challenging us for world dominance while at the same time our economies are interdependent. We cannot hide in the sand.
If we do not establish trading relationships with other countries China will and we will be left out in the cold.
Unskilled jobs will be lost because of TPP. We can choose to cut off our nose to spite our face by backing out of the agreement and handing it over to China or we can go through with it and simultaneously pass legislation that provides free two years of collegel to anyone who academically qualifies. THe second option gives displaced workers the opportunity to raise their skills, and thus their standard of living, as we solidify our economic ties with these other countries before China does..
The UAW and other unions are looking out for their own interest and not the interest of their members. History shows as education rises union membership falls. It is time unions reinvent themselves in this new century....
http://lstrn.us/1GBRddV
2
There is no longer we and them. Those days are gone forever. Most fail the realize that we are all interdemendent fellow crew of Spaceship Earth with a shared destiny as we hurtle through space and time.
“A revolution is coming – a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough – but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.
― Robert F. Kennedy
The elite"pilots" profit from exploiting the hull, life support systems, and lives of the crew. Then they act surprised when the crew grok that the ship is in peril and hell bent for the rocks. When our labors to patch the hull just produce mor plunder from ever more vital systems.
It does not take a climate scientist or even a particularly bright bulb on the street to see that Capitalism, unrestrained by the requirements of Planetary life support systems, is guaranteed mutually assured destruction. When dollars are sacrosanct to Planetary life support systems, what other outcome can be expected? Socially enabled capitalism is clearly a failed paradigm. Help end tax funded pollution of the commons for starters. Our tax dollars are funding a Planetary ecocide future for the children of ALL species.
“War becomes perpetual when used as a rationale for peace,” Norman Solomon.
“Peace becomes perpetual when used as a rationale for survival.” Yours truly.
“A revolution is coming – a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough – but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.
― Robert F. Kennedy
The elite"pilots" profit from exploiting the hull, life support systems, and lives of the crew. Then they act surprised when the crew grok that the ship is in peril and hell bent for the rocks. When our labors to patch the hull just produce mor plunder from ever more vital systems.
It does not take a climate scientist or even a particularly bright bulb on the street to see that Capitalism, unrestrained by the requirements of Planetary life support systems, is guaranteed mutually assured destruction. When dollars are sacrosanct to Planetary life support systems, what other outcome can be expected? Socially enabled capitalism is clearly a failed paradigm. Help end tax funded pollution of the commons for starters. Our tax dollars are funding a Planetary ecocide future for the children of ALL species.
“War becomes perpetual when used as a rationale for peace,” Norman Solomon.
“Peace becomes perpetual when used as a rationale for survival.” Yours truly.
6
A nice list of excuses of why the elites get to sail off in their golden lifeboat while the ship they sunk goes down with the poor, working poor, and the middle class.
The political/media class blind embrace of globalization is they greatest destruction of Western Civilization since the fall of the Roman Empire, and for what? So fat cats can stuff a few extra dollars more in their wallets? One yacht isn't enough? 60,000 factories were moved from the US so the rich could become twenty times richer. The revolution isn't about racism, though the racists are dancing in the streets saying, "I told you so," it is about cheep labor and the destruction of the middle and working class for the benefits of the rich.
Keep calling your disenfranchised victims ignorant children and see what happens. Trump and Sanders are only the start of the revolution. If the elite rich are so smart, how come the world is such a mess, and how long before people dig up the plans to make Guillotines?
The entire elite political class has failed America, and middle and working class are not going to go silently into the good night while the rich stuff themselves at the expense of the weak.
The political/media class blind embrace of globalization is they greatest destruction of Western Civilization since the fall of the Roman Empire, and for what? So fat cats can stuff a few extra dollars more in their wallets? One yacht isn't enough? 60,000 factories were moved from the US so the rich could become twenty times richer. The revolution isn't about racism, though the racists are dancing in the streets saying, "I told you so," it is about cheep labor and the destruction of the middle and working class for the benefits of the rich.
Keep calling your disenfranchised victims ignorant children and see what happens. Trump and Sanders are only the start of the revolution. If the elite rich are so smart, how come the world is such a mess, and how long before people dig up the plans to make Guillotines?
The entire elite political class has failed America, and middle and working class are not going to go silently into the good night while the rich stuff themselves at the expense of the weak.
16
No surprise here. One of our nation's foremost cheerleaders for globalization and the New World Order in a tizz over the Brexit vote--"by a narrow majority," "only a simple majority required to win..." Perhaps it would be better if the whole world redefined democratic majorities the way our Senate does, granting to some 11% of our nation's people veto power over the will of the majority. Mr. Friedman's "flat Earth" has impoverished vast numbers of workers here and abroad and created a crass culture of profiteering that makes the era of the Robber Barons appear humane by comparison. The vast wealth creation Mr. Friedman has been touting for the last two decades has gone into fewer and fewer pockets. A new world order built on the backs of workers earning pennies an hour in China, India and wherever else desperate men and women are exploited is not a foundation for economic justice.
10
Referendums for such life changing events as Brexit should require at least a two-thirds majority. Much like bills that are vetoed by the US President and sent back to Congress, it's high time Queen Elizabeth steps in to save her kingdom. Afterall, she does have virtually unlimited authority though she's never exercized it and saving the UK (and the world) from long-term doom justifies the short-term riots that would likely ensue.
6
Living in Europe the past 46 years, I really learned to value the EU working as a long term expatriate resident now retired in Italy. The unity of the EU has allowed me a good life. I paid higher taxes than I would have in the US, but the benefits, e.g. free university for my children, a good medical system in EU countries when I needed it, A paridise without borders.
There greatest success of the EU is the peace it brought Europe. I was working in Hamburg when the Wall came down and traveled there with my sons so that we could witness this historic event in the city of their first years.
The Wall came down not due to a slight majority of DDREXITers, but by the will of the East Germans. Accomplished through the cooperation of the Kohl, Bush, and Gorbachev, united in peace. Without the total support of the EU member states, this could not have happened.
Such statesmanship, unity and cooperation needed then is much lacking among current world leaders and those aspiring to office in todays world. Europe's far right Exiters and our own country's Trump are selling their supporters snake oil promises and trying to convince their citizens that the way to their future lies in their rear view mirror. Europe now sees the lies of the BREXITERS, and the calamity caused by the UK leaving Europe.
Fellow Americans beware not to drink the similar toxic juices promised by another charlatan. Get registered US youth and vote. Your future is in front of you, not in the rear view mirror.
There greatest success of the EU is the peace it brought Europe. I was working in Hamburg when the Wall came down and traveled there with my sons so that we could witness this historic event in the city of their first years.
The Wall came down not due to a slight majority of DDREXITers, but by the will of the East Germans. Accomplished through the cooperation of the Kohl, Bush, and Gorbachev, united in peace. Without the total support of the EU member states, this could not have happened.
Such statesmanship, unity and cooperation needed then is much lacking among current world leaders and those aspiring to office in todays world. Europe's far right Exiters and our own country's Trump are selling their supporters snake oil promises and trying to convince their citizens that the way to their future lies in their rear view mirror. Europe now sees the lies of the BREXITERS, and the calamity caused by the UK leaving Europe.
Fellow Americans beware not to drink the similar toxic juices promised by another charlatan. Get registered US youth and vote. Your future is in front of you, not in the rear view mirror.
181
An apt analogy: politicians urge their constituents to "chase that car" driven by a bogy man, in this case, an immigrant with brown skin and a different religion. Mad barking and an exciting chase follow. Unexpectedly, dog catches car! But now what? NO PLAN...just more barking. That's the trouble with mob rule and with politicians who urge voters to act on their worst impulses but have NO PLAN to clean up the mess when the dog causes the car to go off the riad. We've got one presidential candidate, Donald Trump, who barks 24/7 and he urges voters to do the same. It's all good clean fun until the car runs off the road...
3
I am reminded of a lot of the complaints one saw aimed at countries like Saudi Arabia back in the 1990s: they're prosperous now, it was said, but are they investing in the future they'll have to cope with after the oil runs out?
In much the same way, we are failing to invest. We had an extraordinary historical advantage after WW2, and in many ways, we used it to prepare. But with Reagan and after--his biggest failing, I think--we threw away the fall of the Soviet Union, rapproachement with China, the explosion of global trade...
...on weapons, tax cuts, and so on. What we didn't do was build government and education, to get ready for what a child could see was coming. And the whole time, the plain old physical infrastructure was let fall apart.
To me, the question is whether we still have time to teach people about reality. It's almost science-fictional: there's only so much time before new technologies seriously collide with the consequences of using them thoughtlessly.
It's as though we've handed the skin-clad inhabitants of Planet P03x4077y phasers, and expected something good to happen.
In much the same way, we are failing to invest. We had an extraordinary historical advantage after WW2, and in many ways, we used it to prepare. But with Reagan and after--his biggest failing, I think--we threw away the fall of the Soviet Union, rapproachement with China, the explosion of global trade...
...on weapons, tax cuts, and so on. What we didn't do was build government and education, to get ready for what a child could see was coming. And the whole time, the plain old physical infrastructure was let fall apart.
To me, the question is whether we still have time to teach people about reality. It's almost science-fictional: there's only so much time before new technologies seriously collide with the consequences of using them thoughtlessly.
It's as though we've handed the skin-clad inhabitants of Planet P03x4077y phasers, and expected something good to happen.
1
Let me start by saying that I think Trump is a buffoon and BREXIT was a hoax perpetrated on people who mostly didn't understand what they were voting for. That said, I hear only fuzzy platitudes that I've heard for a couple decades about how we need to create decent jobs for those lost to automation, technology, and cheaper overseas labor. It's a nice thought, and it's nice to think that there's a panacea out there, but no one has produced it. I think it's as elusive as the jobs that Trump is promising to bring back to the US by forcing industry to come back here.
I'd like to see the job training programs, the education programs, the infrastructure project spending--all of those job-enhancing measures--take hold. But after years and years of empty promises: experience and, frankly, common sense tells me that most of those decent middle-class jobs that disappeared are not coming back. I'm very sorry to say that, and I wish I could believe the optimists, but I haven't seen any evidence yet.
I'd like to see the job training programs, the education programs, the infrastructure project spending--all of those job-enhancing measures--take hold. But after years and years of empty promises: experience and, frankly, common sense tells me that most of those decent middle-class jobs that disappeared are not coming back. I'm very sorry to say that, and I wish I could believe the optimists, but I haven't seen any evidence yet.
5
When pols use polling and focus groups to decide what to say or propose, instead of leading and god-forbid losing a vote or even an election, this is what happens.
1
"...Incredibly complex issue, of which few people understand the full scope..." Well apparently the multinationals and the rest of the elite understand the EU well enough to suck the wind out of it for huge personal gains. It's hard to think of a better example of "the elite note getting it" than the author of this column. Consider this a wack in the face of the establishment or our highly educated elite. It's impossible to predict the future, but if one hears the discontent of the other half beyond Trafalgar square (or Manhattan for that matter) then logic tells us that it would be wise to narrow the unconscionable disparities Mr. Friedman is so comfortable with. Do nothing and watch what's coming.
6
To build on the end of the opinion piece, no one has been articulating the grand vision of the EU. No one speaks out for union over parochialism and separatism. When I studied Western Civ, I was led to investigate the rise of nationalism, and the good and bad of it. I see Brexit as a move against 500 years of development of modern Western civilization. And yes, the EU leaders need to make some corrections internally so that are more democratic and transparent.
2
Sounds like a real "father knows best" attitude. This view that voters are rubes subject to cynical manipulation is paternalistic. For neoliberals like you, the referendum (in which the largest number of Britons in history voted for something - to leave an undemocratic framework) has shown only one thing: That the public should never be consulted.
That paternalism is what created this mess in the first place. The decision to leave was nothing other than an act of mass democracy. Does democracy repel you? Sounds like it.
That paternalism is what created this mess in the first place. The decision to leave was nothing other than an act of mass democracy. Does democracy repel you? Sounds like it.
3
If there have been lies by one side in the immigration and trade debates there have been, sadly, lies on the other side too, so that the present mess is not just due to inexorable forces of modernization. In the United States, when the last immigration/amnesty bill was passed, part of the deal was that illegal migration into the U.S. would be drastically curtailed. The steps to accomplish this were not taken.When NAFTA was passed part of the deal was that adequate and effective training programs (like in Denmark, for example) would be established. Another lie and promise not kept. People are not just anxious and fearful as the column states, they are angry. Is it any wonder that there is strong opposition to immigration 'reform' and TARP and to politicians who support it? As the saying goes, 'Fool me once-shame on you. Fool me twice-shame on me. The question is : What will it take to get the politicians to do the right thing and get the public to believe again in their integrity?
5
Columnists like Mr Friedman dream of a perfect world, the working class dream of bread on the table.This is why the Brits shattered the dreams of Mr. Friedman.
11
Most of the comments here are more accurate than the opinion piece. Friedman usually gets it right but not this time.
5
It would be most interesting and enlightening if our country would have a special election and put all the current controversial issues to a popular vote and let the winners prevail. I am referring to issues such as the right to have an abortion, immigration, affirmative action, same sex marriage, and so forth. We live in a democracy, which is defined in the dictionary as a rule by the majority.
2
It is a bit rich for Mr Friedman to point to our political leaders for not keeping up-- when commentators and other bubble-elite like him have been the main cheerleaders and "intellectual" bulwark for governments and policies that consistently favoured trade, immigration too the benefit of the financial/global elite; policies that ignored the need for distributing these gains fairly. Policies that turned a blind idea to the vast majority of the population in favour of the the greed of the financial/global elite (their friends). And now it is broken.
Mr. Friedman, you played a role in bringing us to this point-- Please show some decency and own up!
Mr. Friedman, you played a role in bringing us to this point-- Please show some decency and own up!
11
"Yet in an age when technology is integrating us more tightly together and delivering tremendous flows of innovation, knowledge, connectivity and commerce, the future belongs to those who build webs not walls."
Webs? Mr. Friedman Maybe your the Huckster who thinks that life can just imitate Twitter.
Attention Donald Trump voters: this is what happens to a country that falls for hucksters who think that life can just imitate Twitter. You break it, you own it.
Who Broke it? No mention of Brussels and the corrupt, faceless and unaccountable bureaucrats, (and since you mentioned Trump), and their Doppelgangers in the U.S. government.
Trump will bring accountability (It's a fact he will bring accountability because no Major Media ever will allow Trump to go unchecked as they would a Hillary).
Now Before you label anyone Stupid or uninformed let's ask how we got here.
Go on Friedman use those webs your were just bragging about. Google Hope and Change. Who broke it? Obama?
Webs? Mr. Friedman Maybe your the Huckster who thinks that life can just imitate Twitter.
Attention Donald Trump voters: this is what happens to a country that falls for hucksters who think that life can just imitate Twitter. You break it, you own it.
Who Broke it? No mention of Brussels and the corrupt, faceless and unaccountable bureaucrats, (and since you mentioned Trump), and their Doppelgangers in the U.S. government.
Trump will bring accountability (It's a fact he will bring accountability because no Major Media ever will allow Trump to go unchecked as they would a Hillary).
Now Before you label anyone Stupid or uninformed let's ask how we got here.
Go on Friedman use those webs your were just bragging about. Google Hope and Change. Who broke it? Obama?
3
The common characteristic of the Brexit vote and the support for Donald Trump (and Bernie Sanders, for that matter) is that politicians everywhere are experts at deflecting from their own ignorance about what to do, or, in the case of Republicans, willfully ignoring facts in favor of dogmatic rigidity.
In Britain the Conservative government ON ITS OWN - no EU rules to force them - decided to cut social services, worsening the already precarious lives of large segments of their population. Then they either willfully misled the people to believe the EU caused all the ills, or, in the case of Cameron and Co., allowed that misdirection unchallenged to hide their own failed policies.
In the US it has long been obvious that the forces of globalization and automation have long been undermining large segments of the polulation. There are many policies, short of becoming isolationist, which can counteract these effects, such as proper social services, retraining programs, better educational systems, protecting employees from arbitrary actions by corporations, etc, etc.
Like many populists/fascists before him, Trump now uses these deep seated fears and discontent to whip up irrational responses - cancel all trade agreements, expell 11 Mil illegals, ban all Muslims - which have no bearing on a real solution.
British Brexit politicians are now clueless on how to proceed. Similarly, if elected, Trump would be clueless on what to actually do to "Make America Great again".
In Britain the Conservative government ON ITS OWN - no EU rules to force them - decided to cut social services, worsening the already precarious lives of large segments of their population. Then they either willfully misled the people to believe the EU caused all the ills, or, in the case of Cameron and Co., allowed that misdirection unchallenged to hide their own failed policies.
In the US it has long been obvious that the forces of globalization and automation have long been undermining large segments of the polulation. There are many policies, short of becoming isolationist, which can counteract these effects, such as proper social services, retraining programs, better educational systems, protecting employees from arbitrary actions by corporations, etc, etc.
Like many populists/fascists before him, Trump now uses these deep seated fears and discontent to whip up irrational responses - cancel all trade agreements, expell 11 Mil illegals, ban all Muslims - which have no bearing on a real solution.
British Brexit politicians are now clueless on how to proceed. Similarly, if elected, Trump would be clueless on what to actually do to "Make America Great again".
42
Mr. Friedman, you wrote "Never forget, after the destruction of World War II, the E.U. project “emerged as a force for peace, prosperity, democracy and freedom in the world,” but the E.U. project is not an animal of the democratic species at al. Oligarchic, perhaps, autocratic, partly. But not democratic. And the people of Europe know that. And they know they have given up sovereignty for peace and "prosperity," and many of them are not happy about that. Add to that that if you're a rich country it's not a good prospect but if you're a poor country you might not mind forgoing a little sovereignty for some prosperity at someone else's expense.
None of this means that leaving the E.U. is necessarily a good idea, but staying with it in its present incarnation is equally a bad idea. The nature of the E.U. must change and soon, otherwise the democratic nature of its member countries will be demonstrated with more exiting. That spells disaster for a world order that has hinged on a desire to avoid mistakes of the past, a desire the E.U. must recall and work towards in a way that honors the democratic underpinnings that also help maintain the peace and true prosperity we all want.
Lastly, if the member nations are not careful to pay attention to the will of their people, there will be a revolt against the kind of order that the E.U. represents. That would bode ill for us all.
None of this means that leaving the E.U. is necessarily a good idea, but staying with it in its present incarnation is equally a bad idea. The nature of the E.U. must change and soon, otherwise the democratic nature of its member countries will be demonstrated with more exiting. That spells disaster for a world order that has hinged on a desire to avoid mistakes of the past, a desire the E.U. must recall and work towards in a way that honors the democratic underpinnings that also help maintain the peace and true prosperity we all want.
Lastly, if the member nations are not careful to pay attention to the will of their people, there will be a revolt against the kind of order that the E.U. represents. That would bode ill for us all.
21
There's one factor that this otherwise incisive op/ed piece fails to recognize: the U.S. and western Europe implemented policies that took advantage of the miserable governments running the nations of the Middle East, paying off the potentates while expropriating their mineral resources. The citizens of those countries became really angry, turned their religion into an outlet for their hatred and launched terrorist attacks against the West- along with waves of immigration for those who couldn't take the violence and poverty that the West had left behind. And, to this date, the West has done precisely nothing to resolve the situation. Our military response has been too piecemeal to make much of a difference and our open door policy has kept the tide of immigration from receding. We need to spend money over there (and to keep it out of the grubby hands of those unelected despots) so we won't have to keep spending it over here (on border control, cash assistance to refugees and unemployment benefits for our own citizens) and we need to launch an all-out joint, U.N.-authorized effort to wipe out the jihadists once and for all. This would require an infusion of will and a complete abandonment of the concept of business-as-usual. Otherwise, we're all doomed to an endless cycle of poverty, violence and illegal immigration.
34
Two minor technical details:
1. Which "open-door policy," was this, exactly?
2. Do you personally plan to go fight, have one of your kids go fight, or have your taxes raised to pay for this all-out war on jihadism? How many civilian deaths are okay by you, exactly? What's your plan for what happens next?
1. Which "open-door policy," was this, exactly?
2. Do you personally plan to go fight, have one of your kids go fight, or have your taxes raised to pay for this all-out war on jihadism? How many civilian deaths are okay by you, exactly? What's your plan for what happens next?
4
As required by law in California in order to pass a parcel tax for the local schools you need a two-thirds majority. To put this in context, a recent parcel tax is an extra 70.00 a year added to the property tax bill. But to leave the E. U. resulting in a major change of government, resignation of the Prime Minister, and loss of income for a whole country, and the pound devaluation, required only a simple majority.
46
Presto: the dog catches the car. And, of course, it has no idea now what to do with this car. There is no plan. There is just barking.
How about, Presto: the dog catches the car, gets its teeth stuck in the tire, and breaks its neck. No plan, no barking, no dog.
How about, Presto: the dog catches the car, gets its teeth stuck in the tire, and breaks its neck. No plan, no barking, no dog.
78
"Yet in an age when technology is integrating us more tightly together and delivering tremendous flows of innovation, knowledge, connectivity and commerce, the future belongs to those who build webs not walls, who can integrate not separate, to get the most out of these flows."
The seeds are there now that has been a construct of the post WWII era - "open borders, pluralism, and immigration." We can thank our political leaders who are mostly of the war generations for this. As far as achieving results, this is as far as they could have delivered it. Many have gotten very rich from doing so, nevertheless, despite being wrong.
The ideas, the wisdom of are also inherent of the next generation (I could be wrong) - "integration, innovation, webs, flows." We can thank also this to the bright but more pliable minds of youth and energy. I was there in Silicon Valley in the mid 80's to observe the mass influx of early tech workers from all parts of the US. They were unskilled, culturally diverse, and many didn't fully speak the language. But they had the right attitude. My friends in college dropped out to join this wave. Many Vietnamese from Los Angeles, who were already immigrants, relocated to San Jose for a second but this time "in-house" immigration experience. They lived and ate together in small quarters. There were thirst and hope in their eyes. They also got rich.
What's next? The power of technology, the tools are given back to the masses. We'll see if it's "stable."
The seeds are there now that has been a construct of the post WWII era - "open borders, pluralism, and immigration." We can thank our political leaders who are mostly of the war generations for this. As far as achieving results, this is as far as they could have delivered it. Many have gotten very rich from doing so, nevertheless, despite being wrong.
The ideas, the wisdom of are also inherent of the next generation (I could be wrong) - "integration, innovation, webs, flows." We can thank also this to the bright but more pliable minds of youth and energy. I was there in Silicon Valley in the mid 80's to observe the mass influx of early tech workers from all parts of the US. They were unskilled, culturally diverse, and many didn't fully speak the language. But they had the right attitude. My friends in college dropped out to join this wave. Many Vietnamese from Los Angeles, who were already immigrants, relocated to San Jose for a second but this time "in-house" immigration experience. They lived and ate together in small quarters. There were thirst and hope in their eyes. They also got rich.
What's next? The power of technology, the tools are given back to the masses. We'll see if it's "stable."
4
When technology gets ahead of society, which is true now, it becomes dangerous in the wrong hands. I don't see much wisdom being used to introduce all these new ideas. I taught my kids to ask themselves: If I do this, what's the worst thing that could happen, and will I be able to deal with it? I'm pretty sure nobody is asking these questions.
4
I hope Mr. Friedman's knee jerk reaction hasn't damaged his jaw. Fact is that we cannot possibly assess the effects of Brexit and may not for some time. The only obvious impact has been; (1) a drop in the stock market (heralded by the Brexit opponents) and a subsequent recovery (ignored by the opponents like CNN). And (2) an unnavigable river of tears from the architects of the disastrous globalism thing that has been foisted on the American people.
The people of the UK have clearly landed on the side of sovereignty, we should also before it is completely gone.
The people of the UK have clearly landed on the side of sovereignty, we should also before it is completely gone.
27
A subsequent recovery? So, he's jumping the gun, but you're not? Sign back on next year. If the EU sticks to its guns, Britain will be a whole lot poorer and will probably be missing some of its constituent nations, as well. There is little reason to believe that the next Scottish referendum will not result in independence. Both Edinburgh and Dublin stand to get a whole lot richer as a result of Brexit. Friedman is right on the money. A whole lot of barking and nothing else. Big Boris is already walking it back, rapidly. His theme for the week is that no one should get hasty about the exit. Really? Nice try. Today, Britain was asked "why are you here" at the EU meeting. Meanwhile, I think Nigel Farage was the bad guy in "101 Dalmatians." Wasn't he? That guy is so dumb, it hurts to watch him.
I'd bet his jaw is doing ok. How I see it is that globalization is going to happen. period. How it happens and the form that it takes could vary significantly from one country to another. But it will happen. Get with it or be left behind is how I see it. i understand that there must be a tremendous amount of anger I'm assuming from people who feel left behind, are financially struggling and perceive the world as not caring about them. You are right that there is no way to know exactly how things will fall out, but taking this step sure doesn't seem to be productive in the long run for the UK. What countries need to do (UK, US, etc.) is to keep in mind that their economic and social policies provide for inclusion of those who are already "left behind" or may be so in the future. Case in point, the coal miners in the US mining states such as WV.
2
Just so's ya know, the name for the economic system you espouse is "capitalism," and it is fundamental in capitalism that businesses must expand and compete.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Free trade with nations that systematically poison their own people's water supply (NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/05/opinion/chinas-poisonous-waterways.html).
You get a real price advantage without pollution controls. See it up close in Mexico, where open sewers are called rivers. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_(Mexico%E2%80%93United_States))
Maybe we can catch up with fracking, and get the earth quakes as a bonus. If we manage to kill off elders and the sick with compromised immune systems we can save on health care costs.
The democratic party will allow us to frack away while they bathe their dogs in glacier water.
It's already broken, and both sides own it.
You get a real price advantage without pollution controls. See it up close in Mexico, where open sewers are called rivers. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_(Mexico%E2%80%93United_States))
Maybe we can catch up with fracking, and get the earth quakes as a bonus. If we manage to kill off elders and the sick with compromised immune systems we can save on health care costs.
The democratic party will allow us to frack away while they bathe their dogs in glacier water.
It's already broken, and both sides own it.
15
"It's already broken, and both sides own it."
Exactly, there are absolutely no differences between the two parties. That being the case, please vote Democratic - since it doesn't matter to you who you choose.
Exactly, there are absolutely no differences between the two parties. That being the case, please vote Democratic - since it doesn't matter to you who you choose.
Excellent Article - we need more in this vein. Perhaps Friedman can write more on Economics.
8
Hey Tom, integration and pluralism yes, but unless resources and real opportunity (power) are much more evenly distributed (shared) by the elite, we'll still have the kind of skewed distribution Bernie and others have been speaking about and about which he writes about today in his Op-Ed. Integration along with sharing resources might begin to create significant changes in capitalism itself. The national and global system's badly broken, Tom, and integration alone can change that, just as it didn't change the race problem when legislated years ago.
6
Integration did improve the race problem. While not every racist was converted there is much more of a moderated stance on race than there was and the oppressed races have been given the opportunity to learn and understand their position in society and use the tools to advance it. There was no significant presence of e black voice in the media in the 60s. There were many many fewer blacks in all professions and in the higher Ed system. I grew up with much racial integration and I have called upon the basic knowledge and strength of that almost daily. I don't fear white people and most importantly, I don't revere them or think they have no flaws and all the answers. Integration did work. And would work more if we let it.
2
Why would any country want to give up its sovereignty to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels? Americans would never agree to that. Britain was already maintaining its own currency so was not completely comfortable with the EU arrangement. Throwing out the specter of repercussions to me sounds like fear mongering. Give it up already. In time, Britain and the EU will negotiate some arrangement.
17
You have correctly recited the Leave campaign's talking points.
1
Americans did agree to just that in about 1790 when the states ceded power to Washington. They did it because they knew that they were better off as a single nation - more powerful, more dynamic, more able to control their own destiny. Whatever arrangement Britain and the EU negotiate, it won't be as good as moving toward being a single nation. The biggest mistake the people who thought up the EU made was giving in to the idea of sovereignty after WWII. At that point, if their intention really was to prevent another war, the leaders of France, England, and the US should have said they were creating a new democratic nation that encompassed every inch of land the Allied Powers controlled at that point. If you are going to build something in the ashes of a decimated continent, it would have been better to build something new rather than rebuild the old order.
1
First, the government of the EU is elected.
Second, Americans already did the same thing when they established a union out of 13 separate States. Then they fought a war over it. Today, some States still chafe, and it isn't surprising that so much of the Brexit support over here comes from that region.
Second, Americans already did the same thing when they established a union out of 13 separate States. Then they fought a war over it. Today, some States still chafe, and it isn't surprising that so much of the Brexit support over here comes from that region.
2
Grexit, Brexit, who’s nexit? Cop out, drop out, mop the fops out. Fence out, hence in, sense out. Ground down, pound down, frown town. Job loss, sob loss, mob toss.
12
We have globalized trade and manufacture, but we don't have globalized living-wage standards, and no one is even attempted to develop and implement these. Globalization should benefit all, not just financial-market VIPs and investors.
29
Robert Reich has always advocated that living wage stipulations should be mandatory in all free trade agreements. Usually something like tying signee nations minimum wages to be 25% of their median incomes.
Of course politicians would surely distort this by saying that 'everyone has to pay their workers the same', implying that it would further depress U.S. wages, which is a lie.
Of course politicians would surely distort this by saying that 'everyone has to pay their workers the same', implying that it would further depress U.S. wages, which is a lie.
3
Must be nice for Friedman a privileged American to say Brexit was a bad idea. The opposite is true of the undemocratic neo-liberal construct that will fail unless it's changed to have a central fiscal policy and be made more democratic.
Every country in the EU is like Puerto Rico who uses one currency but has to borrow it to spend. Imagine Louisiana after hurricane Katrina having to borrow money to deal with the emergency and you'll get the idea.
In 1972, the Governor of the Danish Central Bank said, “I will begin to believe in European economic and monetary union when someone explains how you control nine horses that are all running at different speeds within the same harness”
That says it all hence why the Nordic countries sensibly kept their own currencies like the UK.
Italian polling showed 48% wanting to leave the EU prior to this election. Wait for an actual EU member to leave and then the real action begins. Germany might even realise it needs to be changed to be made democratic as opposed to controlled by them.
Every country in the EU is like Puerto Rico who uses one currency but has to borrow it to spend. Imagine Louisiana after hurricane Katrina having to borrow money to deal with the emergency and you'll get the idea.
In 1972, the Governor of the Danish Central Bank said, “I will begin to believe in European economic and monetary union when someone explains how you control nine horses that are all running at different speeds within the same harness”
That says it all hence why the Nordic countries sensibly kept their own currencies like the UK.
Italian polling showed 48% wanting to leave the EU prior to this election. Wait for an actual EU member to leave and then the real action begins. Germany might even realise it needs to be changed to be made democratic as opposed to controlled by them.
21
Those are all very good points. But the are simply aspects of the difficult problem of integration That Mr. Friedman describes, and not arguments for why the effort represented by the EU is wrong.
i usually enjoy reading Friedman and find myself agreeing with his analysis consistently. this time however, i fee llike he is completely off the mark. Like many of the columnists and pundits this year, badly misinterpreting the mood and meaning of the electorate.
I dont think Brexit happened because some sheepish voters were duped by lies, i dont think they were expressing a racist xenophobia; i think after decades of being in a system that steadily ceded self determination and control to an outside body, years of watching the much-lauded trade agreements benefit everyone except the individual voters and middle class in Great Britain, the voters chose to opt out of a system that did not work for them. they chose to have more local control over their destiny and VOTED to take back decisions. i say, "vote" because twice in the last century there were major wars over disagreement. it is a tribute to Nato and the post WW2 culture that this decision was made peacefully, with every desire to stay connected to Europe in a less suffocating way. And, BTW, being against wide open borders and unlimited immigration is NOT the same as racism or Xenophobia. in a time of Istanbul airports and Orlando night clubs it seems prudent and wise to slow down unrestricted immigration and more closely vette people wishing to enter your country.
I dont think Brexit happened because some sheepish voters were duped by lies, i dont think they were expressing a racist xenophobia; i think after decades of being in a system that steadily ceded self determination and control to an outside body, years of watching the much-lauded trade agreements benefit everyone except the individual voters and middle class in Great Britain, the voters chose to opt out of a system that did not work for them. they chose to have more local control over their destiny and VOTED to take back decisions. i say, "vote" because twice in the last century there were major wars over disagreement. it is a tribute to Nato and the post WW2 culture that this decision was made peacefully, with every desire to stay connected to Europe in a less suffocating way. And, BTW, being against wide open borders and unlimited immigration is NOT the same as racism or Xenophobia. in a time of Istanbul airports and Orlando night clubs it seems prudent and wise to slow down unrestricted immigration and more closely vette people wishing to enter your country.
30
You may not *think* Brexit happened because some sheepish voters were duped by lies, but that is in fact exactly what quite a few of them are saying.
5
One point of clarification, the Orlando killer as born in America to LEGAL immigrants.
Agree completely with your comments on immigration. I am a liberal dem-- but I find myself in the unenviable position of having to defend the trumpites as "not 100% racist." My fellow lib dems speak in the same code as the politicians and pundits-- multiculturalism has been good, immigration is the lifeblood of our country, these are our ideals, etc. What I want is one shred of proof that massive immigration has been a benefit to us over the last 30+ years. IN the state of CA I can assure you that the unmitigated, illegal entry of millions of third world hispanics has NOT been a benefit-- unless you are a right-wing businessman who no longer has to pay decent wages. The effect on our schools, public spaces, language, etc.-- has been enormous.
1
In all of world history there has been only two continent wide experiments in multi-ethnic integration by democratic ballots rather than dictatorial bullets. Much elite chicanery was essential to initiate these projects and to bypass insular public loyalties. After three generations of the US experiment ("Four score and seven years ago...") it took brutal force of civil war to save the Union and to reframe it for "a new birth of freedom" and a new federalism with much less state autonomy.
European integration is now two-plus generations from World War II and the Rome Treaty of 1957. Brexit demonstrates Europe must now find a way to confront its contradictions, as its needs both stronger federalism and a new birth of freedom for its citizens. Hopefully, the EU can avoid collapse and find its way to this integration without any specter of bullets and civil war. Given our own difficult history we should be sympathetic and supportive rather than gloating. Everyone's future may be at stake.
European integration is now two-plus generations from World War II and the Rome Treaty of 1957. Brexit demonstrates Europe must now find a way to confront its contradictions, as its needs both stronger federalism and a new birth of freedom for its citizens. Hopefully, the EU can avoid collapse and find its way to this integration without any specter of bullets and civil war. Given our own difficult history we should be sympathetic and supportive rather than gloating. Everyone's future may be at stake.
16
I fully agree with your article; hope that the European and American Politicians, understand there is a fantastic opportunity in front of us, to change paradigms and adapt the humans society to these New World Order.
I'm very afraid that some leaders like Putin, understand better the actual feelings of the people and take advantage to advance for their dictatorial ideas.
Congratulations for the clarity of your ideas in the editorial.
I'm very afraid that some leaders like Putin, understand better the actual feelings of the people and take advantage to advance for their dictatorial ideas.
Congratulations for the clarity of your ideas in the editorial.
The number of opinions being thrown around impervious to fact or analysis has been a sight to behold during this entire process. The Remain side at least estimated the losses to the British economy from lower trade levels, reduced investment and more expensive imports against the gains to tourism and exports (Newsflash: the effects are complex and don't fit in 68 point font on the side of a bus).
On the Leave side all we get are outright lies (£350 million aint going into the NHS - austerity policies are starving social services not the EU nor immigrants -esp not EU immigrants that pay taxes). Or we get generic "take back control" "bureaucracy and regulation" points that don't actually factually explain how changing these things will make British people better off..... (aside from the"its just better innit?" rationale)
On the Leave side all we get are outright lies (£350 million aint going into the NHS - austerity policies are starving social services not the EU nor immigrants -esp not EU immigrants that pay taxes). Or we get generic "take back control" "bureaucracy and regulation" points that don't actually factually explain how changing these things will make British people better off..... (aside from the"its just better innit?" rationale)
17
This constant mantra that the Leave side lied only demonstrates the intellectual weakness of globalists like Mr. Friedman. Both sides in the United Kingdom were hyperbolic to the point of being dishonest. That is what politicians do. Note that Britain's Treasury Secretary is now saying that Brexit will not be the end of the world, after claiming that it would be during the campaign. In a column that is at its core fear mongering, Mr. Friedman spends inordinate time complaining about the fear mongering of those with whom he disagrees. Mr. Friedman and his allies all claimed that the sky would fall if Brexit was approved. Now that that has not occurred, they are warning that we are just one more step away.
The whole idea that the Brexit proponents do not a plan to proceed on Brexit is just one more dishonest argument on the part of opponents of Brexit. The proponents of Brexit are not in power. They cannot do anything to proceed. Until a new government is formed, the Brexit transition is the responsibility of the current government, which was overwhelmingly opposed to Brexit, and which apparently had no plan to proceed in the event they lost the vote.
The whole idea that the Brexit proponents do not a plan to proceed on Brexit is just one more dishonest argument on the part of opponents of Brexit. The proponents of Brexit are not in power. They cannot do anything to proceed. Until a new government is formed, the Brexit transition is the responsibility of the current government, which was overwhelmingly opposed to Brexit, and which apparently had no plan to proceed in the event they lost the vote.
12
For many years now Friedman has promoted the concept that "average is over." In order to thrive in the new order, a person must be exceptionally good at something (more often several things). Unfortunately this defies any realistic perception of the human condition. Most people will always be average and if you leave them out in the cold they rebel and embrace all sorts of destructive non-solutions. There is a limit to self improvement, at least on the collective scale. It is time the world's elites understood this fact.
31
Well, that's all fine and good; but your state sponsored safety is my loss of opportunity. And vice versa. Maybe the real issue is average people ought to expect an average life, and many average people seem to expect an exceptional (and risk free) existence. And are outraged when informed of the reality that excellent and carefree is not on the table for them.
If I want to be mean, I can say to the Brits, "Reap what you sowed!" By that I mean, it was the British who went all round the world occupying and colonizing other people, spreading the superiority of an English culture, while plundering their resources to enrich this English society. This would similarly apply to other first world countries. Is it any wonder that people of the third world now clamor to migrate to these richer and more "superior" countries, especially when their own are falling apart, in part due to economic and political inequity and corruption that originate from the legacy of colonization?
Having said that, fast forwarding to today, I think the pluralistic minded progressives like Friedman should differentiate between fighting for racial equality (fighting against white supremacy) versus that of advocating for mass immigration. Regardless of our compassion and humanism, it is unavoidable reality that a drastic change of a country's demographic make up is destabilizing while also dis-empowering to the dominate group.
Power, unlike love, is a zero sum situation. When you have more, I have less. Even when we are equal, I would have less if I used to have more. This is the objective reality of the whites in the United States and Europe. Is one racist or tribal to want to preserve one's leverage of power?
Having said that, fast forwarding to today, I think the pluralistic minded progressives like Friedman should differentiate between fighting for racial equality (fighting against white supremacy) versus that of advocating for mass immigration. Regardless of our compassion and humanism, it is unavoidable reality that a drastic change of a country's demographic make up is destabilizing while also dis-empowering to the dominate group.
Power, unlike love, is a zero sum situation. When you have more, I have less. Even when we are equal, I would have less if I used to have more. This is the objective reality of the whites in the United States and Europe. Is one racist or tribal to want to preserve one's leverage of power?
4
The article states, "The lived experience in most cities in Europe today, is the fact that “a pluralistic, multiethnic society has grown up here, actually rather peacefully, and it has brought enormous benefits and prosperity."
Not really. I realize that liberal cosmopolitans desperately wish this to be the case, but immigrant and minority populations have not been integrated into wider European society. Just the opposite, in fact. They're marginalized and ignored while the multiculturalist crowd pats itself on the back for being so forward-thinking.
Additionally, I'm not sure "most cities" is accurate - sure, if we're talking about major metropolises. But in, say, "la France profonde" or northern England? Those are more homogenous communities whose trepidations about adopting the globalists' views are increasingly derided as racist and xenophobic.
Bizarrely, the European status quo has created a climate where minority communities are largely an isolated underclass, AND where those who have concerns about losing their communities' traditional characteristics are racist. The political and media establishment has managed to fail both peoples.
While I agree with Friedman's wider point, his solutions ring a bit facile.
Not really. I realize that liberal cosmopolitans desperately wish this to be the case, but immigrant and minority populations have not been integrated into wider European society. Just the opposite, in fact. They're marginalized and ignored while the multiculturalist crowd pats itself on the back for being so forward-thinking.
Additionally, I'm not sure "most cities" is accurate - sure, if we're talking about major metropolises. But in, say, "la France profonde" or northern England? Those are more homogenous communities whose trepidations about adopting the globalists' views are increasingly derided as racist and xenophobic.
Bizarrely, the European status quo has created a climate where minority communities are largely an isolated underclass, AND where those who have concerns about losing their communities' traditional characteristics are racist. The political and media establishment has managed to fail both peoples.
While I agree with Friedman's wider point, his solutions ring a bit facile.
5
Friedman is not actually proposing any details to a solution in this article. There is no mention of how to educate and assimilate people who have cultures that were involved in a failed state. How do you re-educated someone from a culture that does not want to change? Being from parents who were immigrants to American, I see them as fervently keeping their culture even after living in the US for most of their lives - even refusing to speak English! Best case scenario is that half the children of immigrants will assimilate if they don't feel marginalized and if economic conditions are awesome. Otherwise, you'll get demands for equality, violence and the occasional suicide bombing for another generation.
1
This article seems based on Mousavizaheh's premise that 'the lived experience in most cities in Europe today' is one one where the pluralistic, multiethnic society 'has brought enormous benefits and prosperity."
That's funny.
I thought the unemployment rate in Spain was 30%, with the youth unemployment rate was close to 50%.
I thought it was now impossible for a member of the (nearly vanished) middle class to buy even a flat in London.
And I was under the impression that wages generally, throughout Europe, were as stagnant as they have been in the States.
Of course, we don't count Greece as part of Europe, either.
In short, the London Mr Mousavizadeh, who co-leads the London-based global consulting firm Macro Advisory Partners, may not be the London everyone else inhabits ... perhaps he and Mr. Friedman and their banker friends could roll down the windows of their Bentleys and take a look around sometime.
That's funny.
I thought the unemployment rate in Spain was 30%, with the youth unemployment rate was close to 50%.
I thought it was now impossible for a member of the (nearly vanished) middle class to buy even a flat in London.
And I was under the impression that wages generally, throughout Europe, were as stagnant as they have been in the States.
Of course, we don't count Greece as part of Europe, either.
In short, the London Mr Mousavizadeh, who co-leads the London-based global consulting firm Macro Advisory Partners, may not be the London everyone else inhabits ... perhaps he and Mr. Friedman and their banker friends could roll down the windows of their Bentleys and take a look around sometime.
24
All well and good, especially the part about integration, but no mention of the need for multi-national labor unions demanding equal raise wages throughout the world. How can workers expect real change if they don't have any power?
10
"Countries that nurture pluralism the best are the ones that will thrive the most in the 21st century." Friedman
Israel, China, Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia are mono-cultures, for the most part. They are doing just fine. It is the US, UK, France, Netherlands and other EU countries that are falling behind.
Israel, China, Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia are mono-cultures, for the most part. They are doing just fine. It is the US, UK, France, Netherlands and other EU countries that are falling behind.
6
"It’s the story of our time: the pace of change in technology, globalization and climate have started to outrun the ability of our political systems to build the social, educational, community, workplace and political innovations needed for some citizens to keep up."
"Some" citizens?
Condescension and intellectual snobbery like this caused Brexit and is fueling Trump's campaign.
Well done.
"Some" citizens?
Condescension and intellectual snobbery like this caused Brexit and is fueling Trump's campaign.
Well done.
13
Given that Trump's strongest support is among white working-class and poor voters with a high school education or less, what would you call it?
American voters, particularly the anyone but Hillary demographic, should understand that supporting a bigoted man with a small closed mind, extremely limited intellect, and small fingers (referencing concern for projecting power to overcome personal feelings of inadequacy), who reacts rather than reflects, as POTUS is far more damaging to the US and the world than BREXIT.
We need someone who will address climate change, make reasoned decisions, moderate SCOTUS appointments, and build bridges not walls. We don't need Trump University, failed casinos, golf courses for the 1%, and other miscellaneous frauds perpetrated to support a challenged ego.
We need someone who will address climate change, make reasoned decisions, moderate SCOTUS appointments, and build bridges not walls. We don't need Trump University, failed casinos, golf courses for the 1%, and other miscellaneous frauds perpetrated to support a challenged ego.
5
Do you really think that we need another 4 years of Obama in the hands of Hillary? You must be dreaming...
2
I always know where to come when I want to know what to understand what the pretentious left has to say. Tom is really condescending: 1) The vote was 4% points, so not exactly razor thin. 2) He seems to think because he read a couple Malcolm Gladwell books that he knows better than 17M brits. 3) When Tom says pluralism, he means he really enjoys saying hi to his Upper East Side doorman in Pashtu - pluralism for a lot of other folks means overcrowded cities and women in burkas, and a loss of culture.
Why is it so diffuclt to believe the UK wouldn't be better with negotiating their own trade deals, defining their own immigration, etc.. I can guarantee you this, the world's 'big problems' certainly won't be solved in Brussels.
Why is it so diffuclt to believe the UK wouldn't be better with negotiating their own trade deals, defining their own immigration, etc.. I can guarantee you this, the world's 'big problems' certainly won't be solved in Brussels.
18
Western science and Western social and economic policies suffer from a fundamental flaw - notions that locality captures the knowledge of complexity. This flaw created the climate change issues, globalization reactions and distortion of capitalism. Each one of these need new additional effort to correct the distortions it introduced - a process of one step forward and one step backward.
Eastern thought always tried to capture the complexity in the whole - inherently the process is slow, incriminatory not revolutionary in nature. But the solutions are long lasting and eternal - sense of responsibility to nature, family, upholding the society are eternal and builds on incrimentally. Once you make and teach, human being as robots without soul, economy as optimizing cost function on few primary variables, and social science as class and group leverage bargaining technique - rights not responsibilities dictates the social interactions. The response of complexity will be shocking and unimaginable. We need to go back to the fundamental and look to the problems in holistic manner and accept incremental improvements.
Eastern thought always tried to capture the complexity in the whole - inherently the process is slow, incriminatory not revolutionary in nature. But the solutions are long lasting and eternal - sense of responsibility to nature, family, upholding the society are eternal and builds on incrimentally. Once you make and teach, human being as robots without soul, economy as optimizing cost function on few primary variables, and social science as class and group leverage bargaining technique - rights not responsibilities dictates the social interactions. The response of complexity will be shocking and unimaginable. We need to go back to the fundamental and look to the problems in holistic manner and accept incremental improvements.
1
True, there has always been a special emphasis on family and social bonds. That said, would you describe China as having demonstrated a responsibility to nature? In all honesty, how would you reconcile your theories about eastern thought's superior paradigms with the fact that many eastern countries (India, China, Vietnam, etc.) are infamous for their sweatshops? As for "class and group leverage," are not these cultures (however rich in their complexity) also bastions of aristocracy? There may be income and racial inequality here, but there are legitimate RULING classes to be found in the east; vestiges of ancient dynasties that demand special privileges to this day. Neither has their holistic approach insulated them from demagogues. Look at the political situations within Thailand (coup), Vietnam (corruption), India and Bangladesh (too many violent issues to name) and the Brexit appears to be a petty squabble by comparison. Consider China's repeated crackdowns on ANY dissenting voice. Then, of course, there's North Korea (a pariah by any definition).
In any case, has eastern thought's holistic sense of responsibility moved them to make any overtures whatsoever to any refugees? Has it stopped China's persecution of Tibet and Taiwan? Has Burma stopped its genocide against the Rohingya? What would the Ainu have to say about the merits of Japan's way of thinking? East/west both have their merits, but neither can be crowned superior.
In any case, has eastern thought's holistic sense of responsibility moved them to make any overtures whatsoever to any refugees? Has it stopped China's persecution of Tibet and Taiwan? Has Burma stopped its genocide against the Rohingya? What would the Ainu have to say about the merits of Japan's way of thinking? East/west both have their merits, but neither can be crowned superior.
Despite the economic issues the UK vote illustrates the canary in the coal mine for the US is immigration and control of the border. Failure of recent immigrants to assimilate into the UK have sparked the "getting our country back" argument. As Friedman says, integration is the key. A difficult process when immigrants cling to their own language and culture .
76
"As Friedman says, integration is the key. A difficult process when immigrants cling to their own language and culture ."
As a dear Navajo friend was saying the other day, some people in North America have been waiting a few centuries for immigrants from Europe to quit clinging to their own language and culture.
As a dear Navajo friend was saying the other day, some people in North America have been waiting a few centuries for immigrants from Europe to quit clinging to their own language and culture.
2
" Failure of recent immigrants to assimilate into the UK have sparked the "getting our country back" argument. As Friedman says, integration is the key."
The issue with the EU isn't the integration. It is the lack of jobs, pressure on wages and pressures on public services. Immigrants from the EU can be permanent or temporary, and many are temporary workers. The right of everyone within the EU to free movement to any EU country means that immigration from other EU countries cannot be controlled. That is the argument the Remain campaign had no answer for.
The issue with the EU isn't the integration. It is the lack of jobs, pressure on wages and pressures on public services. Immigrants from the EU can be permanent or temporary, and many are temporary workers. The right of everyone within the EU to free movement to any EU country means that immigration from other EU countries cannot be controlled. That is the argument the Remain campaign had no answer for.
You only have to look to the history of our I mmigrants to realize that the first generation often sticks to their own language and culture, but by the third generation, only a few of them are fluent in the native language or strict adherents to their religion. Assimilation isn't an overnight process.
1
So Friedman is an expert on GB and the effects of the EU on the country. Okay.... Wait a second.... The EU has careened to go from one crisis to the next. The Greece thing was a political nightmare for the Greeks against the German Banks. You know what side the German government took. Then there has been the German austerity kick against everyone else in the EU. Sometimes the medicine seems worst then the disease, but the reality is, today Britain gets to chart it's own course and how can that be bad.
5
Reminds me of something here in the US...errr....what is it..errr...oh yes! the Republicans
Thomas Friedman is yet another voice joining the chorus of common sense which seems to be drowned out, temporarily, by the cacophony of nonsense. Under the guise of populism, ambitious little men play on fears with false promises to which the gullible and frightened desperately cling.
Across the Atlantic, the result was the irresponsibility of Brexit, and the damage report is incomplete.
We have witnessed the deceit practiced in Britain by politicians who are malevolent caricatures of what the people need and want. Here in the United States, Donald Trump can match any of those hucksters step for step.
You want bigotry? Trump will give you unapologetic racism. You look for someone to shout down the voices of reason? Trump will throw in violence too. You seek a challenge to order? Trump will extol ignorance and provide a clear path to chaos.
We cannot wait for the followers of Donald Trump to wake up and understand that they have been bamboozled. We must direct ourselves at sending legions of voters – seeking solutions, not slogans – to the voting booths in November.
Across the Atlantic, the result was the irresponsibility of Brexit, and the damage report is incomplete.
We have witnessed the deceit practiced in Britain by politicians who are malevolent caricatures of what the people need and want. Here in the United States, Donald Trump can match any of those hucksters step for step.
You want bigotry? Trump will give you unapologetic racism. You look for someone to shout down the voices of reason? Trump will throw in violence too. You seek a challenge to order? Trump will extol ignorance and provide a clear path to chaos.
We cannot wait for the followers of Donald Trump to wake up and understand that they have been bamboozled. We must direct ourselves at sending legions of voters – seeking solutions, not slogans – to the voting booths in November.
292
Dear Mr. Friedman,
Here are four comments you made from your op-ed:
"The British vote by a narrow majority to leave the European Union is not the end of the world — but it does show us how we can get there."
How?
"Like I said, not the end of the world yet, but if a few more E.U. countries try this trick we’ll have quite a little mess on our hands."
Would you care to elaborate?
"Because although withdrawing from the E.U. is not the right answer for Britain..."
Again, Mr. Friedman, based on what? You never go down that road.
"Indeed, in my view, the countries that nurture pluralism the best will be the ones that thrive the most in the 21st century."
OK Mr. Friedman, that's your view - can you provide just one argument to support it?
Here are four comments you made from your op-ed:
"The British vote by a narrow majority to leave the European Union is not the end of the world — but it does show us how we can get there."
How?
"Like I said, not the end of the world yet, but if a few more E.U. countries try this trick we’ll have quite a little mess on our hands."
Would you care to elaborate?
"Because although withdrawing from the E.U. is not the right answer for Britain..."
Again, Mr. Friedman, based on what? You never go down that road.
"Indeed, in my view, the countries that nurture pluralism the best will be the ones that thrive the most in the 21st century."
OK Mr. Friedman, that's your view - can you provide just one argument to support it?
9
The fact that you did not understand Freidman's point--that we can crash the civilization by following unbright politicians who amp up fears and hatreds regardless of facts, and then have no earthly idea what to do when the consequences arrive--is exactly the problem that Friedman's talking about.
Johnson, Farange and their tabloids told everybody that they'd put the money Britian supposedly would save into the NHS--and then the very next morning, a) reneged, b) swore they never said it in the first place.
They swore the pound and the market would be fine. Oops.
They promised they'd cut better deals with the wimpy Europeans. The WEs promptly started laughing.
They promised they'd carefully organize the Exit...over years...nope. They've been told to get out, if you're going.
Then Farange showed up in Brussels and started yelling at everybody. Tasty diplomacy, genius.
And this you think will go well?
Good grief.
Johnson, Farange and their tabloids told everybody that they'd put the money Britian supposedly would save into the NHS--and then the very next morning, a) reneged, b) swore they never said it in the first place.
They swore the pound and the market would be fine. Oops.
They promised they'd cut better deals with the wimpy Europeans. The WEs promptly started laughing.
They promised they'd carefully organize the Exit...over years...nope. They've been told to get out, if you're going.
Then Farange showed up in Brussels and started yelling at everybody. Tasty diplomacy, genius.
And this you think will go well?
Good grief.
2
Political elites have been pushing the concept of globalization and interdependency for decades now, from the Democratic Peace theory to the modified McDonalds theory. Who has benefited from globalization and interdependency? Corporations maximizing profits, developing countries, political elites who get kickbacks? The average American hasn't realized any benefit from this push, and in fact are economically worse off. And because we don't just go along with what the elites tell us to believe, we are labeled "stupid" "racist" "bigot". Call whatever names you want. A vast swath of the American people are fed up, apparently a vast swath of the Britich people are fed up, and I imagine a vast swatch of the populations of other developed nations are fed up.
Oh...and if you "break it, you own it" - I guess the US owns the mess in Iraq, the mess in the Syria, the mess in all over the middle east, the mess in much of Africa, the mess in much of Asia because our policies fed by our political leaders have broken alot of stuff around the world.
Oh...and if you "break it, you own it" - I guess the US owns the mess in Iraq, the mess in the Syria, the mess in all over the middle east, the mess in much of Africa, the mess in much of Asia because our policies fed by our political leaders have broken alot of stuff around the world.
15
Maybe you shouldn't have elected so many right-wing Republicans, and demanded that they go bomb people.
1
Globalization and automation have led to a rise in the DEATH RATE of the white working class in AMERICA, for God's sake! This isn't all about "racism, xenophobia and misogyny". Trump and the Brexiters, and Bernie Sanders, are all speaking to something incredibly important. Income inequality and the worldwide triumph of capital over labor (who wants men and women on their assembly line when you can have depreciable robots?) has blown up the social contract. For the UK, it splits London, Scotland, and Ireland from England. In the US it splits the West Coast and New England from the Heartland and the South. What are we going to do? Have another Civil War or tax the 1% and pay for healthcare and schooling for all?
8
I'm still a little tongue-in-cheek about the full implications of globalization, but I am always at a loss regarding people's comments on automation. AUTOMATION has "led" to a rise in the death rate of the white, working class? Is that a joke? That implies some kind of causal relationship, as in, if we could just get rid of modern technology, less white, working class people would die.
"Political power in the West has been failing its own test of legitimacy and accountability since 2008?" Wow, what an arbitrary date. Not-so-subtle way of avoiding placing any responsibility on the conservative trickle-down idiots that set the economy into its free fall in the first place.
7
Fabulous point. Our meltdown actually began with Reagan's trickle down economics, his bashing of unions, and the first Amnesty Act.
1
Does the headline, "You Break It, You Own It," really reflect your intellectual stance, Mr. Friedman?
If so, I give you Iraq. Afghanistan. And for those who have long forgotten, Iran, Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Chile....the list is almost endless.
The United States of America has broken so much and repaired so little in my lifetime alone. My Dad was a career Army officer, and I can remember being so proud of my country -- to the point of tears-- when I was young.
Today my tears are chiefly for those harmed by the American government -- including our own citizens. Millions of haunting faces and ruined lives......
If so, I give you Iraq. Afghanistan. And for those who have long forgotten, Iran, Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Chile....the list is almost endless.
The United States of America has broken so much and repaired so little in my lifetime alone. My Dad was a career Army officer, and I can remember being so proud of my country -- to the point of tears-- when I was young.
Today my tears are chiefly for those harmed by the American government -- including our own citizens. Millions of haunting faces and ruined lives......
529
Exactly. From the America that shone so brightly at the end of WW II, the elected houses have become sewers as has the military with standard bearers like Petraeus and litanies of financial incompetance and extraordinary sexual and LGBT harassment. America's most important interest group must be its electorate and this seems at risk.
2
Your sadness is shared, Samsara, by millions of Americans. Some of the wars and interventions you list were embarked upon with the best of intentions, and some had darker purposes. Unless we decide that any use of arms is irretrievably wrong, we can only do our best under one guiding principle: War is the very last resort after diplomacy and then non-military pressure fail.
In recent years, one political party in America has come to urge that a shoot-first policy is the better approach. That, of course, will result in a return to the bad old days you rightfully reject.
The difficulty which some of us may have with your sincere comment, Samsara, is to understand how your thinking leads you to oppose the position espoused today by Thomas Fried man that demagoguery led to the Brexit vote and will make the world a more dangerous place, as will election of a false populist here at home. Logic suggests that you should be agreeing with Mr. Friedman.
In recent years, one political party in America has come to urge that a shoot-first policy is the better approach. That, of course, will result in a return to the bad old days you rightfully reject.
The difficulty which some of us may have with your sincere comment, Samsara, is to understand how your thinking leads you to oppose the position espoused today by Thomas Fried man that demagoguery led to the Brexit vote and will make the world a more dangerous place, as will election of a false populist here at home. Logic suggests that you should be agreeing with Mr. Friedman.
I stopped reading Friedman after he enthusiastically endorsed the Bush/Cheney contention that Iraqis and others throughout the Middle East would be holding parades, rejoicing that America had invaded to bring democracy. But I happened to read this column, and was glad that he had not been gulled again. I will read him again.
2
The political analysis is exactly right. And now Boris will most likely be rewarded for his lying, hateful demagoguery with what his "leave" campaign was about all along: Boris as PM.
The globalization part is correct also.
What has been left out of the discussion however is the self-inflicted wound of austerity. The Tory/LibDem coalition elected in 2010 and the Tories in 2015 have slashed investment in infrastructure, shredded the social safety net and are busy privatising and selling off public services. In order to justify all of this to the suffering public (which does not include the elite Eton/Oxford educated political class) they blamed immigration and the EU, as well as the scroungers and shirkers in our own midst.
This is the fertile ground laid by the Tories which allowed the Brexit vote to come to life.
The globalization part is correct also.
What has been left out of the discussion however is the self-inflicted wound of austerity. The Tory/LibDem coalition elected in 2010 and the Tories in 2015 have slashed investment in infrastructure, shredded the social safety net and are busy privatising and selling off public services. In order to justify all of this to the suffering public (which does not include the elite Eton/Oxford educated political class) they blamed immigration and the EU, as well as the scroungers and shirkers in our own midst.
This is the fertile ground laid by the Tories which allowed the Brexit vote to come to life.
3
This is one of your best articles. You considered every aspect of true fear on the mind of so many people globally. I do wish in the future to see you write about a true 1% and that is the very small tech community with an immense amount of power nationally and globally. I would argue they are much more powerful than Wall Street and have seen recently the government.
I think the elephant in the room is also a product of technology. The Curtain has been pulled back on the Wizard. Trump is a nightmare for the GOP. He can bluster about all he wants but his crowning achievement has been to run businesses into the ground and rip people off. I'd hide my jewelry before letting him into my house to wash the windows.
Some people are adverse to any idea they don't agree with but I do have hope. I live in a very blue state and we chose to elect two out of three governors in the past cycles who were GOP. We have managed to work together with education, business, infrastructure and health care to benefit our citizens.
Cutting and running isn't a policy.
I think the elephant in the room is also a product of technology. The Curtain has been pulled back on the Wizard. Trump is a nightmare for the GOP. He can bluster about all he wants but his crowning achievement has been to run businesses into the ground and rip people off. I'd hide my jewelry before letting him into my house to wash the windows.
Some people are adverse to any idea they don't agree with but I do have hope. I live in a very blue state and we chose to elect two out of three governors in the past cycles who were GOP. We have managed to work together with education, business, infrastructure and health care to benefit our citizens.
Cutting and running isn't a policy.
"or experienced the influx of illegal migration from failing states at an unprecedented scale"
Does our Iraq invasion in 2003 (which you have supported as far as I know) have something to do with that?
Does our Iraq invasion in 2003 (which you have supported as far as I know) have something to do with that?
3
Perhaps the UK was different all along. As a major European power they arrived late to joining the EU club first created by two neighboring former enemies, France and Germany. UK never accepted the euro. Could it be that as an island they are now expressing their insular and jingoist views?
If so, then they should heed to the proverb : "No man is an island." In today's world, no island can remain an island.
If so, then they should heed to the proverb : "No man is an island." In today's world, no island can remain an island.
1
This is a prime example of the arrogant elitism that got us where we are today.
People with absolutely no clue who think THEY and only THEY know how the rest of us should think and live our lives. They offer not just opinions, but conclusions because THEY know best. Trump is our last best hope to combat this insanity.
People with absolutely no clue who think THEY and only THEY know how the rest of us should think and live our lives. They offer not just opinions, but conclusions because THEY know best. Trump is our last best hope to combat this insanity.
4
The fact that you think Trump isn't an arrogant elitist is precisely the prob that Friedman's talking about.
1
Trump will be a nightmare. He brings nothing to we the people. But you are right on the elitists, and in a certain way, they created Trump by their out-sized arrogance.
1
I take that pluralism means to accept multicultural condition, and by that extension, specifically respecting and preserving the minority cultures within a dominant culture. Within a dominant white society, that would mean the inclusion of non-white cultures. White people who resist this process are often described as racist or tribal.
If such process were to happen in the homogeneous societies of Japan, China, Korea, India, the Middle Eastern countries, the Latin American countries etc., and are resisted by these people, would they be called racist or tribal?
As much as I see the virtue and inevitability of plural societies, I think it is not fair for us to label communities who wish to preserve their traditional or historical cultural identities as racist and tribal, even if they are whites. All cultures being equal, is there no value in preserving cities or villages of British, German, French etc. as British, German, French etc.?
History has in fact shown us people do not integrate, at least not easily or quickly. This is proven in the many China towns, Japan towns, Russian towns... outside of their native countries. While we strenuously respect the effort for the preservation of non-white cultures within a white culture (a Chinese get to be Chinese in China and in America for example), why are we condemning the white for wanting to preserve theirs, in their home towns?
Is the loss of being British any less than the loss of being Tibetan, native Americans....?
If such process were to happen in the homogeneous societies of Japan, China, Korea, India, the Middle Eastern countries, the Latin American countries etc., and are resisted by these people, would they be called racist or tribal?
As much as I see the virtue and inevitability of plural societies, I think it is not fair for us to label communities who wish to preserve their traditional or historical cultural identities as racist and tribal, even if they are whites. All cultures being equal, is there no value in preserving cities or villages of British, German, French etc. as British, German, French etc.?
History has in fact shown us people do not integrate, at least not easily or quickly. This is proven in the many China towns, Japan towns, Russian towns... outside of their native countries. While we strenuously respect the effort for the preservation of non-white cultures within a white culture (a Chinese get to be Chinese in China and in America for example), why are we condemning the white for wanting to preserve theirs, in their home towns?
Is the loss of being British any less than the loss of being Tibetan, native Americans....?
3
"We have globalized trade and manufacturing, and we have introduced robots and artificial intelligent systems, far faster than..." et cetera, on and on.
But rather than spinning grand theories, why not look at a concrete cause like the constant drumbeat over decades of lies and hatred from British tabloids such as The Sun -- which shares its owner with Fox News.
Please, less punditry and more illumination. Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
But rather than spinning grand theories, why not look at a concrete cause like the constant drumbeat over decades of lies and hatred from British tabloids such as The Sun -- which shares its owner with Fox News.
Please, less punditry and more illumination. Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
3
As long as the folks in the EU Headquarters are not subject to elections the problems, real and perceived will continue to grow. I fully understand why the folks voted to leave, I would vote for TN to leave the Union if I could. The folks in Washington, are reminding me of the folks running the EU, telling the rest of us how we will live our lives, what we can eat, who we can buy insurance from, etc. etc. The worse part of this is that every 10 years those same folks influence our elections by redrawing the lines for the House seats, depending on who is running the state houses. Lord knows or can even explain how we got the 100 idiots in the Senate. We are a divided country, and I cannot see any reason for it to change. How can a country with 300 million folks not find three better candidates to run for President is beyond my limited brain power. Once again I will write in "none of the above" and vote down ballot for the best man for the job, oh yes I did say man.
Semper Fi
Semper Fi
2
UK is 4% of world GDP and much of that is really bad finance. The world is better off. Who cares? Zzzz....zz....
2
Why will nobody listen to your arguments? I'm ddeply discouraged.Wh
Since the Brexit vote last Thursday, we have been inundated with what Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas called a "parade of imaginary horribles" - i.e., predictions similar to those in this column of dire consequences for England, America and much of the rest of the globe. Yet it seems to me that Brexit is nothing more than a natural reaction to various trends (e.g., unfettered globalization, multiple free trade agreements, increased immigration, too much politically correct speech etc.) and that the pendulum is finally starting to move in the other direction (recall Hegel's dialectic of thesis, antithesis and synthesis). America and the world will survive Brexit, but whether we will soon begin to prosper will depend greatly on the courage and leadership of our politicians - unfortunately, at present it is unclear if these politicians can throw off the shackles of outdated dogma and move the world into a brighter future.
6
An excellent analysis but one that shares the weakness of all the analyses by well-meaning supporters of global capitalism as presently practiced. Here is a quote from Friedman's fellow supporter, who lives in London - "The lived experience in most cities in Europe today, is the fact that a pluralistic, multiethnic society has grown up here, actually rather peacefully, and it has brought enormous benefits and prosperity." - Sounds great but from everything I hear the lived experience isn't so great, not for the immigrants in the Paris suburbs, not for the white working class, only for the elite who profit from the free flow of goods, labor and capital that is the underpinning of the system. Nor is it peaceful. Until the elite can make the system work for everybody instead of just proclaiming how great it is the turmoil will continue.
5
We should not be so quick to cast all who voted for Brexit as xenophobes. Many of these people have legitimate grievances and they are looking for scapegoats, whether they are foreigners, the conspiratorial 'elite,' or government bodies like the EU. We need to show that solutions have more power than scapegoats.
Even as a Remainer, I feel that Friedman (along with all other U.S. commentators) fails to appreciate that a good bit of Brexit fervor, especially among the better educated, is mostly fueled not by a desire to resist globalization but by frustration with the sheer arrogant bureaucracy of the E.U. and its institutions, above all the costly and ineffectual European "Parliament."
5
The British don't like many aspects of globalization. Of course. The simple fact is that in this brave new world there are no jobs--at least none that you would want. But the EU did not make globalization. We have a belly full of it right here. Ironically, the EU was probably the best hope of controlling it.
2
Oh, stop it with the "lies" that won the Leave voters. You mean because only 180M per week is sent to Brussels rather than 350M? That wouldn't have changed a single vote. Leave voted on sovereignty, democracy, immigration and the devastation of the working class. None of those issues required an "expert" opinion.
The idea that you can't prosper outside the EU is ridiculous. There is life outside the EU, in fact quite good life. Check the rest of the world's democracies.
Canada isn't anti-immigrant, nor does it feel the need to join a
gigantic super-bureaucracy to tell them how to manage their immigration nor
how to manage their economies. Nor are they "isolated." Nor has their trade dried up. Indeed it will be laborious to extract oneself from the spider's web
constructed by the EU, but it can and should be done. Nation-states operate better than superstates, that's the lesson.
The idea that you can't prosper outside the EU is ridiculous. There is life outside the EU, in fact quite good life. Check the rest of the world's democracies.
Canada isn't anti-immigrant, nor does it feel the need to join a
gigantic super-bureaucracy to tell them how to manage their immigration nor
how to manage their economies. Nor are they "isolated." Nor has their trade dried up. Indeed it will be laborious to extract oneself from the spider's web
constructed by the EU, but it can and should be done. Nation-states operate better than superstates, that's the lesson.
8
The problem is no necessarily related to technology and innovation per se. Insted it is related to the intentions of those in power and the ideology that motivates them. That ideology of course is neoliberalism, which penchant for deregulation, defunding and undermining of the public sector and the commons, and privatization, put profits and benefits for a tiny few ahead of the interest of the many, of society and nature.
It is an ideology driven by greed and depravity. The concept of an European Union is noble. But the reality is that the EU has been captured by what is in essence a exploitative international financial cartel.
It is an ideology driven by greed and depravity. The concept of an European Union is noble. But the reality is that the EU has been captured by what is in essence a exploitative international financial cartel.
4
"Because although withdrawing from the E.U. is not the right answer for Britain, the fact that this argument won, albeit with lies, tells you that people are feeling deeply anxious about something." Is this English?
1
The article makes some very valid points; however, it fails to recognize fully that there is some credence to the issues that led to Brexit and that Trump discusses. To suggest that there is no real merit to them would be a big mistake. The dog catching the car analogy is, therefore, imperfect.
Most of what drove the support for Brexit as well as Trump's support might be characterized as pocketbook issues for many voters. When you feel that you are significantly less well off today, and you do not know the exact reasons for that, anyone who gives you some plausible reasons is likely to attract your attention as would any issue that is described as a plausible reason.
We cannot stop change, nor should we want to. However, we can make sure that there are corresponding benefits to change so that the impact of the negative aspects of change are mitigated. When change benefits a relatively small number of us at the expense of a relatively large number of us, it is hard for that large number of people to see that such change is good. Until we come to grips with this reality, there are always going to be people who want to build walls rather than webs.
Most of what drove the support for Brexit as well as Trump's support might be characterized as pocketbook issues for many voters. When you feel that you are significantly less well off today, and you do not know the exact reasons for that, anyone who gives you some plausible reasons is likely to attract your attention as would any issue that is described as a plausible reason.
We cannot stop change, nor should we want to. However, we can make sure that there are corresponding benefits to change so that the impact of the negative aspects of change are mitigated. When change benefits a relatively small number of us at the expense of a relatively large number of us, it is hard for that large number of people to see that such change is good. Until we come to grips with this reality, there are always going to be people who want to build walls rather than webs.
2
It's obvious now, in retrospect, that Reagan brought a deliberate end to the idea that we could, literally, integrate America.
We now live in a nation where "Schools, hospitals and public institutions" are under constant attack. No wonder we feel vulnerable.
Seeing the as-yet incalculable harm the "sheeple" of Britain have been seduced into inflicitng on themselves by a gang of liars, one can only pray that the American voters will not be so foolish come November 8th.
We now live in a nation where "Schools, hospitals and public institutions" are under constant attack. No wonder we feel vulnerable.
Seeing the as-yet incalculable harm the "sheeple" of Britain have been seduced into inflicitng on themselves by a gang of liars, one can only pray that the American voters will not be so foolish come November 8th.
153
"It’s left a lot of people dizzy and dislocated."
Maybe unintentional, but it seems s bit dismissive. Dizzy and dislocated is how you feel coming off a carnival ride. Underemployed or unemployed, broke, unable to provide for families, and devoid of prospects for present or future financial viability, to say nothing of prosperity, is the sense I have of the status of many workers marginalized in the modern economy. I think Bruni gets this, but I'm not sure that metaphors of temporary disorientation are helpful in characterizing what, for many, is an existential crisis.
Maybe unintentional, but it seems s bit dismissive. Dizzy and dislocated is how you feel coming off a carnival ride. Underemployed or unemployed, broke, unable to provide for families, and devoid of prospects for present or future financial viability, to say nothing of prosperity, is the sense I have of the status of many workers marginalized in the modern economy. I think Bruni gets this, but I'm not sure that metaphors of temporary disorientation are helpful in characterizing what, for many, is an existential crisis.
2
As a retired teacher, this situation reminds me of times when towns vote down school budgets, and one hears people saying things like, "Why should I pay for other people's kids to have preschool when my kids are in high school?" "Why should I pay for these useless art and music classes - I don't even have kids?" Then, when the district goes on an austerity budget, you hear these same people complaining: "Why did they cut the sports budget? My kid was going to be on the travel team?" "Why are these kids hanging around all the time with nothing to do? They should be in school." Also reminds me of how the Republican Party allowed Donald Trump to use its brand, to participate in its debates, etc., and now wants to disassociate itself from him. Connect the dots, folks.
4
Attention establishment voters: this is what happens to a country that falls for hucksters who think that 'more people' will improve our lives. The USA population in 1970 was 203 Million people. The USA population now in 2016 is now 324 million people which means we are rapidly close to doubling ourselves since 1970. Brexit was a vote for less people. The people are realizing that while all these new people may be good for business, for quality of life the new people are a disaster. Schools roads and medical care are not keeping up. We don't need more people here. Enter Trump.
5
@ Joe Padilla We don't have an overpopulation problem...we need more people, younger people, working people to pay taxes and fund social security which is the only thing keeping elderly citizens from begging in the street. Why do you think Europe has opened its borders to immigrants for the past 30 years? European countries are AGING...the US keeps its population "young" with regular infusion of immigrants.
A good essay that reminds us of the pettiness of human nature rather than its grandeur. The bombs at the Istanbul airport reflect the same pettiness. Donald Trump's followers are yet another example. The Chinese leadership is afraid of its own people. The examples are endless. Maybe it just reflects human nature.
1
Who would have guessed just a few decades ago that a domestic British debate on their continuing membership in the E.U. would have such an immediate and material impact on 401k balances over here?
We’ve all become profoundly interdependent now, like it or not.
We’ve all become profoundly interdependent now, like it or not.
1
It's a flat world out there, Mr. Friedman. The common bloke having a pint at the local pub has just a much a voice as a 3-piece suit elite at Whitehall. One man, one vote. You thought the silent majority was going to stay silent? The silence existing b/c the people were doing "all right", not great, but all right. They accepted the slow tide of changes as the world flattened. It was fine that more people in India could afford a better life, even if that meant having to decipher every IT helpdesk call or credit card complaint. It's when the prosperity of one happens only at the detriment of another, does the silent majority begin to speak. The silent majority believes in fair play, personal rights and freedoms, private property, equal returns in investments (public or private), and a since of self-determination. It’s called DEMOCRACY and it was slipping away. The EU was turning into some perverted pseudo-tyranny where UNELECTED officials ruled from a FAR OFF location, demanding fees & taxes and in return the people got for very little. The people turn over all that $ over and in return get TONS of immigrants who work at astonishing low rates which locals could not live on, but so much more than the immigrant has seen. These smaller EU countries were just pawning off their unemployed / unemployable onto the citizens of the UK. Well, the UK got tired of Germany and France letting in the bums to drink for free at "their" party.
6
Well Friedman, I'm sure the Brits are waiting with baited breath for what you think they should do. Meantime, your suggestion that we trust giant intellects such as Hilary Clinton (who seems challenged by email) to grapple with incredibly complex issues "of which few people understand the full scope" seems like a poor remedy. And as for pluralism, the emerging challenges to the United States are not pluralistic at all, they are China, Russia, Islamic jihadists, and others who value pluralism not a whit.
But why let facts get in the way of a perfectly rosy ideology like "progressivism"?
But why let facts get in the way of a perfectly rosy ideology like "progressivism"?
6
European Christendom is reasserting itself against the invasion from the east. This is nothing new. In fact, it has been replayed constantly throughout history. You need only to consult a population map to know that the pressures from Africa and the east will swamp the western world very quickly if allowed to do so. The Brexit voters recognize this fact of life. We can have total integration, or we can have the quality of life the west has fought hard to build and maintain. We can't have both.
3
Those who believe Brexit, or Trump's wall and torn up agreements, are the answer should read Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" and take some time to contemplate.
As the song once said, "there's something happenin' here, what it is ain't exactly clear."
The breakdown of informed and honest conversation among people at all levels of society is the story of our times. Actually, it's the inability of our leaders and ourselves to get hard, complex and critically material issues resolved to the greater benefit to our society, culture and family. But the second starts with the first.
Why the conversations that need to take place don't take place is the failure of leadership.
The Brexit political leaders, the republican presidential nominating circus, and perhaps Congress on a good day add the dimensions of lies taken to new levels of irresponsibility. Clear irresponsibility with sublime indifference to the consequences on everyday people. True for Brexit. True for threatening to default on the nation's debt payments. True for trickle down economics becoming the fiscal policy of a state. True for drowning coast lines or poisoned acquifers. True for open judicial seats.
The American and European people of the liberal democracies actually know this is happening. Most of them anyway.
Everyday people are just sick and tired that their political leaders are incompetent and indifferent. Worse, they are venting their emotions more and more as propagandists are stoking the anger of the people most affected by the lack of governance.
Leadership is different than power aggrandizement. Right now, we lack leaders.
The breakdown of informed and honest conversation among people at all levels of society is the story of our times. Actually, it's the inability of our leaders and ourselves to get hard, complex and critically material issues resolved to the greater benefit to our society, culture and family. But the second starts with the first.
Why the conversations that need to take place don't take place is the failure of leadership.
The Brexit political leaders, the republican presidential nominating circus, and perhaps Congress on a good day add the dimensions of lies taken to new levels of irresponsibility. Clear irresponsibility with sublime indifference to the consequences on everyday people. True for Brexit. True for threatening to default on the nation's debt payments. True for trickle down economics becoming the fiscal policy of a state. True for drowning coast lines or poisoned acquifers. True for open judicial seats.
The American and European people of the liberal democracies actually know this is happening. Most of them anyway.
Everyday people are just sick and tired that their political leaders are incompetent and indifferent. Worse, they are venting their emotions more and more as propagandists are stoking the anger of the people most affected by the lack of governance.
Leadership is different than power aggrandizement. Right now, we lack leaders.
1
A great summary of where we were are, in plain English. I have been gratified to see Hillary scrambling (finally!) to get out in front of this, with proposals to generate jobs and education for the left-behind. I am confident she'll do the right thing. For one thing, if she doesn't, she'll never get a second term.
Donald Trump, as a phenomenon, has actually been good for us, in a number of ways. But the idea of him as president is unthinkable.
Donald Trump, as a phenomenon, has actually been good for us, in a number of ways. But the idea of him as president is unthinkable.
3
Madeline:
Donald Trump has been good for us but would be bad for us as president. And, Hillary, with her vast experience is finally scrambling to get out in front of problems. Yet, she would be good for us as president. Please explain.
Donald Trump has been good for us but would be bad for us as president. And, Hillary, with her vast experience is finally scrambling to get out in front of problems. Yet, she would be good for us as president. Please explain.
2
"that small men can rearrange big complex systems by just erecting a wall and everything will be peachy."
Erecting a wall on the border is nothing to an accomplished builder like Trump, who erects skyscrapers all over the world, yet you thought Obama, who never put on a pair of scrubs in his life, who ever ran or lead anything, could "reform" the nations healthcare system.
Give me a break Freidman. Its not a stretch for a country to have the ability to make their own decisions, instead of them being dictate by the ones around it.
But we know the real reason why you in the press are so livid. The people of Britian have soundly rejected socialism and the open border multiculturalism - and that drives you nuts.
Good. Its about time we get back to reality. Thats the problem with liberalism - the real world always seems to get in the way.
Erecting a wall on the border is nothing to an accomplished builder like Trump, who erects skyscrapers all over the world, yet you thought Obama, who never put on a pair of scrubs in his life, who ever ran or lead anything, could "reform" the nations healthcare system.
Give me a break Freidman. Its not a stretch for a country to have the ability to make their own decisions, instead of them being dictate by the ones around it.
But we know the real reason why you in the press are so livid. The people of Britian have soundly rejected socialism and the open border multiculturalism - and that drives you nuts.
Good. Its about time we get back to reality. Thats the problem with liberalism - the real world always seems to get in the way.
3
As an immigrant myself, I am all for building webs instead of walls, promote integration in the communities.
However, the challenge is the more you integrate the more in-flow you will have from what Friedman calls "failing states".
So, how do you find the balance between building walls and integration?
My proposal is a better distribution of the resources - within the country and globally - to make sure that discontent people will not have the final say as we have seen in BrExit, not hopefully not with Mr. Trump.
It's always easy to get swayed by emotion and decide on drastic actions, but not that easy to live with the consequences.
However, the challenge is the more you integrate the more in-flow you will have from what Friedman calls "failing states".
So, how do you find the balance between building walls and integration?
My proposal is a better distribution of the resources - within the country and globally - to make sure that discontent people will not have the final say as we have seen in BrExit, not hopefully not with Mr. Trump.
It's always easy to get swayed by emotion and decide on drastic actions, but not that easy to live with the consequences.
Mr. Friedman as penned a fine essay in which he identifies the sources of deep anxiety without mentioning the hideously lopsided concentration of wealth across our recently-globalized trade, manufacturing, and financial systems as a culprit impeding the the design of safety nets, protections, and educational advancement options, and effective democratic governance. Desperate people are easy marks for con artists like Donald Trump and his British counterparts. This vicious circle is beginning to look more like the ever-narowwing vortex of water going down the drain.
The quintessential problem here was generated by the fallacious structure of the Brexit proposal. "Stay or Leave" should have been simple "Leave? Yes? No?" And, the basis for a 'simple majority' should have been >50% of the those registered to vote. This vote only represented 37% of the registered voters. As such, it ushered in chaos in the form of tyranny by a minority. (There was a 72% turnout: .72 X .51.9 = 37.4% rounded "up"). This is without even giving consideration that structural change to a nation's obligations is so far reaching an long term that such decisions often warrant super majority decisions, or a cumulative reformatory state consensus such as our process for passing amendments to our Constitution (requiring ratification in 2/3rds of states or by 2/3rds of Congress and Senate).
This was not a vote for prime minister (although the politicians selfishly and mistakenly presented it as such), it was economically existential. Great Britain no longer is 'Great' it is England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Bad math is the friend of despots and fascists everywhere. It makes for disastrous policy, however.
This was not a vote for prime minister (although the politicians selfishly and mistakenly presented it as such), it was economically existential. Great Britain no longer is 'Great' it is England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Bad math is the friend of despots and fascists everywhere. It makes for disastrous policy, however.
2
Only 37% elected Barack Obama. He won by the same margin of victory as the Brexit.
Are you arguing that his election was unfair or illegal and should be "done over"? Mitt will be glad to hear that!
And sorry: if you could vote, but were too lazy or disaffected, you still have made a choice -- to let others decide FOR YOU.
Are you arguing that his election was unfair or illegal and should be "done over"? Mitt will be glad to hear that!
And sorry: if you could vote, but were too lazy or disaffected, you still have made a choice -- to let others decide FOR YOU.
2
Once again nothing but high minded conjecture about another "catastrophe" that will turn out to be no such thing. I love this column, every week, nothing but sweeping generalizations but never followed with any answers, just whining.
6
We've been following liberals like Friedman for last 8 years and they are still whining.
5
I do not believe in climate change, job loss due to automation and free markets or mosquitoes: they are simply a fact. You can also expect people pushed around by changes happening too fast to easily adapt to push back. There is only one institution that can both open up markets and cushion the blow of the fast pace of modernization and that is the "we the people" thing...
4
Excellent column.
2
Globalism has been around since at least the early 1600's. The Dutch were investigating growing wheat west of New Amsterdam in the mid 1600's. Trade was well-established between Asia and Europe. I'm not sure why it's an issue now. Is it social media that concentrates and amplifies people's greivances and victimhood? And an isolationism, especially in Britain. I guess they are not interested in going anywhere else in Europe, so why should they let anyone in. Sad that their culture has devolved to that.
You might even go back further and say the true globalism was invented by the Romans. They went everywhere, traded everywhere, took from everywhere, and maintained an enormous and diverse system (or empire if you prefer). Having said that, your point is well taken.
A new slogan for the USA and the statue of Liberty: Sends us your poor, your uneducated, your criminal class and your Jihadists. The liberal elite have decided the USA is too white, too Christian, too fond of western values and too evil.
6
Another cynical journalist still expecting that people will be convinced that his use of nuance justifies his support of authoritarianism. The example may be immigration, but people have recognized the simple situation: Brussels feels it has the right to unilaterally transfer sovereignty from EU nations to themselves. In the original treaties transfer of sovereignty required consent via referendum. The Lisbon treaty was a massive transfer of sovereignty without referendum. We now have almost 10 years of rules and regulation developed without the consent of the governed.
And on "integration" vs. "immmmigration": you neglected to mention that the progressive fad of the last couple of decades called "multiculturalism" is directly opposed to the idea of integration. Everyone should remain separate. Another failure of your progressive mindset.
And on "integration" vs. "immmmigration": you neglected to mention that the progressive fad of the last couple of decades called "multiculturalism" is directly opposed to the idea of integration. Everyone should remain separate. Another failure of your progressive mindset.
4
Friedman gets to the crux of the matter in his last paragraph, reminding us that the E.U. grew out of the destruction of World War II. It took two world wars, in fact, to get Europe to integrate; now the generation that accomplished all that is dying off, and its descendants have apparently forgotten why a united Europe is so important. Will they have to learn it all over again?
3
Young people in UK, voted overwhelmingly to remain, but many of them did not bother or decided they did not know enough to vote. The seniors were the one staunchly for BREXIT!
2
Oh please. Look how successful the British Empire has been since the end of World War 2. Oh, never mind.
2
The social, economic, technological, and intellectual forces that have dislocated so many is not a new phenomena. For at least a decade, these forces have not only been endlessly written about, but, appear everyday in institutions and workplaces that are out of step with 21st century goals and work habits. The blame for being caught by surprise by the 21st century lies with a political class whose sole focus was maintaining their jobs rather than crafting 21st century legislation. Now, in both parties, and in Europe, the selfish pursuit of political survival, instead of the pursuit of the common good, has backfired.
3
This column emphasizes the crucial role of "integration" of immigrants, but fails to mention the unusual difficulties of integrating Muslim immigrants in Western European societies. To mention only a few, their misogynistic cultures including practices like genital mutilation, refusal to educate women, insistence on unique attire, and general insularity, conflict with Western values in ways we haven't seen in previous immigrant groups.
Most previous groups were anxious to integrate culturally as well as economically. Middle Eastern Muslims, too often, do not wish cultural integration.
Most previous groups were anxious to integrate culturally as well as economically. Middle Eastern Muslims, too often, do not wish cultural integration.
3
There are no easy problems. If solutions were easy, there wouldn't be problems. But it is true that integrating immigrants has always been difficult precisely because each new wave is different from the melange. Muslim immigrants really don't present any more unusual difficulties than any group that preceded it. The hordes of Italians were thought to be sub-human. The Irish were Catholic and trash. And so on and so on. Building a multi-cultural society takes effort and tolerance.
The shrill voices of the demagogues focus the weak-minded on fears, not fortune. It is much more difficult to explain the economic benefits of immigration than it is to explain why Johnny lost his job, especially when Johnny needs an excuse.
The shrill voices of the demagogues focus the weak-minded on fears, not fortune. It is much more difficult to explain the economic benefits of immigration than it is to explain why Johnny lost his job, especially when Johnny needs an excuse.
Sorry, but the "hordes" of "subhuman" Italians brought with them Western sensibilities and a culture going back before Jesus. Ditto for the Irish who also spoke English. All were determined to integrate and took only one generation (or less) to do so. My parents were both born in Europe before WWI, but learned and spoke unaccented English fluently and were fully assimilated culturally even before I was born.
1
The premise of this comment seems wrong to me. The United States has actually had relatively little difficulty integrating its Muslim population. One of the things this country happens to be good at is integrating immigrants. Europe is manifestly not so good at it. The problem doesn't appear to be the immigrants, it's the cultures trying to assimilate them.
Tom, it seems to me that your comments are based on a notion of how you would like the EU to be, as opposed to how I perceive that the EU actually is. The EU looks sick and unstable to me, as evidenced by the ongoing and corrosive economic and fiscal imbalance between the northern and southern tier countries, as well as its inability to handle problems such as Greece and the war zone immigrants with any level of competence. And the EU reply, "Go quickly before you do us further damage" is anything but a sign of confidence and stability. Perhaps your worries are misplaced. Perhaps you should be more worried for the future of the EU and less worried for the people who voted for Brexit. Nobody knows how all of this will turn out, but I think we can all agree that the British people have a long history of carrying on.
4
I'm thinking of a country that can't pass a budget. A country whose legislative process is irretrievably broken and deadlocked. An economy which makes the rich richer, and the poor poorer. A country in which a half century after civil rights, minority citizens are shot down in the streets without justification. Oh my, that's the "United States."
The truth is, there is no perfect government, and the EU is still just as much as experiment as the United States of America. But that's no reason to trash a system that has brought peace and prosperity to a region that just a short time ago, was a wasteland following a global conflict that killed millions. The EU might not be perfect, but it is infinitely better than what it replaced. Governments can change for the better, and they do when honest people care enough to make it happen.
But nothing like that will happen if people like Marine Le Pen, Donald Trump, or Boris Johnson are in charge. We need statesmen, not hustlers.
The truth is, there is no perfect government, and the EU is still just as much as experiment as the United States of America. But that's no reason to trash a system that has brought peace and prosperity to a region that just a short time ago, was a wasteland following a global conflict that killed millions. The EU might not be perfect, but it is infinitely better than what it replaced. Governments can change for the better, and they do when honest people care enough to make it happen.
But nothing like that will happen if people like Marine Le Pen, Donald Trump, or Boris Johnson are in charge. We need statesmen, not hustlers.
1
What you say is true regarding a few cynical politicians exploiting the public with immigration fears. Yet it is squarely the fault of the people who know the complex facts, the truth over immigration from an economic and moral stance, it is their fault for ignoring, underestimating and simply not caring enough about the working person to educate them on the matter and also, quit dumping more and more on them, without a reasonable plan. They are far more to blame than those who exploited the issue. There's been a great lie to globalization and free trade agreements. The lies caught up with the leaders. In America we are a beat away from the same disaster. But, the left and the right are to blame. Billions in Tax breaks for oil corporations, but god forbid a single mother with kids gets an extra 50 bucks a month. The left talks about jobs they create, oh, you mean the 12 bucks an hour with no benefits and treated like replaceable thing, not a human being? This is progress? Every time one voices concern over unregulated immigration, the left jumps in and cries racist. This doesn't help matters, charging people with untrue and ugly labels. Arizona begged the Feds for 30 years to do something, every President didn't want to touch it. It was too political with the Latin vote. So, the State finally did something. Only then did the Feds step in and smear the state as hateful. It would never have come to that if they had helped the state in 1980. Manipulation has two parties.
6
As economist Guillermo Marquez reminded me in his BREXIT analysis, one of the basic consequences is a geopolitical one. The EU emerged in a cold war scenario in order to be an stronger entity next to the URRS and, pointed out Crimea.
The basic premise is that now there other emerging powers and one of the is not the UK.
The basic premise is that now there other emerging powers and one of the is not the UK.
An interesting essay by Mr. Friedman. Unfortunately, Trump supporters I'm sure, will rarely if ever read the NY Times nor Mr. Friedman and comprehend what he is saying - they are too mad at Washington.
2
Tom, you and Bernie Sanders today have written eloquently. But realistically, where in the world do we locate the forces to reduce special interest control of governments and bring about the integration you describe? The democratic political systems in Europe and the US are aligned with the special interests and the 1%. Well-intended bureaucrats and elected officials, whether left or right-leaning, can get nowhere. Is the American Revolution a viable model for change in the 21st century? Channeling the outrage the Colonists felt is easier today thanks to the internet. Will leadership emerge? We have an election in a few months. Please put your mind to some strategies that could make November a way to express the need for change. The threat of voting for no candidates or writing in names could be a start. This will take years and years. It has to begin sometime.
There are truly problems, with income inequality, an inability of schools to train the next generation when politicians refuse to give them a dime, and yes, an immigration system that is broken. But you don't burn down the house because you need a new roof.
"It’s the story of our time: the pace of change in technology, globalization and climate have started to outrun the ability of our political systems to build the social, educational, community, workplace and political innovations needed for some citizens to keep up."
I would argue that the problem is worse than this.
In the United States, there is one party that exhibits little real interest in building the social, educational, community, workplace and political innovations needed for some citizens to keep up. The GOP is actively seeking to dismantle public education and to destroy unions in the public and private sector. It claims that climate change is a hoax. It touts rugged individualism and cries "class warfare" when people talk about how the 1% and the CEOs are taking the lion's share of profits.
The problems of technology, globalization and climate would be hard enough to solve if there were two parties working in good faith to actually solve them. Unfortunately, such is not the case in the U.S.
I would argue that the problem is worse than this.
In the United States, there is one party that exhibits little real interest in building the social, educational, community, workplace and political innovations needed for some citizens to keep up. The GOP is actively seeking to dismantle public education and to destroy unions in the public and private sector. It claims that climate change is a hoax. It touts rugged individualism and cries "class warfare" when people talk about how the 1% and the CEOs are taking the lion's share of profits.
The problems of technology, globalization and climate would be hard enough to solve if there were two parties working in good faith to actually solve them. Unfortunately, such is not the case in the U.S.
1
Friedman raises some real issues. But he does the reader a disservice by conflating the solutions.
"We have globalized trade and manufacturing, and we have introduced robots and artificial intelligent systems, far faster than we have designed the social safety nets, trade surge protectors and educational advancement options that would allow people caught in this transition to have the time, space and tools to thrive."
Friedman's answers are mostly euphemisms for government redistribution. So the answer to all of our ills including more immigrants providing competition for low-wage workers is a bigger government check in the mail ? This seems simplistic.
Recent immigration is simply a catalyst that is highlighting changes already long evident. The halcyon 1950's that both right and left wistfully look back to were an anomalous period after two world wars where much of European and Asian production was destroyed. America was the only game in town. In a sense, America was one giant monopoly with all the attendant but temporary benefits for its citizens. Someone without a high school education could get a job through the UAW earning high wages, raise a family and retire comfortably.
But if you look at the period both before this period as well as after, this kind of relative comfort for the unskilled did not exist. Moreover, the disintegration of the two-parent family (which was not the case earlier) has only exacerbated the issue.
"We have globalized trade and manufacturing, and we have introduced robots and artificial intelligent systems, far faster than we have designed the social safety nets, trade surge protectors and educational advancement options that would allow people caught in this transition to have the time, space and tools to thrive."
Friedman's answers are mostly euphemisms for government redistribution. So the answer to all of our ills including more immigrants providing competition for low-wage workers is a bigger government check in the mail ? This seems simplistic.
Recent immigration is simply a catalyst that is highlighting changes already long evident. The halcyon 1950's that both right and left wistfully look back to were an anomalous period after two world wars where much of European and Asian production was destroyed. America was the only game in town. In a sense, America was one giant monopoly with all the attendant but temporary benefits for its citizens. Someone without a high school education could get a job through the UAW earning high wages, raise a family and retire comfortably.
But if you look at the period both before this period as well as after, this kind of relative comfort for the unskilled did not exist. Moreover, the disintegration of the two-parent family (which was not the case earlier) has only exacerbated the issue.
1
I'd like to see fewer doomsday scenarios in these pages and more specifics about how to make the EU a more democratic, flexible, responsive and member-friendly body. The real message of Brexit: fix the damn thing and get it right this time.
7
Not a single mention of inequality by Mr Friedman. Germany has a Gini coefficient of 28.3 and wide support for the EU. The UK's is 36 while the US tops out at 40.8. So almost double the inequality of Germany. The problem is not globalization, trade deals or technology. It's just that in the UK and US all the benefits from these forces, i.e. money, goes to the top. The rest of us are left with nought!
4
Working people are hurting. And by working people I don’t mean men with dirty hands and dirty faces exiting a factory or coal mine carrying lunch pails. I mean the 90+ percent of us that work at jobs where someone else controls every aspect of our working lives and reaps most the rewards of whatever it is we are helping them do or produce.
As working people grope about, trying to figure out “what the hell is going on”, wanting to blame their predicament and loss of power on groups with even less power than their own (e.g. immigrants, minorities) the real source of their distress remains hidden – and it’s beneficiaries are probably watching the chaos with smiles on their faces.
But, I am happy to say that an article appearing in yesterday’s NY Times revealed the real source of all this unhappiness and anger (In ‘Brexit’ and Trump, a Populist Farewell to Laissez-Faire Capitalism, Eduardo Porter). The article even captured a glimpse of several smiling perpetrators. Laissez-Faire does not unleash the magic of markets, it simply hands more power to the already powerful and weakens the things that might interfere with their unmitigated power – Effective Governments and Labor Unions.
Since Donald Trump is one of the beneficiaries of weakened governments and busted unions he is not likely to remind his followers that we have been on this trickle-down trajectory for thirty or so years and things have continually gotten worse for working people.
As working people grope about, trying to figure out “what the hell is going on”, wanting to blame their predicament and loss of power on groups with even less power than their own (e.g. immigrants, minorities) the real source of their distress remains hidden – and it’s beneficiaries are probably watching the chaos with smiles on their faces.
But, I am happy to say that an article appearing in yesterday’s NY Times revealed the real source of all this unhappiness and anger (In ‘Brexit’ and Trump, a Populist Farewell to Laissez-Faire Capitalism, Eduardo Porter). The article even captured a glimpse of several smiling perpetrators. Laissez-Faire does not unleash the magic of markets, it simply hands more power to the already powerful and weakens the things that might interfere with their unmitigated power – Effective Governments and Labor Unions.
Since Donald Trump is one of the beneficiaries of weakened governments and busted unions he is not likely to remind his followers that we have been on this trickle-down trajectory for thirty or so years and things have continually gotten worse for working people.
3
"We have globalized trade and manufacturing, and we have introduced robots and artificial intelligent systems, far faster than we have designed the social safety nets . . . It’s left a lot of people dizzy and dislocated."
The corporate culture doesn't even give a nod in the direction of people. It's not just profits before people, it's profits and profits only. So corporations are sitting on record piles of cash, reaping record profits (in the past 7 years of Obama's check out Exxon-Mobile's and Apple's income), and paying record low amounts to the federal treasury as a share of GDP.
The Times yesterday had an article about driverless vehicles which deflected our gaze from the cute Google car to the economics of the trucking industry: a $75,000 software and sensor package might not make sense in a $20,000 economy car, but could be economically feasible installed in a $150,000 tractor in a big-rig combo. Thus ends the Teamster's Union & a million driver jobs as the price plummets for that package due to economies of scale.
When the drivers are put out of work, the companies' profits suffer not at all. This creative destruction is not new, remember buggy whips? It's just that nobody - no economist at least - has a vision for how an economy - particularly a consumer-based one - can function with fewer than 50% of the citizens actually working.
The corporate culture doesn't even give a nod in the direction of people. It's not just profits before people, it's profits and profits only. So corporations are sitting on record piles of cash, reaping record profits (in the past 7 years of Obama's check out Exxon-Mobile's and Apple's income), and paying record low amounts to the federal treasury as a share of GDP.
The Times yesterday had an article about driverless vehicles which deflected our gaze from the cute Google car to the economics of the trucking industry: a $75,000 software and sensor package might not make sense in a $20,000 economy car, but could be economically feasible installed in a $150,000 tractor in a big-rig combo. Thus ends the Teamster's Union & a million driver jobs as the price plummets for that package due to economies of scale.
When the drivers are put out of work, the companies' profits suffer not at all. This creative destruction is not new, remember buggy whips? It's just that nobody - no economist at least - has a vision for how an economy - particularly a consumer-based one - can function with fewer than 50% of the citizens actually working.
4
The difference is that the displaced buggy whip factory worker, could go down the street and get an excellent NEW job for more money at the Ford Model T factory.
The displaced worker today gets NOTHING...six lousy months of unemployment insurance, at about half his regular paycheck. Then ZERO. If you own a home or have any retirement savings, you won't even qualify for food stamps. Obamacare only offers very costly policies with high deductibles and copays. So you won't have health care, BUT you will be liable for a HUGE HUGE fine at the end of the year.
If that worker is over 50, he can expect to never work again in his field, and at best, perhaps part time work at a fast food place or Walmart -- or he can drive his own car as a Uber jitney taxi service.
Meanwhile, he will burn through his 401k and IRAs, and be left destitute in old age...just in time for the DEMOCRATS to raise the retirement age and cut social security (so they can give more money to Obamacare and to illegal aliens, who now have "rights").
And you liberals wonder why people are furiously angry.
The displaced worker today gets NOTHING...six lousy months of unemployment insurance, at about half his regular paycheck. Then ZERO. If you own a home or have any retirement savings, you won't even qualify for food stamps. Obamacare only offers very costly policies with high deductibles and copays. So you won't have health care, BUT you will be liable for a HUGE HUGE fine at the end of the year.
If that worker is over 50, he can expect to never work again in his field, and at best, perhaps part time work at a fast food place or Walmart -- or he can drive his own car as a Uber jitney taxi service.
Meanwhile, he will burn through his 401k and IRAs, and be left destitute in old age...just in time for the DEMOCRATS to raise the retirement age and cut social security (so they can give more money to Obamacare and to illegal aliens, who now have "rights").
And you liberals wonder why people are furiously angry.
1
Mr. Friedman invokes Alvin Toffler's prescient 1970 tome "Future Shock." The future is come and it is ours. I think the crisis that prompted Brexit is deeper than the superficial issues of immigration and economic choice. No, the crisis is spiritual. Occultist author Savitri Devi posits a cyclic view of things wherein as a society becomes more technologically advanced, the less spiritual and alienating to the occupants it becomes. George Lucas' film "THX-1138" takes this idea to the logical conclusion where people are mindlessly plugged in to something larger, and the all too human need for love is a crime. Thus the people of Britain who've been left behind by the tsunami of change have felt the need to take charge again, as thinking of freedom from the EU and asserting national sovereignty is as much a crime against the global elitists as love was for the character in Lucas' movie. As the British Beatles sung, "All you need is love."
3
Turns out that "Game of Thrones" is a documentary.
4
I virtually always find Mr Friedman's arguments sound. At the same time, it seems both progressive and conservative -- and other -- thinkers concerned about inter/national matters underestimate at least two factors: 1) that individuals' greed and power coalesce into a force rivaling climate change, the EU, and related topics of the day, manmade and natural - and that the reaction against that greed and power are rarely rational or countered by arguments in the Times or other publications, and 2) decisions with extraordinary implications near and far are typically made by those power elite, with money and control as primary objectives, thus, reasoned and ethical arguments are more often than not largely academic exercises.
This is depressingly pessimistic, nothing new, and very cynical. But if it there's anything to it, it could be, in some way, what powers a huge number of frustrated and oppressed and angry people worldwide -- I think there are maybe some philosophers, economists, and a couple people like Noam Chomsky or such who have even thought of something like this before....
This is depressingly pessimistic, nothing new, and very cynical. But if it there's anything to it, it could be, in some way, what powers a huge number of frustrated and oppressed and angry people worldwide -- I think there are maybe some philosophers, economists, and a couple people like Noam Chomsky or such who have even thought of something like this before....
1
Do you think we can apply the small man erecting a wall to everyone, not just your political opponents? That is to say, the sovereign British people in a national referendum have apparently offended Thomas L Friedman and his official soapbox, the NYT. Too bad Democracy as it still exists gives you a headache when the people are fed up with the politically correct hogwash of rightwing monsters subverting the will of the people as the answer when an election doesn't go your way. Anything but the truth of the matter will be cynically thrown at the wall in desperation to explain why the voters utterly rejected the elite bureaucrats and by proxy the more government, less individual freedom that inevitably results from left wing idealogues meddling with free institutions. Yet another failed Socialist experiment, but the people are stupid and are being misled by venal politicans. They just need an elite cadre of "leaders" to set them straight. One is reminded of the sterile apartment blocks of Soviet Russia that no one wanted to live in, except when coerced or propagandized. The corollary of what you and the NYT own, a bankrupt ideology, that is and always has been broken is "if it ain't broke stop trying to fix it."
3
Thanks for a spot on article.
Picture on top of the latest issue of the New Yorker shows an Englishman stepping off a cliff with another one close behind.
A headline from the Wall Street Journal:
"Markets Rise as Brexit Worries Ease"
A headline from the Wall Street Journal:
"Markets Rise as Brexit Worries Ease"
4
Written like a 1%'er who has profited from the class warfare that has devastated America. Global international corporations export the jobs of the working class to China and Mexico, sell the products around the world at inflated prices (Nike), then gripe when the poor come around asking for alms.
America cannot compete with Vietnam or China or Mexico where workers compete for jobs that pay peanuts and deny workers union rights.
There in no confusion, just a cry of outrage from the investor class who sees their investment income go down, money made at the expense of their fellow country fellows.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene
America cannot compete with Vietnam or China or Mexico where workers compete for jobs that pay peanuts and deny workers union rights.
There in no confusion, just a cry of outrage from the investor class who sees their investment income go down, money made at the expense of their fellow country fellows.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene
8
The European Union is an empire in which members states are relinquishing their sovereignty bit-by-bit. Like all empires, the European Union postpones the individual collapse of member nations, permitting them to collapse collectively rather than individually. The collapse of empires is far more calamitous than the collapse of individual nations. Short-lived empires like the Third Reich or Soviet Union create havoc when they fall apart, but the collapse of more successful empires are cataclysmic. The collapse of the Roman Empire brought on the Dark Ages, which lasted from the Sixth Century through the Fourteenth Century. The existence of a multitude of independent nations and cultures guards against cataclysmic collapse.
2
An excellent summary by Friedman which is worth saving. If there are two words that define modern societies they are complexity and inter-connectedness. Most people don't begin to understand it, and truth to tell they don't want to. Life is not twitter.
41
"life is not twitter" is the heart of the matter.
Dear John,
Yeah, it's really tough when the "people" decide something as in voting in a democratic process. Once the elites can do away with this "voting" thing, they can go on their way making billions while the rest of us toil at lousy jobs with pathetic pay.
Great "system" if you're in the 1% crowd. For the rest of us, well, there are still wars to be fought and bodies needed for those wars much as it has been since the "dawn of civilization".
Yeah, it's really tough when the "people" decide something as in voting in a democratic process. Once the elites can do away with this "voting" thing, they can go on their way making billions while the rest of us toil at lousy jobs with pathetic pay.
Great "system" if you're in the 1% crowd. For the rest of us, well, there are still wars to be fought and bodies needed for those wars much as it has been since the "dawn of civilization".
5
'the dog catches the car. And, of course, it has no idea now what to do with this car. There is no plan. There is just barking' could equally be laid at the NY Times and others. Plenty of barking and not so veiled associations between Brexit voters and Donald Trump, racism, far right European parties. Plenty of suggestions that Brexit voters were racist, uneducated and ignorant - why can't the liberal media just accept that Brexiteers had legitimate reasons to want to divorce from the EU. Truth is most of the public here were not swayed by Boris Johnson or others, but have held this desire for a long time. Britain has always had one foot in and one foot out of the EU so if we can't be totally committed and trust our European colleagues, and there has been no evidence of that in the past 30 years, then we are best out anyway.
17
I couldn't agree more with Mr. Clark. After living in London for the past 15 years, the country has not improved but deteriorated and the membership in the EU has certainly not helped. Given that nearly 70% of all legislation is mandated by the EU and NOT by the UK, I would like to ask those fellow NYT readers who are happy to comment so readily about the negatives of the Brexit vote, how would you like it as an American citizen, paying exorbitant taxes but having your rules and laws decided upon not by the U.S. but by an unelected group of individuals from outside your own country and who are deciding not always in the best interests of America...?
1
More countries will clamour to leave until the technocrats in Brussels change their mission statement to one of transparency and democracy not the current mindset of creating a supra state removing all powers from member countries.
It's been falsely claimed that we voted out based on immigration but this is a misnomer. The Brexit campaign, although conducted with lies from both sides, won because of the anger of globalisation, the corporate elite, the anger over austerity cuts and rising poverty rates.
Hegemony over an entire continent with differing cultures is impossible to achieve as we have seen with the ruthless treatment meted out to Greece by the Troika. The younger generation have experienced nothing else but life in the EU and are blaming the older generation.
Our interventionism has caused a mass influx of refugees and Europe is returning to the 1930s. What we the UK and Europe needs is tolerance and a radical political overhaul.
It's been falsely claimed that we voted out based on immigration but this is a misnomer. The Brexit campaign, although conducted with lies from both sides, won because of the anger of globalisation, the corporate elite, the anger over austerity cuts and rising poverty rates.
Hegemony over an entire continent with differing cultures is impossible to achieve as we have seen with the ruthless treatment meted out to Greece by the Troika. The younger generation have experienced nothing else but life in the EU and are blaming the older generation.
Our interventionism has caused a mass influx of refugees and Europe is returning to the 1930s. What we the UK and Europe needs is tolerance and a radical political overhaul.
15
Yesterday, I encountered an elderly lady from England at the service counter of the Post Office in, of all places, a small north Texas town. I asked her about the Brexit vote and she said her own family was about equally divided on the issue. Asked how she would have voted, she hesitated and, with her voice quavering, she said her choice would have been to "stay." "I only hope it will all work out," she said, and turned away.
But hope is not a plan. And a lady well into her 80's if not older deserves security and certainty more than she needs hope as a lifeline. The nation where she was born and raised has left her with only hope. Hope that her country, on which she may well never set foot again, will survive.
But hope is not a plan. And a lady well into her 80's if not older deserves security and certainty more than she needs hope as a lifeline. The nation where she was born and raised has left her with only hope. Hope that her country, on which she may well never set foot again, will survive.
80
Emotionally charged drivel based on a data point of one. Of course the UK will survive. I daresay longer term it will prosper too.
Honestly, The lack of courage and optimism displayed by so many is the most worrying thing about today's society. Everyone seems terrified of everything.
Honestly, The lack of courage and optimism displayed by so many is the most worrying thing about today's society. Everyone seems terrified of everything.
4
Emotionally charged, Racahel, perhaps. Drivel? I hardly think so. This woman was certainly emotional over a two-minute conversation. I don't see how your reply would afford her the slightest bit of reassurance.
1
Tom,
Seems you have fallen under the sway of cynical politicians a few times too. Can you remember Iraq? What's different about you now?
Seems you have fallen under the sway of cynical politicians a few times too. Can you remember Iraq? What's different about you now?
9
Again, Brexit is throwing out the baby with the bath water. Instead of marshaling support to FIX the EU, the UK is instead looking to quit it.
Believing the hucksters that Britain can negotiate a "better deal" with their (former) EU partners without having to contribute to EU funding or follow EU rules is a pipe dream. Why should the EU be anything other than draconian, to discourage others from leaving in the short term?
Remember: This is the SECOND time that the UK has shunned the European communities. The first time was at the forming of the so-called "Common Market" (the EEC). Then Britain BEGGED to join and was black-balled by DeGaulle, in part as pay-back for not joining initially with the original Six (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg). Again, it was due to short-sightedness and a mis-placed sense of the British ship sailing alone and independently.
But like the inter-war period, people are frightened, economically and politically (ISIS has done its work well to terrify us) and are, in such perceived crises, happy to turn to "strong" leaders who offer simple, easy to understand solutions that involve an "other"--"Us" versus "Them". This, of course, is the foundation of fascism. Putin and Erdogan successfully exploited it, and now Marine Le Pen, Brexit, Donald Trump and others in Europe and the US are doing the same.
Dark times ahead.
Believing the hucksters that Britain can negotiate a "better deal" with their (former) EU partners without having to contribute to EU funding or follow EU rules is a pipe dream. Why should the EU be anything other than draconian, to discourage others from leaving in the short term?
Remember: This is the SECOND time that the UK has shunned the European communities. The first time was at the forming of the so-called "Common Market" (the EEC). Then Britain BEGGED to join and was black-balled by DeGaulle, in part as pay-back for not joining initially with the original Six (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg). Again, it was due to short-sightedness and a mis-placed sense of the British ship sailing alone and independently.
But like the inter-war period, people are frightened, economically and politically (ISIS has done its work well to terrify us) and are, in such perceived crises, happy to turn to "strong" leaders who offer simple, easy to understand solutions that involve an "other"--"Us" versus "Them". This, of course, is the foundation of fascism. Putin and Erdogan successfully exploited it, and now Marine Le Pen, Brexit, Donald Trump and others in Europe and the US are doing the same.
Dark times ahead.
11
They have tried to 'fix' the EU but its near impossible to do it. Between the technocrats who are the ones that really run the things and the entrenched powers feeding from the money troughs on lip service to reforms get through. One of the leaders has even said that its 'against the rules' to put anything thing about the EU to a popular vote.
DeGaulle blackballed them because they were the 'perfidious Albion' and in his mind, a stalking horse for the US. The UK also voted to join an economic community and not a superstate.
DeGaulle blackballed them because they were the 'perfidious Albion' and in his mind, a stalking horse for the US. The UK also voted to join an economic community and not a superstate.
"falls under the sway of a few cynical politicians who see a chance to exploit public fears of immigration to advance their careers."
And what about that "uncynical politician" Mes. Merkel? When she lets un a million or more people, mostly unvetted and who would eventually get the right to live in Britain, thei fear is legitimate.
It is amazing to see most of the intellectual establishment adamantly closing its eyes, leaving the truth to be told by Trump, Marine Le Pen, and 53.4% of English voters.
And what about that "uncynical politician" Mes. Merkel? When she lets un a million or more people, mostly unvetted and who would eventually get the right to live in Britain, thei fear is legitimate.
It is amazing to see most of the intellectual establishment adamantly closing its eyes, leaving the truth to be told by Trump, Marine Le Pen, and 53.4% of English voters.
5
This "political correctness" really is a problem because the fear of being out-procreated for political and/or religious hegemony seems to be shared by everyone, regardless of their ethnicity.
Ludwig - could you be Ludwig Baron or Ludwig Trump? By the way, the accurate percentage is 51.9% of the 72% who managed to get to the polls voted "leave" that translates into under 38% of the available British voting population making a decision that a sober person might realize should require a super majority of 66%. For example our own Constitution here in the U.S. requires that a Constitutional Amendment be ratified by a 2/3rds margin of both Congress and Senate, or by legislative ratification enacted in greater than 2/3rds of all our states.
1
No, jwp-nyc, my favorite Ludwigs are Ludwig Thoma, Ludwig van Beethoven and Ludwig Wittgenstein, arguably the greatest philosopher of the XXth century.
And note that I said " 53.4% of English voters."
You do understand "English" right? (smile).
I had thought that NYT readers did not need to be explained the difference between "English" and "British" but I suppose I was mistaken.
As for the constitution, the fact that it is so difficult to amend means that the Supreme Court has unlimited power to "interpret" the constitution. There is no check at all, unlike any other country I know of.
The framers wanted the constitution to be "constant" and that is why they made it so difficult to amend. They did not realize that this would also make it nearly impossible to control the Supreme Court.
And note that I said " 53.4% of English voters."
You do understand "English" right? (smile).
I had thought that NYT readers did not need to be explained the difference between "English" and "British" but I suppose I was mistaken.
As for the constitution, the fact that it is so difficult to amend means that the Supreme Court has unlimited power to "interpret" the constitution. There is no check at all, unlike any other country I know of.
The framers wanted the constitution to be "constant" and that is why they made it so difficult to amend. They did not realize that this would also make it nearly impossible to control the Supreme Court.
1
Would the United States be willing to enter into the equivalent of the EU with the other nations of North and South America? We can call it the American Union (AU). This would allow the free movement of people between countries.
I expect the answer is no. There would be no interest in such a union on the part of the US. Given this why are people so critical of Britain for deciding they don't want to be in that sort of union either?
I expect the answer is no. There would be no interest in such a union on the part of the US. Given this why are people so critical of Britain for deciding they don't want to be in that sort of union either?
4
Separated at birth? I sardoncailly suggested a "Monroe Union" in a previous response. The USA, Mexico, Central America, South America- what a mess that would be.
We do, in fact, enjoy freedom of movement with visas between American nations, and reentry from Canada does not require a passport by a U.S. citizen, only a driver's license with photo, or a birth certificate for children under the age of 18, or a NEXUS card for Canadian citizens is needed.
The British have enjoyed free travel to southern climes in Spain and the Mediterranean islands for decades. The fear that has been ginned up here has been stoked by terrorists like ISIS and demagogues like Trump and Johnson.
The British have enjoyed free travel to southern climes in Spain and the Mediterranean islands for decades. The fear that has been ginned up here has been stoked by terrorists like ISIS and demagogues like Trump and Johnson.
1
Don't you mean the fear stirred up by the beribboned gangsters running the Pentagon with their shakedown protection scheme? We tax payers must pay for their "protection" extortion or else they'll sic whatever new terrorist goons on us.
Sometimes answers are hard because we are asking the wrong question. Here and in Britain the forces to be afraid of angry at are "them", mostly abroad. But the real source of dissatisfaction is income inequality driven by changes in domestic policies initiated by Reagan and Thatcher and perpetuated in various forms for thirty years.
Employers have eliminated pensions, increased the cost of employee health care, reduced their tax payments, combined with competitors to form oligopolies, reduced or eliminated overtime and pay raises. And all along the working middle class has been told that they would be worse off if they had more protection and rights.
There has been a fundamental shift that values capital input over labor input. The problem is not that there are no benefits from technology and global integration. The problem is that those benefits are retained by those with access to capital. These conditions can go back to a better balance with obvious prescriptions.
Employers have eliminated pensions, increased the cost of employee health care, reduced their tax payments, combined with competitors to form oligopolies, reduced or eliminated overtime and pay raises. And all along the working middle class has been told that they would be worse off if they had more protection and rights.
There has been a fundamental shift that values capital input over labor input. The problem is not that there are no benefits from technology and global integration. The problem is that those benefits are retained by those with access to capital. These conditions can go back to a better balance with obvious prescriptions.
41
Mr. Friedman would you support a EU equivalent of the US, Mexico, Central America and South America? Call it the Monroe Union or something. It would be a mess just like the EU is.
5
A more apt analogy would be a "North American Union" of the US, Canada and Mexico, which would be a widening of what is already in place with NAFTA.
He would support that and even a 'World Union' as well.
The EU project "emerged as a force for peace, prosperity, democracy and freedom in the world. This is one of humankind's great achievements".
Hmmm, nothing about the "Marshall Plan", hey?
As usual, with "elitist" propaganda promoted by the wealthy, certain parts of 'real' history are ignored like the billions spent in implementing the "European Recovery Act" (Commonly known as the "Marshall Plan") though Europe's recovery was also necessary as a deterrent to the Soviet Union; nothing is ever done without receiving some kind of benefits.
In this case, we avoided, so far, WW3, a benefit for humanity at large.
It seems the "Brexit" has just clobbered the 1% and their "investments" with the rest of us being sold the "bill of goods" that what's good for the wealthy is good for all of us.
The United States rebuilt Europe after WW2 despite what Mr. Beinhocker may posit. His viewpoint reflects exactly what a "scholar" from Oxford would say, more or less, that the feathers of the rich must never be ruffled.
Perhaps it's time, as the Aerosmith song says, for the rest of us to "Eat the Rich"!
Hmmm, nothing about the "Marshall Plan", hey?
As usual, with "elitist" propaganda promoted by the wealthy, certain parts of 'real' history are ignored like the billions spent in implementing the "European Recovery Act" (Commonly known as the "Marshall Plan") though Europe's recovery was also necessary as a deterrent to the Soviet Union; nothing is ever done without receiving some kind of benefits.
In this case, we avoided, so far, WW3, a benefit for humanity at large.
It seems the "Brexit" has just clobbered the 1% and their "investments" with the rest of us being sold the "bill of goods" that what's good for the wealthy is good for all of us.
The United States rebuilt Europe after WW2 despite what Mr. Beinhocker may posit. His viewpoint reflects exactly what a "scholar" from Oxford would say, more or less, that the feathers of the rich must never be ruffled.
Perhaps it's time, as the Aerosmith song says, for the rest of us to "Eat the Rich"!
7
@Richard A. Petro
Connecticut
Where does Beinhocker say that the US didn't play a major role in re-building Europe after the war? Although as you grudgingly point out it was largely a matter of US self interest. Apparently, you're also unaware that the US actively fostered the creation of the European Iron and Steel community (the Schumann plan) in the late 40's and it's subsequent development into the Common Market the forerunner of today's EU. And Brexit far from clobbering the 1% is going to seriously clobber the 99% in Britain which is going to be a much poorer country.
Connecticut
Where does Beinhocker say that the US didn't play a major role in re-building Europe after the war? Although as you grudgingly point out it was largely a matter of US self interest. Apparently, you're also unaware that the US actively fostered the creation of the European Iron and Steel community (the Schumann plan) in the late 40's and it's subsequent development into the Common Market the forerunner of today's EU. And Brexit far from clobbering the 1% is going to seriously clobber the 99% in Britain which is going to be a much poorer country.
3
Dear John,
Much as "bailing out" the elite in this country didn't do a darn thing for my pocketbook, how is it that your sure the "Brexit" is such a bad thing?
The 99% will be clobbered as a sideshow to the greedier among us having to "get by" on 3.9 trillion dollars (Bloomberg reports pegged the 400 richest families lost 127.4 billion on the Friday after the exit leaving them with only 3.9 trillion in their accounts).
Apparently, fear mongering is alive and well in both this country and England.
Much as "bailing out" the elite in this country didn't do a darn thing for my pocketbook, how is it that your sure the "Brexit" is such a bad thing?
The 99% will be clobbered as a sideshow to the greedier among us having to "get by" on 3.9 trillion dollars (Bloomberg reports pegged the 400 richest families lost 127.4 billion on the Friday after the exit leaving them with only 3.9 trillion in their accounts).
Apparently, fear mongering is alive and well in both this country and England.
One of my fantasies is that WalMart shows two prices for each item: the real price and the price that would be charged if Trump's tariffs were imposed. I'll bet the second one would be significantly higher. Then maybe the cost of limiting globalization would begin to sink into the national consciousness.
9
Leading to increased minimum wage demands and the inflation the GOP has bzeen predicting since 2008...
Britain has built a virtual wall around London. Inside that wall, the whole world engages in high stakes, high rolling finance. Real estate is through the roof, restaurants are too, too, too and people dress everyday in thousands of pounds worth of overpriced clothing. Outside this wall everyday, non London commoners suffer.
Much the same exists in the US, although our London is New York, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
Friedman is unable to take on the DC politicians since, like George Will, he has aided and abetted this mess. He can only say two things: don't vote for Trump and settle for no change in your lives outside London.
Much the same exists in the US, although our London is New York, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
Friedman is unable to take on the DC politicians since, like George Will, he has aided and abetted this mess. He can only say two things: don't vote for Trump and settle for no change in your lives outside London.
11
The best outcome I think is for Britain to maintain it's trading relationship with Europe, but to have it's own national politics and regulation. The problem now is the people in Brussels, since they have been challenged they might not want to lose power, so their commitment to making things work needs close watching.
1
The perks of membership without paying the price? Nope
1
I am an ardent reader of your columns. But while I regret and oppose the Leave forces in Great Britain, the Brexit vote can be viewed as a proxy for a much larger issue which, to date, I do not think you have an answer. To many people, the world is spinning way too fast. They do not feel that they have control over their own lives. They feel that they have two economic feet--and one of them in on a banana peel. I, myself, think that The Donald is a charlatan. But, on the other hand, I have, from the beginning, been a Bernie supporter because I think the economy and stock market are rigged in favor of those who have influence in Washington and the other capitals of the world. I know that you are an admirer of the force of globalization and interconnectivity. And, maybe you are right that this forces are a permanent part of the world. But what do you have to say to those who feel that things at spinning way too fast and they do not have control over their own lives? What's the solution--more globalization and interconnectivity?
5
When an individual or social group feels that its whole identity is jeopardized by social or psychic change, its natural reaction is to lash out in defensive fury. But for all their lamentations, the revolution has already taken place.”
― Marshall McLuhan
― Marshall McLuhan
The world is indeed changing, but it has been changing this way for going on 200 years. The Luddites understood, though they had the wrong solution. The answer is simple, distribute the gains to all. Everyone. Of course, markets don't do that. The Diggers understood that almost 400 years ago.
3
Something like minimum revenue for all? And "fair" progressive taxation? The illusion of self-worth through one's work and the illusion of value (see D. Trump) through money (and greed) is fundamental to the American pioneer self-sufficient identity. No, unfortunately something very bad likely must happen before change will occur. Critical thinking, rational thought, and strong leadership won't get us there especially in the social media and big money age where clowns are respected and facts go unchecked.
Low and medium-skill jobs have been destroyed - and profits increased - by globalization and technology. The idea that all these folks can upgrade their skills and become knowledge workers is a fantasy... not everybody is built that way. The social safety net that 'saved' UK blue collar workers did so at the expense of their dignity... which a previous Friedman article rightly told us is the most important human need. The world is a wonderful place for bankers, out-sourcers, technologists, and economists... but lousy for the guy who knows how to make things with his hands.
With respect to UK immigration - due to EU open borders, these same guys must now compete directly with the population of Latvia, Romania and soon Albania - for whom UK wages are 10x their wages, or more. If you live in these EU countries, you MUST emigrate to the UK. Wages have been depressed in the UK for decades. You don't have to be racist to be angry.
With respect to UK immigration - due to EU open borders, these same guys must now compete directly with the population of Latvia, Romania and soon Albania - for whom UK wages are 10x their wages, or more. If you live in these EU countries, you MUST emigrate to the UK. Wages have been depressed in the UK for decades. You don't have to be racist to be angry.
5
I hope as well that Britain can find the means to reverse Brexit. However, I don’t see a lot of willingness on the part of the European establishment to help; and it’s not like this isn’t every bit as much Europe’s fault as it is that of the British who flogged this issue without thinking they’d ever need to pay a price because the people would never vote to leave.
The Brexit isn’t merely an isolated explosion or a manufactured set of concerns, but an outcome representative of frustrations across Europe, notably in France, Italy and Spain. Those frustrations are coming to a head, or perhaps Tom didn’t read Marine Le Pen’s op-ed right here in the Times the other day – she may very well ride a Frexit right into the French presidential palace.
Clearly, just as Britain is stunned, asking itself “omygod, what have we done?”, Brussels has been brought back on its haunches, as well. Except that THEIR reaction has been “why, those little gerbils, how DARE they?”. If Brussels wishes to save its own experiment it needs to realize that it’s pushed too hard for integration. They need to take the initiative to call for talks among ALL member states to discuss the kind of confederation that can achieve stability, and relegate thoughts of tighter integration to the future. Tribalism is a terribly difficult force to conquer – look at the Middle East; heck, look at Texas. You don’t conquer it by making a regulation about how flour is to be sifted then impose it on 500 million people.
The Brexit isn’t merely an isolated explosion or a manufactured set of concerns, but an outcome representative of frustrations across Europe, notably in France, Italy and Spain. Those frustrations are coming to a head, or perhaps Tom didn’t read Marine Le Pen’s op-ed right here in the Times the other day – she may very well ride a Frexit right into the French presidential palace.
Clearly, just as Britain is stunned, asking itself “omygod, what have we done?”, Brussels has been brought back on its haunches, as well. Except that THEIR reaction has been “why, those little gerbils, how DARE they?”. If Brussels wishes to save its own experiment it needs to realize that it’s pushed too hard for integration. They need to take the initiative to call for talks among ALL member states to discuss the kind of confederation that can achieve stability, and relegate thoughts of tighter integration to the future. Tribalism is a terribly difficult force to conquer – look at the Middle East; heck, look at Texas. You don’t conquer it by making a regulation about how flour is to be sifted then impose it on 500 million people.
3
Just another dishonest story by the failing NYLying.
Liberals had already broken the system, Brexit is an attempt to fix the destruction put up on them by the liberal political class.
Liberals had already broken the system, Brexit is an attempt to fix the destruction put up on them by the liberal political class.
3
Lies work. If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor; if you like your insurance you can keep your insurance. What did Ben Rhodes say about using lies to sell the Iran agreement? Shovel-ready jobs?
3
I remember Mr Friedman said the same thing about Iraq in 2003 and that is the gift that keeps on giving. What I find really stunning is how really bad the leadership in the UK is. They put this gigantic question in front of the voters, and after they did do Boris Johnson goes to play cricket, the deputy labor leader was in the country at a rock concert and David Cameron broke out the bubbly until he realized it was all over. Their credibility, no matter what they do now, is shot for a generation, at least. And then the world finds out they had no plan for what happens after the vote. Gee, let's send Nigel Farage to the European Parliament to insult everybody. That will work. What they've got left now is a poorer country, a country that may end up splitting up. If I was the Queen, I'd start worrying about what's going to happen to the family in the future when the good times aren't rolling anymore. The most despicable part of this is the harassment on the streets and buses, including an incident where an American was harassed on a bus because he has darker skin. Check the stats with Amnesty UK. Anybody ready for vacation time in jolly old England?
3
Congratulations to Britain with the winning vote for an exit and onto new independence, prosperity and individualism from the EU.
3
I think this is an excellent article that encapsules the nitty gritty of our current global situation. The leadership guru Peter Senge said "Lead from the future as it is emerging". The future has been emerging for sometime and we have failed. The VISION of the how to mange this future has been sorely lacking by our political as well as social leaders. "Where there is no vision the people perish" - hmmmm!
Incidentally I watched a PBS documentary last night on The Greeks. The program opened with the narrative that 5,000 years ago, Ancient Greece was suffering from mass migration, wars, economic hardship and disease.......I busted out laughing because if I did not see the pictures of ancient ruins I would have thought they were doing a documentary of the current world.
Needless to say in the Greek story whole groups of people simply ceased to exist.
Ah yes let's retreat to our respective "safe" corners and hope no one infiltrates our walls - that would keep us safe and Uhmm our race "pure" - NOT!
Incidentally I watched a PBS documentary last night on The Greeks. The program opened with the narrative that 5,000 years ago, Ancient Greece was suffering from mass migration, wars, economic hardship and disease.......I busted out laughing because if I did not see the pictures of ancient ruins I would have thought they were doing a documentary of the current world.
Needless to say in the Greek story whole groups of people simply ceased to exist.
Ah yes let's retreat to our respective "safe" corners and hope no one infiltrates our walls - that would keep us safe and Uhmm our race "pure" - NOT!
When are you going to see it's about standard of living. How should we expect people to be okay with 1% growth. Standard of Livings double every 72 years. Oh that's not the fault of a bloated system...of course it is.
So people make a rational choice which will foster competition and promote a rising standard of living. It's not a lie and if the vote had been the reverse you would have said it was a repudiation or maybe even a landslide.
Meanwhile Turkey, Brussels are blown up by suicide vests and we think gun control is the answer.
Please
So people make a rational choice which will foster competition and promote a rising standard of living. It's not a lie and if the vote had been the reverse you would have said it was a repudiation or maybe even a landslide.
Meanwhile Turkey, Brussels are blown up by suicide vests and we think gun control is the answer.
Please
1
So the answer is build a wall around the US to close ourselves off from the rest of the world, tear up all trade and defense pacts, start a trade war with China, default on our national debt, bar all muslims from entering the country, forcibly deport 11 million illegals along their underage US born children, and allow citizens to carry AR 15 semi automatic weapons in public?
Please
Please
277
More than a decade ago, in his book The World Is Flat, Tom Friedman assured his readers that globalization would amply compensate whatever victims it created. There is no reason to take any what he has to say about the subsequent fall out seriously until or unless he concedes the error of his ways and endeavors to critique them.
9
T. Friedman, the energizer-bunny cheerleader for globalization is at it again, getting it wrong, or simply not getting it! Even though Friedman lightly tips his hat to the losers of this mad rush to open global capital and investment markets, he is always on this side of the winners (i.e. large capital). Some of these many losers have just struck back in the UK. To these people, the issue is most definitely not "integration" into a world where multinationals would like to completely break state power, but to take back for themselves and their states much of the power that was lost in the name of neoliberal globalism during these past 30 or so years. I salute them and wish others in Europe who are thinking of challenging the EU the best of luck.
3
"Like I said, not the end of the world yet, but if a few more E.U. countries try this trick we’ll have quite a little mess on our hands."
You either haven't been paying attention or refuse to see the facts on the ground, Mr. Friedman. The EU is already "quite a little mess." And the people in the UK and in other countries are living it, and in the case of the UK, leaving it.
If you want to write an article on "You Break It, You Own It" it should be about Merkel, Junker and the bureaucrats who ruined the perfectly good idea of the EU with their petty and autocratic laws, illegal and unfettered immigration, and economic policies that were driven by, and benefitted only Germany, to the extreme detriment of many of the Southern European nations.
You either haven't been paying attention or refuse to see the facts on the ground, Mr. Friedman. The EU is already "quite a little mess." And the people in the UK and in other countries are living it, and in the case of the UK, leaving it.
If you want to write an article on "You Break It, You Own It" it should be about Merkel, Junker and the bureaucrats who ruined the perfectly good idea of the EU with their petty and autocratic laws, illegal and unfettered immigration, and economic policies that were driven by, and benefitted only Germany, to the extreme detriment of many of the Southern European nations.
6
"Attention Donald Trump voters: this is what happens to a country that falls for hucksters who think that life can just imitate Twitter — that there are simple answers to hard questions — and that small men can rearrange big complex systems by just erecting a wall and everything will be peachy.
But I digress."
No you do not digress at all. When politicians (or for that matter anyone) offers solutions that can be uttered in less that 140 words, a red flag should go up. Instead we have people flocking to those who claim to be able to solve problems at the snap of a finger. Thankfully Americans still have time to rethink their lover affair with the Donald.
But I digress."
No you do not digress at all. When politicians (or for that matter anyone) offers solutions that can be uttered in less that 140 words, a red flag should go up. Instead we have people flocking to those who claim to be able to solve problems at the snap of a finger. Thankfully Americans still have time to rethink their lover affair with the Donald.
5
"falls under the sway of a few cynical politicians". It's official. Guys like Friedman will never believe the people actually get to have what they want. Friedman literally doesn't believe in Democracy. His denial is so thoroughly entrenched he can't accept the will of the citizens.
This is just funny to watch. Next up - people don't really like Super Hero movies, people really don't like Taylor Swift and people really don't like having sex. They are being swayed by cynical politicians.
This is just funny to watch. Next up - people don't really like Super Hero movies, people really don't like Taylor Swift and people really don't like having sex. They are being swayed by cynical politicians.
4
There is nothing inconsistent with democracy about saying that the public may have inadvertently voted for something that in the end it does not really want. George W. Bush was elected twice, but few today would not characterize that as a significant error, with catastrophic results that no one wanted. To take a more famous and incomparably worse example, Hitler was democratically elected. If Trump were actually elected, that would represent perhaps a fatal error by the American electorate. Brexit may or may not be similar. In democracy, the will of the people rules, that does not mean it is always right.
Trump's "Brexit" lies in Ohio and Pennsylvania. If he can stoke the fears of globalization in those two states he can win the election and polls, despite his enormously error prone campaign reveal show a tone deafness on the part of the Clinton campaign to address what you talk about in your column.
November is going to be our Brexit moment and as of now, Trump is going to make jobs, trade, globalization and immigration the key issues that could make him the 45th President.
November is going to be our Brexit moment and as of now, Trump is going to make jobs, trade, globalization and immigration the key issues that could make him the 45th President.
1
Very comprehensive encapsulation. Sadly, I come away thinking that we should change the name of our country from "United States," to just "America" because we are nowhere close to "United." In fact, we aren't ever particularly smart and we won't be able to run a decent government if all we have to offer is "mad."
I suppose we can sit back and watch Great Britain attempt to come to terms with their suspect, made-in-anger choice, but I seriously doubt we will learn. Not soon enough in any case.
Anger rules, America loses. If we don’t come to our senses, we will indeed break it!
I suppose we can sit back and watch Great Britain attempt to come to terms with their suspect, made-in-anger choice, but I seriously doubt we will learn. Not soon enough in any case.
Anger rules, America loses. If we don’t come to our senses, we will indeed break it!
168
Are you angry at the British vote, and if so do think the British should pay a price for voting they way they did?
To Aaron.
I am disappointed, not angry. We are reacting in America to Trump's appeal to anger: an anger that will not be addressed properly by his approach to governing.
I am disappointed, not angry. We are reacting in America to Trump's appeal to anger: an anger that will not be addressed properly by his approach to governing.
I hate to be the informer of bad news, but we already broke it! It would be interesting for media to visit all of the 60,000 manufacturing plants shuttered here in the USA, and report the devastation and despair that our politics has inflicted on it's citizens. Come visit Flint, MI, and I'll personally take you on a tour of this once thriving city. You would see the squalor created by the automotive industry pulling out after we taxpayers bailed them out. Entire neighborhoods are dismantled. Blocks and blocks of broken cement and weeds where automotive plants once employed 80,000+ middle class employees. The Brexit vote just reinforced and made crystal clear the man-made inequality created in the name of free trade. This so-called free trade is anything but free, and now it is devastating the middle class here and abroad.
"If you break it you own it."
In the U.K., Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn sat back and made lukewarm statements about remaining in the EU, unsurprisingly, many Labour voters chose to exit.
That lesson should be acknowledged by Bernie Sanders and his voters. Sanders still speaks like a man who has not ended his campaign, grandstanding on cable news and in the Op-Ed section of The Times, while offering lukewarm statements about "likely" voting for Hillary Clinton in the fall. Meanwhile his supporters who still rail against Clinton, while not committing to vote for the Democratic nominee, have already started to disclaim any responsibility should Donald Trump win. As in the U.K., this is a recipe for creating a bad outcome.
One can only hope that Sanders and his supporters recognize the foolishness of continuing on this course.
In the U.K., Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn sat back and made lukewarm statements about remaining in the EU, unsurprisingly, many Labour voters chose to exit.
That lesson should be acknowledged by Bernie Sanders and his voters. Sanders still speaks like a man who has not ended his campaign, grandstanding on cable news and in the Op-Ed section of The Times, while offering lukewarm statements about "likely" voting for Hillary Clinton in the fall. Meanwhile his supporters who still rail against Clinton, while not committing to vote for the Democratic nominee, have already started to disclaim any responsibility should Donald Trump win. As in the U.K., this is a recipe for creating a bad outcome.
One can only hope that Sanders and his supporters recognize the foolishness of continuing on this course.
5
"The dog caught the car" - what a perfect summary.
All politicians should fear the power of the mob. It is as easy to arouse the people in times of economic distress and perceived external and internal threats as it is to start a forest fire in a drought. It is as hard to control the people, once aroused, as it is to extinguish such a forest fire.
With the election of President Obama we got the Tea Party, and it's slogan "Take Our Country Back" (it is obvious from whom). Now we have "Make America Great Again" and "America First." And one political party was willing, until it was too late, to let the arsonists do their job.
All we can hope for now is that we can form a large enough fire brigade to put the flames out before it destroys everything.
All politicians should fear the power of the mob. It is as easy to arouse the people in times of economic distress and perceived external and internal threats as it is to start a forest fire in a drought. It is as hard to control the people, once aroused, as it is to extinguish such a forest fire.
With the election of President Obama we got the Tea Party, and it's slogan "Take Our Country Back" (it is obvious from whom). Now we have "Make America Great Again" and "America First." And one political party was willing, until it was too late, to let the arsonists do their job.
All we can hope for now is that we can form a large enough fire brigade to put the flames out before it destroys everything.
1
Excellent and on target perspective about the impact of rapid change and uncertainty - which create stress and fear. Clearly a time when rational leadership that works for the common good is essential. We desperately need leaders who lead with vision, integrity, and compromise. Do those people exist??
1
You Brexit, you ownz it.
I cannot believe this stupidity. So what if Britain is separate from Europe?
Merkel's open the doors to these poor suffering people from the Near East but not Africa (those refuges are sort of invisible-- for the usual reasons) scared lots of people. But why are there so many refugees-- let's talk about cause.. and what role does the West play (weapons supplied by the USA, France, Italy -- what percentage of the GNP??HUMMM? big business taxpayer supported in terms of weapons development). Stop the wars -- Mr. Peace President and I may have made a mistake again Sec of State vote for me so my name goes in the history book as if I wee one of the boys, raise the interest rate already and stop worrying about horrible housing developments that destroy the natural habitats for various specified-- resettle people in old cities, Detroit and Columbus OH, apparently... enough of being stupid... but as long the market reaches a new all time high.. Guys, worry about weather, stockpiling for the year that the sun doesn't shine well because of a massive volcano... and getting people employed in Africa and Syria-- even if they do return to subsistence farming... I know lots of unemployed Americans... and PS guess what the old people so despised are perfectly capable of filling all kinds of jobs but in the current economy if they are employed that means fewer jobs for the young. Meantime can we see the end of sensationalist headlines and dumb predictive OPINION essays?
Merkel's open the doors to these poor suffering people from the Near East but not Africa (those refuges are sort of invisible-- for the usual reasons) scared lots of people. But why are there so many refugees-- let's talk about cause.. and what role does the West play (weapons supplied by the USA, France, Italy -- what percentage of the GNP??HUMMM? big business taxpayer supported in terms of weapons development). Stop the wars -- Mr. Peace President and I may have made a mistake again Sec of State vote for me so my name goes in the history book as if I wee one of the boys, raise the interest rate already and stop worrying about horrible housing developments that destroy the natural habitats for various specified-- resettle people in old cities, Detroit and Columbus OH, apparently... enough of being stupid... but as long the market reaches a new all time high.. Guys, worry about weather, stockpiling for the year that the sun doesn't shine well because of a massive volcano... and getting people employed in Africa and Syria-- even if they do return to subsistence farming... I know lots of unemployed Americans... and PS guess what the old people so despised are perfectly capable of filling all kinds of jobs but in the current economy if they are employed that means fewer jobs for the young. Meantime can we see the end of sensationalist headlines and dumb predictive OPINION essays?
2
"But they so dumb down the debate with lies, fear-mongering and misdirection, and with only a simple majority required to win, that the leave-the-E.U. crowd carries the day by a small margin. Presto: the dog catches the car. And, of course, it has no idea now what to do with this car. There is no plan. There is just barking."
My dog, an Australian Shepard, is brighter than most conservative idiots everywhere.
Where are we failing? Not just Britain, the US has its hands full dealing with the insanity promoted by the Murdoch tabloids and constant conservative drivel daily. Fox is simply a TV tabloid. Opportunists like Boris and Trump jump on the confusion and have at least a chance of prevailing with their nonsense. In fact, Conservatives everywhere don't have a clue: Too many problems on the table and they are stuck in the 16th century.
Bright moments come daily in the form of Hillary, SCOTUS, state and local governments that resist the rigid conservative ideology and who make an effort to actually solve problems. Worrisome political figures like Sanders who seems at times to be helping Trump, as Nader helped Bush, will slip into oblivion in time but will take their toll on the way.
I have not given up but maintain hope that reason will prevail eventually. Thank you Tom.
My dog, an Australian Shepard, is brighter than most conservative idiots everywhere.
Where are we failing? Not just Britain, the US has its hands full dealing with the insanity promoted by the Murdoch tabloids and constant conservative drivel daily. Fox is simply a TV tabloid. Opportunists like Boris and Trump jump on the confusion and have at least a chance of prevailing with their nonsense. In fact, Conservatives everywhere don't have a clue: Too many problems on the table and they are stuck in the 16th century.
Bright moments come daily in the form of Hillary, SCOTUS, state and local governments that resist the rigid conservative ideology and who make an effort to actually solve problems. Worrisome political figures like Sanders who seems at times to be helping Trump, as Nader helped Bush, will slip into oblivion in time but will take their toll on the way.
I have not given up but maintain hope that reason will prevail eventually. Thank you Tom.
Who is this "we," Thomas?
Are you well enough off that you speak for the plutocracy who made all these changes, to improve their opportunities for greed, crime and stealing?
We're tired of the "experts," so-called technocrats who think they have all the answers. They'll go on forever about the complexity they need to control, the structural problems -- not their greed -- causing all the suffering, the lack of education -- produced by their greed and vicious short-sightedness -- which has made indentured servants of millions of Americans, who with their student debt now represent by far the largest asset class owned by the plutocrats' government, as a result of a 1,300% increase in the cost of same; the inability for the masses to see that democracy is bad for them, if they'd just let the machines running the casino capitalism scoop up all the wealth for the .01%, they'd get a bone thrown to them -- hey, maybe the interest rate on those loans would be dropped from 8% to 7.6364%, wouldn't that be great?! Maybe we increase the minimum wage an extra dollar an hour? Would you like that? -- and everything would be swell again, the lying statisticians would tell us employment is great, housing prices are fine, just ignore the pharmaceutical criminal behind the curtain as he lurks waiting to gamble on your age and health and squeeze what little is left out of you.....
Who is this "we" you speak of?
Let's turn things back right side up: you broke it. Goodbye and good riddance.
Are you well enough off that you speak for the plutocracy who made all these changes, to improve their opportunities for greed, crime and stealing?
We're tired of the "experts," so-called technocrats who think they have all the answers. They'll go on forever about the complexity they need to control, the structural problems -- not their greed -- causing all the suffering, the lack of education -- produced by their greed and vicious short-sightedness -- which has made indentured servants of millions of Americans, who with their student debt now represent by far the largest asset class owned by the plutocrats' government, as a result of a 1,300% increase in the cost of same; the inability for the masses to see that democracy is bad for them, if they'd just let the machines running the casino capitalism scoop up all the wealth for the .01%, they'd get a bone thrown to them -- hey, maybe the interest rate on those loans would be dropped from 8% to 7.6364%, wouldn't that be great?! Maybe we increase the minimum wage an extra dollar an hour? Would you like that? -- and everything would be swell again, the lying statisticians would tell us employment is great, housing prices are fine, just ignore the pharmaceutical criminal behind the curtain as he lurks waiting to gamble on your age and health and squeeze what little is left out of you.....
Who is this "we" you speak of?
Let's turn things back right side up: you broke it. Goodbye and good riddance.
4
I think the anger and flustration here at home is caused by the GOP's plan from day one to neutralize President Obama. They stood in the way of most of the things he proposed and bad mouthed the things he did. They put the government in spended admination during a time the world is changing very fast.
"Presto: the dog catches the car. And, of course, it has no idea now what to do with this car. There is no plan. There is just barking."
I believe this describes Trump. I do not think he really wants to be president, he just wants the attention. Look, he uses every crises to further himself and his business.
"Presto: the dog catches the car. And, of course, it has no idea now what to do with this car. There is no plan. There is just barking."
I believe this describes Trump. I do not think he really wants to be president, he just wants the attention. Look, he uses every crises to further himself and his business.
7
Trump's brand will be mud when he's done with this.
1
Well thought out and expressed, Mr. Renner,
The GOP instead of offering sensible alternatives, as you expressed, "neutralized" Pres. Obama. Obstructions hinder everyone and benefit only the cynics who seek to take advantage of the disenfranchised.
Now, Trump wants to promote himself and his businesses at the cost of sacrificing our country? His latest trade proposals reminds me of the Smoot-Hawley Tarriff Act of 1930. Among the immediate triggers for the worldwide depression of the 1930s.
Yes, we have problems but they won't be solved by stopping trade, business cooperation, and, selfishly, thinking only short-term...for one's benefit.
The GOP instead of offering sensible alternatives, as you expressed, "neutralized" Pres. Obama. Obstructions hinder everyone and benefit only the cynics who seek to take advantage of the disenfranchised.
Now, Trump wants to promote himself and his businesses at the cost of sacrificing our country? His latest trade proposals reminds me of the Smoot-Hawley Tarriff Act of 1930. Among the immediate triggers for the worldwide depression of the 1930s.
Yes, we have problems but they won't be solved by stopping trade, business cooperation, and, selfishly, thinking only short-term...for one's benefit.
1
"We'll have quite a little mess on our hands". Kind of like what happens when a country falls for "hucksters" who have been cheerleaders for the wonders of technology and globalization, who for the past three decades gave us "simple answers to hard questions" about things such as the impact globalization would have on workers in developed countries.
You were spectacularly wrong, Mr. Friedman, and those of us out here in the real world have had "quite a little mess" on our hands for decades now. You, and the rest of the media, simply didn't notice. And now that the flawed version of globalization that has been implemented over the past thirty years has so obviously and magnificently failed and is blowing up in your face, you're trying to jump to the front of the parade.
Unfortunately, it's too late to do anything other than try to minimize the violence that is about to ensue as we try to repair the damage the catastrophic policies advocated by people like you have caused.
And your man-crush for all things Silicon Valley is next, because a massive backlash against technology is soon going to reinforce and amplify the rising tide of anger over globalization.
The entire developed world is in turmoil as a result of the flawed worldview of people like you, and, as a result, this is just the beginning of a dark period in history.
You were spectacularly wrong, Mr. Friedman, and those of us out here in the real world have had "quite a little mess" on our hands for decades now. You, and the rest of the media, simply didn't notice. And now that the flawed version of globalization that has been implemented over the past thirty years has so obviously and magnificently failed and is blowing up in your face, you're trying to jump to the front of the parade.
Unfortunately, it's too late to do anything other than try to minimize the violence that is about to ensue as we try to repair the damage the catastrophic policies advocated by people like you have caused.
And your man-crush for all things Silicon Valley is next, because a massive backlash against technology is soon going to reinforce and amplify the rising tide of anger over globalization.
The entire developed world is in turmoil as a result of the flawed worldview of people like you, and, as a result, this is just the beginning of a dark period in history.
5
Most of the dividends of technology seem to have been invested to increase the human population to a level that can't be sustained for long on the underlying technology.
1
Maybe the British majority did not want their tax dollars to go to Greece to prop up their failed state. And then to Italy, and Spain, and so on. Maybe they want Eastern Europe to stay in Eastern Europe, and for Britain to stay British. Immigration of 150 years ago is different than immigration of today where everyone that is dissatisfied can look at their phone and plan a trip out in 24 hours. The wealthier countries can not solve the problems of the poor countries and if that is called racist then too bad.
4
Yes, maybe Brexit voters believe that government simply burns the money it takes in, just as America's right-wingers do.
The reason that many in the UK voted to leave the EU was NOT immigration. 40 years ago we agreed to join a "common market" which has since morphed into a vast, corrupt federalist super state controlled by un-elected politicians who cannot be removed.
Tell me, would the USA be happy to be run by officials it hadn't voted for, based in another country (say Brazil for arguments sake) and effectively making laws that impacted every country from Chile to Canada?
I suspect that few Americans would agree to hand over their country's sovereignty to anyone else (remember we haven't had a referendum on this for over 40 years - everything has been imposed). So why is such an arrangement a "must" for the UK if it is something the citizens of the USA would never accept?
Tell me, would the USA be happy to be run by officials it hadn't voted for, based in another country (say Brazil for arguments sake) and effectively making laws that impacted every country from Chile to Canada?
I suspect that few Americans would agree to hand over their country's sovereignty to anyone else (remember we haven't had a referendum on this for over 40 years - everything has been imposed). So why is such an arrangement a "must" for the UK if it is something the citizens of the USA would never accept?
5
Is there any historical model of nations encouraging factionalism, ignoring basic advice of committed "elites" (really hate the snarky and sweeping implications of that term), and discouraging pluralism that shows some measures of long-term success and a reasonable degree of stability? I know that the measure of success is difficult and economic strength alone may not be not enough--but without it how do you stabilize a major nation? I am not talking about short term displays of military strength. China and Russia cannot manage in isolation and appear to recognize that situation.
For those who have not read it, at least consider the core arguments of "Why Nations Fail" by Acemoglu and Robinson. I am not holding up their ideas as a model of perfection. They talk about the importance of institutions (and their elites) to the health of a nation. There is not much doubt that our economic inequality is straining national bonds, but is that a reason for a display of wilful ignorance and the election of someone like Trump? This is a man who cannot read a prepared speech from a teleprompter with the skill of an articulate eight grader.
As for attacking "elites," that is hardly new. It was done by Stalin, Hitler and Mao in the deadliest purges the world has ever seen.
For those who have not read it, at least consider the core arguments of "Why Nations Fail" by Acemoglu and Robinson. I am not holding up their ideas as a model of perfection. They talk about the importance of institutions (and their elites) to the health of a nation. There is not much doubt that our economic inequality is straining national bonds, but is that a reason for a display of wilful ignorance and the election of someone like Trump? This is a man who cannot read a prepared speech from a teleprompter with the skill of an articulate eight grader.
As for attacking "elites," that is hardly new. It was done by Stalin, Hitler and Mao in the deadliest purges the world has ever seen.
Big is fragile. Small is flexible.
And, Taleb is smarter than Friedman.
And, Taleb is smarter than Friedman.
1
Tom Friedman, respectfully, you're mincing words. For a clearer and deeper diagnosis read Todays op-ed by Bernie Sanders. Wake up, please.
1
Well, Cousins from across the pond, Keep a stiff upper lip, Hey!
1
Just maybe being ruled by faceless unelected bureaucrats in Brussels had a bit of an effect.
4
Methinks I sense desperation, and yes, confusion, as Friedman flounders to justify globalization and its unintended consequences. The world that Friedman depicts exists solely in his ideological commitment to upholding the status quo. As that status quo begins to totter under its internal contradictions, he demonizes Trump, and excoriates those who would seek to seek alternatives, as "dogs" mindlessly chasing cars. Immigration heated up in Europe as an issue because of imperial wars in Iraq, Libya, and Syria. His beloved globalization is being unmasked as a giant Ponzi scheme with the lion's share of wealth being vacuumed up by the rapacious one percent. Friedman is an little more than an often-wrong apologist for the elites.
4
We are also facing an "information flow" like none we've ever known. Social media has been such a game changer and provided the ability for angry people to vent their spleen, that rational discussion is usually the first casualty. We have seen some of that on these forums, including comments I and other verified commenters have during the intense Democratic run.
We used to say "don't feed the Trolls," but that's difficult when it becomes impossible to detect what is troll and who is just angry. We have much anger to go around these days.
We all seem to agree we need a course correction, an adjustment to how much wealth is at the top. However, we can't have rational discussions on how to get there. Let's hope that changes soon.
We used to say "don't feed the Trolls," but that's difficult when it becomes impossible to detect what is troll and who is just angry. We have much anger to go around these days.
We all seem to agree we need a course correction, an adjustment to how much wealth is at the top. However, we can't have rational discussions on how to get there. Let's hope that changes soon.
2
You hit the nail on the head. Our political leaders have failed to keep pace with the dizzying rate of change happening globally. I'm afraid we are dangerously out of control and don't yet fully understand the impacts on social and economic order that these innovations will make. We are in for a bumpy ride. May be a good time to increase portfolio allocation to precious metals.
The first true victims of the history-making shot across the bow of the betters' cabal, interestingly, is Britain's Labor Party. Their turmoil and fecklessness will result in another Tory government which will have little choice but to proceed with the mandated divorce. A deliciously defining denouement that has implications for the American political party most akin to Britain's Labor. The grievances manifest in the recent primary season, where more than a substantial segment voted for the antithesis of main stream mendacity, reflects the ascendancy of rejectionist thinking across the entire political spectrum. Veteran office seekers best learn the new catechism. Of course these same careerists don't speak the language, cannot articulate an original, off-script idea and are endorsing a candidate with more bad baggage than an off-price club. November promises to be another chilly month.
As one who thinks Brexit, if it comes off, will be a disaster for Britain and probably a disaster in slow motion for the entire EU as well, I think this is a good column, and particularly that Friedman nails the cynicism of the 'leave' leaders - they never expected to win.
However, that Friedman does not acknowledge that for many people, especially but not exclusively on the lower levels of the economy, immigrants really are taking jobs.
Those rules and regulations which America worked so hard to build to protect workers? Illegals happily undercut them. The NYT says Americans won't take these jobs. Wrong. Americans would take these jobs - but they want, and can enforce their legal right to, minimum wages, paid legal holidays, receiving their pay on time, safety gear and compliance with OSHA regs, and not being harassed or abused.
No one has ever explored whether the EU nations have a similar problem with employers hiring 'undocumented' immigrants under the table and making a joke of the regulations. I doubt the NYT will investigate it either, as it might uncover circumstances to undercut the preferred narrative.
But at some point it will occur to someone at the NYT that they could get someone in the Third World to do Friedman's job - at 1/3 the pay. And his replacement won't join the Guild and will forgo benefits, and probably won't have standing to sue in an American court for breach of contract (if he even reads the contract). Then he will sing a different tune.
However, that Friedman does not acknowledge that for many people, especially but not exclusively on the lower levels of the economy, immigrants really are taking jobs.
Those rules and regulations which America worked so hard to build to protect workers? Illegals happily undercut them. The NYT says Americans won't take these jobs. Wrong. Americans would take these jobs - but they want, and can enforce their legal right to, minimum wages, paid legal holidays, receiving their pay on time, safety gear and compliance with OSHA regs, and not being harassed or abused.
No one has ever explored whether the EU nations have a similar problem with employers hiring 'undocumented' immigrants under the table and making a joke of the regulations. I doubt the NYT will investigate it either, as it might uncover circumstances to undercut the preferred narrative.
But at some point it will occur to someone at the NYT that they could get someone in the Third World to do Friedman's job - at 1/3 the pay. And his replacement won't join the Guild and will forgo benefits, and probably won't have standing to sue in an American court for breach of contract (if he even reads the contract). Then he will sing a different tune.
1
Mr. Friedman is quite simply unable or unwilling to subject his own intellectual premises to any kind of serious scrutiny. I accept his point that tech, productivity, and globalization have outstripped and undermined certain democratic institutions, but his neoliberal solutions would only further alienate those precise individuals who have been left behind. Like many neoliberals, he equates true 'freedom' with the freedom to consume, trade, and compete in the global market. This is a seriously limited view for such a cosmopolitan inhabitant of the apolitical flat earth. Similarly, and perhaps more controversially, I would argue that his celebration of pluralism is ultimately false because his openness to Difference is contingent on the Other's willingness to accept free market principles ('integration' is a euphemism for ideological coercion). When will Mr. Friedman stop being an ideologue and acknowledge that the current populist unrest is a result of political choices that have exacerbated inequality and not some inevitable outcome of hyper-globalization?
6
Globalization?
Looks more and more like a vast psychological war conducted by largely economics to break down traditional human identities (national, religious, racial, ethnic, arts which can only be derived by cultural traditions) because in a technological age to point of doomsday weaponry such identities are almost universally considered dangerous to all.
That is to say each person, each side, tries to break down the other while preserving its own traditions and the universal weapon is economics--I strive to preserve my identity while I turn you into a harmless consumer. But it is a war of attrition for all. All the traditional identities dissolve and loyalty, allegiance to this or that dissolves and we merely consume and try to make the other person purchase and we strive to have our "stuff".
No left or right wing politics is to blame here, it is just the capitalism/socialism argument taking precedence over all other arguments and the ideal outcome--socialism, universal sharing--means little more than people and their stuff. But we are of course told: "The pace of change in technology, globalization and climate have started to outrun the ability of our political systems to build the social, educational, community, workplace and political innovations needed for some citizens to keep up..."
What precisely is meant by "social, educational, community, workplace, political innovation" when all is economics and identity breakdown? Please articulate PRECISE examples...
Looks more and more like a vast psychological war conducted by largely economics to break down traditional human identities (national, religious, racial, ethnic, arts which can only be derived by cultural traditions) because in a technological age to point of doomsday weaponry such identities are almost universally considered dangerous to all.
That is to say each person, each side, tries to break down the other while preserving its own traditions and the universal weapon is economics--I strive to preserve my identity while I turn you into a harmless consumer. But it is a war of attrition for all. All the traditional identities dissolve and loyalty, allegiance to this or that dissolves and we merely consume and try to make the other person purchase and we strive to have our "stuff".
No left or right wing politics is to blame here, it is just the capitalism/socialism argument taking precedence over all other arguments and the ideal outcome--socialism, universal sharing--means little more than people and their stuff. But we are of course told: "The pace of change in technology, globalization and climate have started to outrun the ability of our political systems to build the social, educational, community, workplace and political innovations needed for some citizens to keep up..."
What precisely is meant by "social, educational, community, workplace, political innovation" when all is economics and identity breakdown? Please articulate PRECISE examples...
And so, corporate media closes ranks and frames the message in terms of political malfeasance and malarkey. All the right buttons to push for an audience so willing and conditioned to buy cheap intellectual gew-gaws. Oh yes, please tell us how we've been led astray by our leaders. We're so angry and disappointed with them all! Meanwhile, the biggest culprits are wholly absent from the conversation. So many of the world's problems come down to multi-national corporations taking over the levers of power from government and handcuffing the world's nations with all the debt and risk they abhor.
Neo-liberal theology states that governments exist to serve the market. It is the core message of Reaganism and Thatcherism, the very political philosophers who started the world down this path. You speak of the change of pace in technology, globalization and the climate. There's also the lack of infrastructure and social integration. Where have those changes come from? Corporations primarily, not a carousel of feckless politicians that control so little of what really gets spent these days. But when we listen to the words of mainstream media, who is to blame for these problems? It's not the corporations, no, its the politicians of the world who have failed the people.
Corporations skim the cream from the world's economy and their takeover is nearly complete. They control the message, the lawmakers and most of our remaining resources, including labor. We the people didn't break it.
Neo-liberal theology states that governments exist to serve the market. It is the core message of Reaganism and Thatcherism, the very political philosophers who started the world down this path. You speak of the change of pace in technology, globalization and the climate. There's also the lack of infrastructure and social integration. Where have those changes come from? Corporations primarily, not a carousel of feckless politicians that control so little of what really gets spent these days. But when we listen to the words of mainstream media, who is to blame for these problems? It's not the corporations, no, its the politicians of the world who have failed the people.
Corporations skim the cream from the world's economy and their takeover is nearly complete. They control the message, the lawmakers and most of our remaining resources, including labor. We the people didn't break it.
2
Politicians swayed the Brits to BREXIT and are now living with the consequences as there can be no "do over", no "mulligan", no re-vote. Marie Antoinette said "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" about Les Miz in the French Bourbon Empire that fell in 1789 as she and her husband and thousands of others went to Mere Guillotine. Donald Trump is a huckster politician demagoguing his followers to "Make America Great Again" on his Trump International Golf Links at Balmedie, Aberdeen on the very day of BREXIT. He said BREXIT would be great for him, increase his millions. Amazing what bigotry, racism and ignorance will do, and that includes the Brits who won their referendum and are now stuck with it - you break it, you own it, as you and Colin Powell said, Dr. Tom. Robert Frost said "there is something that doesn't love a wall" and a wall is now what the Brits have built between themselves and the European Union. And Trump wants to build a wall along America's southern coast to keep out immigrants, Muslims, refugees and all the people he has inspired his followers to hate. Greed is not good. And we will all taste of the bitter global fruit of Tiny England's greedy referendum for years to come. Not having learned the lesson of history, you can't have your cake and eat it, too, As the sun sets on the British Empire, the Brits who voted to leave the European Union are in for a penny, in for a pound. In for a Euro.
4
Britain's big strength is as a place where people from all over the world come together to do things. Same as Silicon Valley's strength. Shutting down immigration - one of the main promises of Brexit - will kill off Britain as this gathering place. So, yes, with this blanket rejection of Europe and the world, Britain is messing up.
But this should be a time of retrospection for the rest of Europe as well. Why didn't 'Remain' win 10-1? How was this even close? Europeans I know identify as much as European as they identify as Spanish or German. They're as comfortable in Paris as they are in Copenhagen. Maybe the EU is also doing something wrong.
But this should be a time of retrospection for the rest of Europe as well. Why didn't 'Remain' win 10-1? How was this even close? Europeans I know identify as much as European as they identify as Spanish or German. They're as comfortable in Paris as they are in Copenhagen. Maybe the EU is also doing something wrong.
1
Another unintended consequence of Americans writing about the the EU referendum: in the UK, 'barking' is slang for insane - which is just what this situation is.
It was dumb to vilify the EU for decades, It was dumb to promise a referendum on EU membership. It was dumb to vote for leaving the EU. The result is exactly what you get for dumbing down political and economic complexities over almost half a century. Nothing smart or intelligent can be written about this.
1
I am a Canadian with roots in two countries and if I had a to vote in a referendum on whether to stay in NAFTA or embark on a different course 52% of me would vote leave and 46% of me would vote stay and 2% of me would be undecided.
I would have thought that after three decades of being wrong about neoliberalism and globalism Mr Friedman retire and could not do the kind of damage he has done from his pulpit as as a high priest of the cult of neoliberalism,
Maybe it is time to reconsider globalism from the perspective of normal world citizens and see that neoliberalism and neoconservatism is the same old colonialism Europe has been practising since the 15th century.
The road from feudalism to modern democracy has been long and difficult and trading in or rights and freedoms for security and prosperity may seem a proper bargain for those that have traded their souls for the affirmation and lucre of the politicians and financial elite may seem a proper bargain it still makes us slaves well paid slaves.
Those that know history remember the privileges of the Roman gladiators and know their life expectancy was one year longer than the average Roman but also know that the privilege came with the caveat of your execution being a public spectacle.
Canadians and Mexicans know the price of NAFTA is a loss of much of our democracy and that the stronger nations hold all the trump cards.
Until there is some real control over strong countries and corporations free trade is not fair trade.
I would have thought that after three decades of being wrong about neoliberalism and globalism Mr Friedman retire and could not do the kind of damage he has done from his pulpit as as a high priest of the cult of neoliberalism,
Maybe it is time to reconsider globalism from the perspective of normal world citizens and see that neoliberalism and neoconservatism is the same old colonialism Europe has been practising since the 15th century.
The road from feudalism to modern democracy has been long and difficult and trading in or rights and freedoms for security and prosperity may seem a proper bargain for those that have traded their souls for the affirmation and lucre of the politicians and financial elite may seem a proper bargain it still makes us slaves well paid slaves.
Those that know history remember the privileges of the Roman gladiators and know their life expectancy was one year longer than the average Roman but also know that the privilege came with the caveat of your execution being a public spectacle.
Canadians and Mexicans know the price of NAFTA is a loss of much of our democracy and that the stronger nations hold all the trump cards.
Until there is some real control over strong countries and corporations free trade is not fair trade.
1
An oddly unisightful column from the seer Mr. Friedman
Would the American reader here be happy if over half of our governmental decisons were made in Belgium? Would we put up with it? Someone far off dictating the specifications of our paint, our cars, our drugs?
Would the reader be happy if he or she saw his or her job exported? Without hope for the return of it? Doctors or journalists or lawyers reading this column, how would you feel if somehow an overseas person could do your job for about $3k a year, as is the case for manufacturing workers all over England and the rest of the developed world.
This while a deeply disturbing and intolerant Islamic culture took over your local neighborhoods, and replaced your institutions.
Very easy for elites ensconsed (for now) in their ivory towards to criticise this. Very easy to have other people fight your wars, in this case economic ones.
Would the American reader here be happy if over half of our governmental decisons were made in Belgium? Would we put up with it? Someone far off dictating the specifications of our paint, our cars, our drugs?
Would the reader be happy if he or she saw his or her job exported? Without hope for the return of it? Doctors or journalists or lawyers reading this column, how would you feel if somehow an overseas person could do your job for about $3k a year, as is the case for manufacturing workers all over England and the rest of the developed world.
This while a deeply disturbing and intolerant Islamic culture took over your local neighborhoods, and replaced your institutions.
Very easy for elites ensconsed (for now) in their ivory towards to criticise this. Very easy to have other people fight your wars, in this case economic ones.
4
How about NAFTA, and the recent Pacific Trade Alliance (the acronym escapes me), or the recent USA/Canada/Mexico meeting up here in Canada.
As with the USA, jobs have been lost to China, other parts of the world (e.g. Vietnam, Cambodia, Poland, etc…) and corporations have downsized in Canada and the USA, but increased their presence in China.
Decisions have already been made by others with these agreements, and Americans and Canadians simply do not like them!
As with the USA, jobs have been lost to China, other parts of the world (e.g. Vietnam, Cambodia, Poland, etc…) and corporations have downsized in Canada and the USA, but increased their presence in China.
Decisions have already been made by others with these agreements, and Americans and Canadians simply do not like them!
"in my view, the countries that nurture pluralism the best will be the ones that thrive the most in the 21st century. They will have the most political stability..."
Without judging the values behind Mr. Friedman's opinions, the conclusion that pluralism underpins political stability is arguable. Considerable evidence can be marshalled to support the contention that uniformity supports cohesion and stability.
Without judging the values behind Mr. Friedman's opinions, the conclusion that pluralism underpins political stability is arguable. Considerable evidence can be marshalled to support the contention that uniformity supports cohesion and stability.
2
There won't be a Regrexit. BREXIT won. It was a campaign of lies and illusions but majority is majority. Ignoring the outcome would only further alienate those who get their information mainly from the yellow press.
The result was a shock for the EU, but now is the time to go on and build a Europe without the UK who never were fully committed to the european ideals.
The standing of the UK among its european partners has vanished. How in the future should other governments trust british politicians who campaign for a decision and don't have a clue and a plan when they win?
The british government should trigger article 50 asap and should respect the wish of its people to live outside of the EU.
For the 27 remaining countries it will be much easier now to improve the EU.
But in my eyes, the EU only needs fine-tuning, not a complete remake.
The result was a shock for the EU, but now is the time to go on and build a Europe without the UK who never were fully committed to the european ideals.
The standing of the UK among its european partners has vanished. How in the future should other governments trust british politicians who campaign for a decision and don't have a clue and a plan when they win?
The british government should trigger article 50 asap and should respect the wish of its people to live outside of the EU.
For the 27 remaining countries it will be much easier now to improve the EU.
But in my eyes, the EU only needs fine-tuning, not a complete remake.
1
The vote for Brexit reminds me of the saying "Every complex problem has a simple solution, and it is wrong".
Tom.
This is your best article in a long time.
"Cynical politicians exploiting public fears"
is the name of the game.
A guy named Murdoch has a role in both sides
of the pond on this one.
This is your best article in a long time.
"Cynical politicians exploiting public fears"
is the name of the game.
A guy named Murdoch has a role in both sides
of the pond on this one.
4
We should all recognize and loudly condemn the socially irresponsible campaigning of the pro-Brexit leaders and of Donald Trump. A wide ranging exchange of views during an election is desirable, but there should be no place for lies and misinformation. When it occurs we need to attach a stigma to it that creates in the practitioner a sense of shame. Instead, much of the media is complicit. I recall that George W. Bush campaigned as a center-right candidate in 2000, and in retrospect it is clear that the Machiavellian Dick Cheney saw this as useful to gain power and subsequently govern from a hard right perspective. It was reprehensible, but at least Cheney had a political agenda. Trump lies and misinforms seemingly with impunity, and it appears that his only agenda is to satisfy his own imperiousness.
2
A major European power, a longtime defender of liberal democracy, discovers that the Union it joined 40 years ago is neither liberal nor democratic, such that laws are imposed by 7 law-making groups, only two of which have members elected by popular vote, with their representation determined by relative population. As a result, the individuals who chose to divorce their nation from the Union won their right to Brexit through a liberal, democratic process. Apparently Thomas Friedman is appalled by the thought that a liberal democracy could decide to not be part of a greater so-called liberal democracy.
Mr Friedman, go emigrate to Germany or France or Spain or Belgium. They need more sheep to join their herd.
Mr Friedman, go emigrate to Germany or France or Spain or Belgium. They need more sheep to join their herd.
2
I guess if globalization has made you rich or it is your job to promote it because it helps those that pay you then you write an article like this one. Other then cheap computers and goods globalization has not helped most working people and it has cost a lot of them their jobs. At the same time the republicans broke the government and all Paul Ryan can say is that we do not have the money to pay people their Social Security/Medicare and have to gut it, privatize it and then do away with it. So do not be surprise when they vote for Trump.
3
The people in the UK who voted in favor of the Brexit have chosen to reduce their country from Great Britain to little England. It will lose influence in the wider world because of their fears.
We in the United States ought to learn the Brexit lesson and vote the politics of sustenance and joy for everyone and not the politics of obstruction and xenophobia offered by Donald Trump and the GOP.
We in the United States ought to learn the Brexit lesson and vote the politics of sustenance and joy for everyone and not the politics of obstruction and xenophobia offered by Donald Trump and the GOP.
1
Contrast this essay with yesterday's from Mr Brooks and and the differences are striking in their contextual understanding of the same issue. More of Mr. Friedman please.
I am sure that my voice is an echo. The E.U. has chose the wrong answers to the problems for years. Now they must live with their terrible answers. The people have spoken! The economists have tried to school the leaders to NO AVAIL! So sad due to the fact that it was avoidable. How is that austerity working now?
Funny how democracy is denigrated when results ill suit the suits. This author and his fellow travelers lamented feverishly each time the happy warrior slayed the Left with landslide victories. The people were hoodwinked, they said. The people are ignorant, they said. Sound familiar? The English have opted out of the false promises the wealthy leftists, such as Soros, Hollande and Gore among others, proffered to the masses when they created this emasculating construct known as Euroland. Their goal is control; control of currency, law, and everyone's life. It a virus loosed upon the people with intent. Their fear is the awareness of the masses, and the medicine they will apply. How does one treat a virus? Surely not by sustaining it in some morphed form. No, viruses must be wiped out, eliminated in entirety and then kept at bay by a vaccine. If these amoral elitists fail to understand this and reject the medicine, the other method of viral suppression will present itself. And that my friends is a hot, uncontrollable, cleansing fire. And they will have been the ones supplying the matches.
2
Before we get to smug on this side of the pond, we in the US should be looking in our own backyard and quickly learning some lessons. A TEXIT (Texas exit from the Union) would have many of the same issues and consequences. This should be a wake up call for those in Texas that a TEXIT, that some in the Republican lead Texas legislature advocate, would be equally disastrous.
1
I agree with much of what you say and also notice that you are falling victim to what you rail against.
"The physical reality of immigration, particularly in Europe, has run ahead of not only the host countries’ ability to integrate people but also of the immigrants’ ability to integrate themselves — and both are necessary for social stability." Talk about easy and simplified answers!
How even handed - the state and the immigrants are equally at fault !
No!
The state does not set up neighborhoods where non-immigrants fear to tread. The state does not declare that Europe will become Muslim by desire or by the sword. The state does not bring people across the border without permission!
No - that is not the state. That is the (illegal) immigrant!
Sorry Tom, but we need to understand that “the issue before us IS (also) illegal ‘immigration', not just integration.
The pro-Brexit demagogues told their lies and distortions and simplifications ad absurdum.
So too, are you doing.
"The physical reality of immigration, particularly in Europe, has run ahead of not only the host countries’ ability to integrate people but also of the immigrants’ ability to integrate themselves — and both are necessary for social stability." Talk about easy and simplified answers!
How even handed - the state and the immigrants are equally at fault !
No!
The state does not set up neighborhoods where non-immigrants fear to tread. The state does not declare that Europe will become Muslim by desire or by the sword. The state does not bring people across the border without permission!
No - that is not the state. That is the (illegal) immigrant!
Sorry Tom, but we need to understand that “the issue before us IS (also) illegal ‘immigration', not just integration.
The pro-Brexit demagogues told their lies and distortions and simplifications ad absurdum.
So too, are you doing.
Friedman seems lost in a theoretical world. The fact is THEY broke it, WE own it.
If your last sentence came true, Britain would rejoin. Britain quit, because it won't. The false equivalence in this piece and in many other shrill voices is that Britain now dispossesses itself of Europe. False.
The reality is closer to what Marine Le Pen described than this: the European people want a "supergovernment" which is accountable to the people via voting and an economic system that does not destroy underperformers.
There may be no way to a better EU than to break down the current one and rebuild. This will take many votes, much work, and several years. Following such a path is nothing like following a path to the end of the world.
The reality is closer to what Marine Le Pen described than this: the European people want a "supergovernment" which is accountable to the people via voting and an economic system that does not destroy underperformers.
There may be no way to a better EU than to break down the current one and rebuild. This will take many votes, much work, and several years. Following such a path is nothing like following a path to the end of the world.
". It’s the story of our time: the pace of change in technology, globalization and climate have started to outrun the ability of our political systems to build the social, educational, community, workplace and political innovations needed for some citizens to keep up."
It is not just that political systems haven't kept up with the pace of change; it is that a cosmopolitan elite running the political systems see no value in what many sociologists call "loyalty virtues" only in "fairness values". They have undermined nations, religions, businesses and traditional families as units to which one should be loyal, and replaced them with nothing. Not because the system can't keep up, but because it is run by people who see group solidarity and loyalty as forms of oppression that should be undermined. And, indeed, these structures, taken to extreme, can be oppressive. Healthy people and societies maintain a balance between "loyalty values" and "fairness values". We need to get bck to that.
It is not just that political systems haven't kept up with the pace of change; it is that a cosmopolitan elite running the political systems see no value in what many sociologists call "loyalty virtues" only in "fairness values". They have undermined nations, religions, businesses and traditional families as units to which one should be loyal, and replaced them with nothing. Not because the system can't keep up, but because it is run by people who see group solidarity and loyalty as forms of oppression that should be undermined. And, indeed, these structures, taken to extreme, can be oppressive. Healthy people and societies maintain a balance between "loyalty values" and "fairness values". We need to get bck to that.
In the Middle Ages, the peasantry and artisan class implicitly accepted subordination to the armed aristocracy in exchange for protection from brigands and invaders. Today, under a far more democratic system, the working and middle classes accepted the political and economic leadership of our elites on the understanding that they would promote a kind of economic growth that improved living standards for all, while at the same time preserving personal liberties.
Since the 1970s, however, that leadership has enacted laws that primarily benefited the rich. These government policies contributed to the emergence of a class of extremely wealthy businessmen, who managed to carve out enclaves of luxury and privilege, which isolated them from the vast majority of citizens, who did not prosper in the new economy. Relying on a free market ideology which protected their wealth while assuring the 'lower orders' that the American dream was alive and well, these elites steadfastly opposed measures which would help the vast majority of the population.
In a formally democratic society, however, these elites remained vulnerable to a peaceful political insurrection. Sanders and Trump led very different versions of a popular uprising. Trump targeted the wrong culprits, while Sanders identified the real ones but offered possibly unrealistic solutions. The shortcomings of these rebels, however, does not absolve the elites of their willful failure to do their duty.
Since the 1970s, however, that leadership has enacted laws that primarily benefited the rich. These government policies contributed to the emergence of a class of extremely wealthy businessmen, who managed to carve out enclaves of luxury and privilege, which isolated them from the vast majority of citizens, who did not prosper in the new economy. Relying on a free market ideology which protected their wealth while assuring the 'lower orders' that the American dream was alive and well, these elites steadfastly opposed measures which would help the vast majority of the population.
In a formally democratic society, however, these elites remained vulnerable to a peaceful political insurrection. Sanders and Trump led very different versions of a popular uprising. Trump targeted the wrong culprits, while Sanders identified the real ones but offered possibly unrealistic solutions. The shortcomings of these rebels, however, does not absolve the elites of their willful failure to do their duty.
8
Something was bound to break sooner or later. The EU is over run with refugees where it is hard to tell the bad guys from the good ones. Perhaps Obama's red line was the final straw for the people who want their homeland, decisions, and more importantly indecisions have consequences.
Besides the Brits are like Americans, they are finishers. They will not quit working, until the job is done. The rest of the EU? Not so much. The Italians and Germans are thinkers, brilliant engineers of the best equipment, the finest quality products. But, never put yourself out of work for tomorrow.
Within a few weeks, the Progressives' heads will stop exploding, and they will go back to their usual divisive rhetoric of racism and everyone else is ignorant.
Besides the Brits are like Americans, they are finishers. They will not quit working, until the job is done. The rest of the EU? Not so much. The Italians and Germans are thinkers, brilliant engineers of the best equipment, the finest quality products. But, never put yourself out of work for tomorrow.
Within a few weeks, the Progressives' heads will stop exploding, and they will go back to their usual divisive rhetoric of racism and everyone else is ignorant.
Indeed, instead of countries running to "Frexit" or "Nexit" let's hope Europeans concentrate on "Fixit." The European Union is a great, beneficial concept, it should be rethought, repaired and reinvigorated, not destroyed. But that's a lot harder.
324
And I forgot to mention, the dismantling of the US army as well...
1
I am a Canadian with roots in two countries.
Culture and the sense of seeing one's home alter is very real and very real reason for the Brexit. I'll give one small example, but one that affects me deeply and that I despise seeing. I recently moved to Lisbon, Portugal. I grew up here and visited frequently. However, the city is beginning to look like the South Bronx of the 1980's. There is graffitti everywhere you turn, including on the trains, something very reminiscent of the darkest days of New York City. While there are local kids that spray paint, the majority of it is done by the kids of the African community that immigrated here in mass, and this has a very real affect on how Portuguese people view immigrants. Crime is also rising, and there are slum communities, sort of Brazilian favelas, popping up in several places, where crime, drugs, and gangs are rampant. Now, there are reasons for all of this, lack of education, lack of opportunity, racism, etc., and even though I know that, I still have a visceral and hateful reaction to seeing this beautiful city destroyed by ignorants that hate to see anything beautiful, just want to destroy, and have regard for their community. These feelings may be regarded as racist, xenophobic, and while I recognize it, I despise these people that are destroying something that I love.
5
From the mid 19th to the early 20th century, the U.S. was inundated with
From the middle of the 19th century to the early 20th century, the U.S. was inundated by immigrants, mostly from Europe. Whether Jewish, Italian, Irish, or Eastern European, they were considered barbarians who had nothing to offer this country and their cultures were considered not compatible with American culture. But these people were determined to become Americans and integrate themselves into the society they had moved to. They lived in ghettos, they had to take the worst jobs and many never fully learned English. But they were determined that their children would have better lives as Americans. It took time, but for the most part, they succeeded.
It seems to me that current immigrants to often prefer to bring their language and culture with them and simply establish themselves as foreign enclaves in a host country while demanding benefits. Hence you see what Paulo sees happening in Lisbon. The situation is even worse in Paris and Brussels. I suspect Germany's turn is coming soon. The process of accepting refugees and immigrants must be slowed down and strictly controlled.
From the middle of the 19th century to the early 20th century, the U.S. was inundated by immigrants, mostly from Europe. Whether Jewish, Italian, Irish, or Eastern European, they were considered barbarians who had nothing to offer this country and their cultures were considered not compatible with American culture. But these people were determined to become Americans and integrate themselves into the society they had moved to. They lived in ghettos, they had to take the worst jobs and many never fully learned English. But they were determined that their children would have better lives as Americans. It took time, but for the most part, they succeeded.
It seems to me that current immigrants to often prefer to bring their language and culture with them and simply establish themselves as foreign enclaves in a host country while demanding benefits. Hence you see what Paulo sees happening in Lisbon. The situation is even worse in Paris and Brussels. I suspect Germany's turn is coming soon. The process of accepting refugees and immigrants must be slowed down and strictly controlled.
1
I tended to share Friedman's disrespect to the "leavers", aligning myself with the opinion of 99% of the commentariat (http://purebarbell.blogspot.com.es/2016/06/bye-bye-uk.html): an idiotic decision! the unenlightened imbeciles! devoted to a mythical England that never entirely was (outside of propaganda and biased history books) and never could entirely be again! condemning the great multicultural project of our times because of bigotry, racism and mental sclerosis! the horror, the horror!
Now for the elite that such commentariat laps up to it is easy to dismiss such attitudes. If they think a neighborhood is "taken" by people from a different cultural background they can always move to a more expensive enclave (typically more culturally homogeneous, more to their taste), thus escaping from dysfunctional schools, overburdened hospitals and unsafe streets and means of public transportation. But the poor fellas that ended up voting massively to leave (or to elect Poland's, Hungary's, Bulgaria's and almost Austria's populist governments) can not afford the luxury of moving, so they understandably see with great suspicion the admonishment of their leaders to be more accepting of the different, and more patient with the squalor of the public services they will have to share with them...
The rejection of immigration is fueled by inequality and lack of opportunity, so beware of how such sentiment may play in the USA come November.
Now for the elite that such commentariat laps up to it is easy to dismiss such attitudes. If they think a neighborhood is "taken" by people from a different cultural background they can always move to a more expensive enclave (typically more culturally homogeneous, more to their taste), thus escaping from dysfunctional schools, overburdened hospitals and unsafe streets and means of public transportation. But the poor fellas that ended up voting massively to leave (or to elect Poland's, Hungary's, Bulgaria's and almost Austria's populist governments) can not afford the luxury of moving, so they understandably see with great suspicion the admonishment of their leaders to be more accepting of the different, and more patient with the squalor of the public services they will have to share with them...
The rejection of immigration is fueled by inequality and lack of opportunity, so beware of how such sentiment may play in the USA come November.
1
How hard is it to blame the losing side though they were right about the negative consequences? As easy as opening your mouth. Arguing for remaining in the E.U. was like spitting into the wind. Rationality barely lost. Trump guarantees chaos whatever you think of Hillary Clinton. How many institutions can he unravel in record time? Meanwhile Republicans are waiting for this 70 year old "l'enfant terrible" to "grow up". He hasn't the discipline to move past where he is now.
2
The British elites, accustomed to the privilege of a few benefiting from the whole were unwilling to state the obvious arguments for staying and contributing to the EU project. It is not in their DNA. This applies to both the Labor and Conservative politicians who were unable or unwilling to address the real reasons for dissatisfaction of a large segment of society.
As in many cases in history, they found a scapegoat of foreign origin. Brussels and the "Polish plumber". Brussels is far away and your toilet leaks rarely. Very convenient "solution" that will give hope to many for at least 6 months!
As in many cases in history, they found a scapegoat of foreign origin. Brussels and the "Polish plumber". Brussels is far away and your toilet leaks rarely. Very convenient "solution" that will give hope to many for at least 6 months!
This reversion to "white tribalism" which is proliferating the politics of Western nations is indeed disturbing. The political "Id"seems to gaining ascendency over the "Superego" of supposed elite wisdom. In Freudian theory, the Id contains the seeds of"chaos".We can only hope that the triumph of the U.K.'s political Id, the Brexit vote, is not replicated in other countries of the E.U., and the analogy to Freudian "chaos" becomes reality.
One of the problems with being the party of "No" is that once one rises to power simply saying "No" won't get anything done. When one starts one's day answering the questions, "Did you sleep well?" and "Would you like anything for breakfast?," with "No," and continue the pattern for the rest of day, nothing gets done and everyone with whom one deals is irritated and annoyed. "No" to the EU isn't really "Yes" to Britain if one has little clue with what "Yes" actually means moving forward.
5
How can Friedman or any other American comment rationally on a country whose name they can't get right? It's the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. An acceptable and intelligible abbreviation is "UK." "Britain" is lazy short-hand that disrespects the Irish.
1
The bigger problem that exists is that the economic changes that have occurred over the last quarter century or so (since Reagan's time in office) has polarized the populous. Numerous articles and books have pointed out that the disappearance of the middle class is leading to societal unrest and uncertainty. This is what is driving both Bernie Sanders and (cough) Trump's popularity since they are both messaging the masses about inequality although from very different points of view. Combine this with our short attention span, our historical amnesia, our contempt for intellectuals and Brexit is easily understood. The US is one of the best country in the world to live in currently but people with personal agendas are trying to convince us otherwise. Data is irrelevant so instead of focusing on important things like opportunity, we focus on hate, contempt, and divisive (educational, religious, race, sexual preference) language. I am sure there are some good reasons for disliking the EU, but running away isn't usually the answer. Unfortunately, this is the same message that Trump and his Trumpians are giving to the American people. Hope we see through this come November.
4
This has become the era of the bulls in the China shop. Civilizations can be a very fragile thing. Snorting rampaging creatures like Trump and Boris Johnson can wreck things in the blink of an eye. Watching ISIS blow up historical monuments on the one side and demagogues pull down the carefully constructed foundations of democracies on the other, offer us a somber time for reflection.
3
When politicians discovered they could win elections with relatively little effort by simply demonizing minorities, we began falling apart as a society. Thank you Mr. Nixon. Those elected thought they could coast, not really advancing the enterprise and codified it all as conservatism. The solution isn't hard to figure out.
2
Integration requires some agreements and acceptance of the Values, principles, and the way of life of the host country. There is absolute contradiction between the values and principles of Islam as they are practiced and those of the free democratic world. If Saudi Arabia allows other religions practice and grow in that country, that would be the first step toward creating the foundation for integration.
2
The "it's complex, you don't get it" argument of the elites like Friedman no longer holds water. Middle-class peoples in developed nations are experiencing the horrible results of neo-liberal globalization and want no part of it. What you don't get is that people must feel comfortable that they are building their future on a stable foundation. Pluralism and the "global citizen" equals heterogeneous and unstable foundations on which no one will build.
3
Dear Mr. Friedman, Your sophisticated multidimensional appraisal and predictions meet the reality that we have a poorly informed and abysmally educated public subject easily to THE DONALD's braggadocio, bluster, bravado, bullying and distortions. The real failure is us, our abysmally structured and managed education for our children who now as adults raised on the drool of TV and the media have no competence to appraise these complex realities. Technology fascinates but degrades and distracts the mind that should be aware of the multidimensional world you describe. We do not have an electorate up to the task of appraisal but subject to the demagoguery that passes for shrewd insight and measured appraisal and multifactorial remedies. Boost schools. Boo the inglorious bstrds, the decepticons who masquerade as leaders, responsible and devoted to real national interests not their own bottom line. With much appreciation from a fan in Kansas, home of degraded school systems and dangerous psychopaths.
4
It's '64 again. Hillary is running the same ads against Trump that Johnson ran against Goldwater, the one with the little girl picking flowers, and saying if people vote for Trump, there will be a war that squanders American resources attempting to achieve the impossible.
Right now, it looks like about 1/3 of voters will vote for Trump, and, as promised, they will have war against Russia. Hillary has to prove she's tougher than Obama. Or both Bushes. Or Bill. Or Napoleon.
Putin has said Russia's sole port on the Med is a strategic necessity. Hillary says that port must return to US/UK/French/Saudi/Turkish control, where it rightly belongs.
So, if Putin does not meekly back down, we'll have war.
But at least Hillary has lots of experience, and I'm sure she'll win a major victory over Russia. Then she can boot China out of the South and East China seas. And get rid of the North Korean dictator and the Ayatollahs. And what she'll do in '18, we'll have to wait and see.
Right now, it looks like about 1/3 of voters will vote for Trump, and, as promised, they will have war against Russia. Hillary has to prove she's tougher than Obama. Or both Bushes. Or Bill. Or Napoleon.
Putin has said Russia's sole port on the Med is a strategic necessity. Hillary says that port must return to US/UK/French/Saudi/Turkish control, where it rightly belongs.
So, if Putin does not meekly back down, we'll have war.
But at least Hillary has lots of experience, and I'm sure she'll win a major victory over Russia. Then she can boot China out of the South and East China seas. And get rid of the North Korean dictator and the Ayatollahs. And what she'll do in '18, we'll have to wait and see.
1
Don't think it will be, " I shall not seek and will not accept...".
Wow, thats alot for her first year !
"Indeed, in my view, the countries that nurture pluralism the best will be the ones that thrive the most in the 21st century. They will have the most political stability, attract the most talent and be able to collaborate with the most people."
Maybe, and maybe not. It works well when the migrants coming are highly educated and selected to fill a need in a country or society. Destroying cultural identity in order to have an even cheaper labor force (which is what Merkel's plan of mass migration to the EU seems to be), however, is a recipe for social upheaval and disaster. Is it really asking too much to have an EU which controls its borders?... Now that Germany will be even more dominant in the EU with Brexit it seems unlikely. So sad for Europe.
Maybe, and maybe not. It works well when the migrants coming are highly educated and selected to fill a need in a country or society. Destroying cultural identity in order to have an even cheaper labor force (which is what Merkel's plan of mass migration to the EU seems to be), however, is a recipe for social upheaval and disaster. Is it really asking too much to have an EU which controls its borders?... Now that Germany will be even more dominant in the EU with Brexit it seems unlikely. So sad for Europe.
2
Brexit and Trump are symptomatic of a People who rightfully conclude the game is fixed by the power elits who advocate policies implemented by bought of politicians that benefit a very narrow slice of society. The top .1% make off like bandits, the next 10% do well enough to go along, while the bottom 60% or so are left with no hope, many working in abject poverty.
Every article I read on Brexit, as does this one, admits the politicians (and EU technocrats) have failed to meet the needs of the masses. The social safety net is being eroded at the urging of People who have so much they need to create offshore tax havens. While at home, 60 million adults have no money in savings to even pay for an unexpected expense. The power elite who spend more in a day than the poor make in a year expect the masses to just go along, mocking them for their discontent and stupid choices for reform.
Don't look for the power elite to offer any viable solutions to the problems of the masses because frankly, they don't care. It is all about their lives and their power. Nothing else matters.
At some point the revolt will be complete. The question is will the solution be similar to a Brexit which is a vote in frustration or the implementation of real policies that help the masses at the expense of the power elite.
So long as we keep electing pro-status quo candidates nothing of substance will change for the better. And the masses will continue growing more discontent.
Every article I read on Brexit, as does this one, admits the politicians (and EU technocrats) have failed to meet the needs of the masses. The social safety net is being eroded at the urging of People who have so much they need to create offshore tax havens. While at home, 60 million adults have no money in savings to even pay for an unexpected expense. The power elite who spend more in a day than the poor make in a year expect the masses to just go along, mocking them for their discontent and stupid choices for reform.
Don't look for the power elite to offer any viable solutions to the problems of the masses because frankly, they don't care. It is all about their lives and their power. Nothing else matters.
At some point the revolt will be complete. The question is will the solution be similar to a Brexit which is a vote in frustration or the implementation of real policies that help the masses at the expense of the power elite.
So long as we keep electing pro-status quo candidates nothing of substance will change for the better. And the masses will continue growing more discontent.
11
Historically, through the stone ages, humanity has chosen tribal concerns over moral ones. When there is inspirational leadership that is extolling the virtues of morality like common decency, fairness, multiculturalism and religious tolerance, utopian nations are envisioned, and less than perfect utopia in the form of progressive society forms.
People forget that the underpinning of all progress is sound morality.
Under the present circumstances, the silent majority will win this 2016 election. Welcome our new President, Mr Donald J Trump
People forget that the underpinning of all progress is sound morality.
Under the present circumstances, the silent majority will win this 2016 election. Welcome our new President, Mr Donald J Trump
1
Trump is a blowhard, fanning lots of air over the hot embers of theRepublican "base." But in the process he has insulted and belittled the fifty percent of the population who are women, not to mention the 20% or more who are not white. He also hasn't a clue about the job itself or the wherewithal to actually "think." He is great at emoting and using the hand language of Mussolini to make his "points." Although it may not seem so in the way the media covers the election, it's hard to win when your mouth (decoupled from brain) has insulted more than half of the electorate.
1
The elites are the problem. But who are the elites? People with jobs? No. People with IRAs? No. People in Congress, maybe. The Koch brothers? Probably. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce? Not sure. What do elites left or right have in common? A disproportionate say in public policy. How did they get that disproportionate say? Low tax rates and the Citizens United opinion is my vote, but even out of work blue collar workers don't want changes to the tax laws and I'll bet they don't know how Citizens United affects their lives. Maybe we need a Constititional amendment to make clear that money is not speech.
60
You couldn't be more wrong.
Soros who spends 100% of his money on liberal support has spent the most money of any individual the past 20 years on politics.
Big unions have spent the most money in that time of any group...its not even close....yet you cite neither....why is that?
Soros who spends 100% of his money on liberal support has spent the most money of any individual the past 20 years on politics.
Big unions have spent the most money in that time of any group...its not even close....yet you cite neither....why is that?
"money is not speech" gave me this idea:
It seems to me that the effect of Citizens United is contrary to both the Equal Protection Clause and the founders' intent. Our country is founded on the idea that all citizens have a "voice" in public affairs. An equal voice. Everyone gets a chance at the podium. When you have the classic town hall, every voice is heard and thus has a chance at being considered, weighed in the balance of decisions. That balance is destroyed when a "voice" can be bought, such that a rich person gets a million voices, or microphone, of full page ad, that drown out the voice of average and/or poor people.
I need to read Citizens United to see if this argument was rejected. If not, I hope someone is pursuing it in the lower courts.
It seems to me that the effect of Citizens United is contrary to both the Equal Protection Clause and the founders' intent. Our country is founded on the idea that all citizens have a "voice" in public affairs. An equal voice. Everyone gets a chance at the podium. When you have the classic town hall, every voice is heard and thus has a chance at being considered, weighed in the balance of decisions. That balance is destroyed when a "voice" can be bought, such that a rich person gets a million voices, or microphone, of full page ad, that drown out the voice of average and/or poor people.
I need to read Citizens United to see if this argument was rejected. If not, I hope someone is pursuing it in the lower courts.
Mr. Friedman makes a number of over-simplified assumptions. He begins by expressing concern that the referendum did not offer a plan for UK to exit the EU. The referendum was only an advisory - a canvassing of public opinion. It is now up to the politicians to implement it by negotiating the appropriate plan. To have pre-established the plan and made it part of the referendum would have been an inappropriate assumption of which way the vote would go AND it would have made the whole thing impossibly cumbersome. Next, Mr. Friedman assumes the Leave voters are luddites, rejecting the tech web of the modern world. Rejecting loss of sovereignty and control by an impenetrable, foreign bureaucracy is not at all the same as rejecting the technology used by that bureaucracy and by everyone else in the modern world. Mr. Friedman's assumption that everyone who doesn't agree with his views on this subject is uninformed - that all who voted Leave are mere xenophobic cattle, huddled together in fear of the brave new world is actually quite offensive. There are many who see globalization as the tool kit of the 1% and the EU as a prime example of centralized financial control dominated by a secretive oligarchy. Big does not necessarily mean better. The Hapsburg Empire was big - as was the Soviet Union, the British Empire and for that matter General Motors too. Big means less responsive to individuals, harder to change, prone to bureaucratic ossification.
19
The margin was not thin or narrow- it was 4 points. That is greater than many Presidential Elections here in your lifetime Mr Friedman, yet the Eurocrats have not yet stopped whining. Had the vote been stay by 4 points every editorial would have been an admonition to shut up and accept the will of voters.
Sometimes people agree on one action but not very different reasons than others. I do not subscribe to the xenophobia that some proponents push, but I strongly object to a European Community coming along with a strong dose of Banksterism, NeoLiberal Policy and loss of democracy. What comes out of Brussels is not representative of the people of Europe nor is it done with concern for the welfare of the people of Europe. Anyone who watched the knifepoint forced privatization of Greece's public property at the hands of Banksters with the full knowledge of the EU knows that the welfare of the common EU citizens is nothing compared to the Banks of Germany, France and Britain getting their pound of flesh.
Your attitude is typical of those who are clueless to the street level impact of these policies upon your own fellow citizens and readers. Just as with so called free trade policies like the TPP, the problem is not International Trade- the problem is these agreements are Trojan Horses for a wish list of things that could never be approved on their own merit. Likewise, many British like the single custom zone and other things but oppose race to the bottom NeoLiberalism.
Sometimes people agree on one action but not very different reasons than others. I do not subscribe to the xenophobia that some proponents push, but I strongly object to a European Community coming along with a strong dose of Banksterism, NeoLiberal Policy and loss of democracy. What comes out of Brussels is not representative of the people of Europe nor is it done with concern for the welfare of the people of Europe. Anyone who watched the knifepoint forced privatization of Greece's public property at the hands of Banksters with the full knowledge of the EU knows that the welfare of the common EU citizens is nothing compared to the Banks of Germany, France and Britain getting their pound of flesh.
Your attitude is typical of those who are clueless to the street level impact of these policies upon your own fellow citizens and readers. Just as with so called free trade policies like the TPP, the problem is not International Trade- the problem is these agreements are Trojan Horses for a wish list of things that could never be approved on their own merit. Likewise, many British like the single custom zone and other things but oppose race to the bottom NeoLiberalism.
32
You say, "We have globalized trade and manufacturing, and we have introduced robots and artificial intelligent systems, far faster than we have designed the social safety nets,"
But this is not complete. There are no safety nets and in their place are more snares and traps for our population in the form of education grants that saddle graduates with more and more debt.
We are a nasty mercenary country.
But this is not complete. There are no safety nets and in their place are more snares and traps for our population in the form of education grants that saddle graduates with more and more debt.
We are a nasty mercenary country.
31
Once agalin a great column by Thomas Friedman. Thoughtful approaches to issues can be successful. Over reaction creates chaos. Just look at the last century. You can't have your father's country but you can have a great civilization if approaches are intelligent, compassionate and not created
in anger and angst. On our watch we must be open minded to the new world
of different kinds of people in our society. Immigration brought us a number of great minds that were instrumental in creating google, Intel and the current leader of Microsoft. I am half Italian and my father was from Ceylon. I can only tell you the pain this has caused me at times in my life. Listen to Mr. Friedman
and address the real reasons for anxiety. It is not your neighbor of color but your own heart and soul.
in anger and angst. On our watch we must be open minded to the new world
of different kinds of people in our society. Immigration brought us a number of great minds that were instrumental in creating google, Intel and the current leader of Microsoft. I am half Italian and my father was from Ceylon. I can only tell you the pain this has caused me at times in my life. Listen to Mr. Friedman
and address the real reasons for anxiety. It is not your neighbor of color but your own heart and soul.
13
Mr. Friedman says "Never forget, after the destruction of World War II, the E.U. project “emerged as a force for peace, prosperity, democracy and freedom in the world." But size, and bureaucracy matter. It started as EEC (Europe Economic Community) bringing the original 6 countries closer economically to avoid future wars. What is is now 28 countries running like a 1 country with a massive bureaucracy in Brussels. Size matters.
8
They say the fish rots from the head down. What kind of person goes into politics nowadays? Look at this way. If you are a successful, pragmatic, understanding, learned wise individual, why would you go to work in a place with people like Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruze, Sam Brownback, or that guy from Oklahoma? No one in their right mind would put up with these people. All of them live in alternate universe that rejects factual information to the extent that their sanity is in question.
Why would you put up with a prying media that follows you into the bathroom? Every single syllable uttered is subject to public microsurgery.
Why would you put up with major media outlets that have no respect for the truth and constantly spread lies throughout the public square?
Why would you want to put up with an electorate that is filed with hate and possessed by self loathing and fear?
That's what broke Britain and it is breaking America.
The solution sought by these so called leaders is to blame someone else. Oldest trick in the book. We must blame ourselves. We accept the false propaganda fro profit because it feeds our hate and fear. We put belief and so called principle above workable solutions because that's what our religions teach us. We reject science and learning because it contradicts our precious beliefs. We are our beliefs.
That's what broke Britain and the world is now stuck with cleaning up the mess.
Why would you put up with a prying media that follows you into the bathroom? Every single syllable uttered is subject to public microsurgery.
Why would you put up with major media outlets that have no respect for the truth and constantly spread lies throughout the public square?
Why would you want to put up with an electorate that is filed with hate and possessed by self loathing and fear?
That's what broke Britain and it is breaking America.
The solution sought by these so called leaders is to blame someone else. Oldest trick in the book. We must blame ourselves. We accept the false propaganda fro profit because it feeds our hate and fear. We put belief and so called principle above workable solutions because that's what our religions teach us. We reject science and learning because it contradicts our precious beliefs. We are our beliefs.
That's what broke Britain and the world is now stuck with cleaning up the mess.
29
Mr. Friedman correctly identifies the two fears that motivated the Brexit victory: economic marginalization and cultural annihilation. These fears are realistic, but unfortunately Brexit will not address either of them. All the vote has accomplished is to verify that the common people are really angry that their government is doing nothing to protect or provide for them.
Most jobs will disappear within two generations due to advances in Artificial Intelligence. Thus, economic stability for the working and middle classes can be achieved only via a minimum income guarantee paid for by evermore profitable corporations unencumbered by human employees.
The threat of cultural annihilation is more difficult to resolve. History tells us: 1) All countries conquered by Islam since AD 629 started out with no Muslims and now all such countries are 90% Muslim. 2) The need to divide India so as to separate Muslims and Hindus and the need to separate Muslims and Christians by breaking up Yugoslavia are modern examples of the fact that Islam does not tolerate diversity. 3) Sharia has displaced secular law in hundreds of EU communities. Muslims now constitute 7.6% of the EU population, projected to increase to 10% by 2050…assuming no further immigration. 4) Muslims are already assuming local political power, as exemplified by London’s Muslim mayor.
It’s likely that the culture war will escalate given that governments are bereft of any solution to the problem.
Most jobs will disappear within two generations due to advances in Artificial Intelligence. Thus, economic stability for the working and middle classes can be achieved only via a minimum income guarantee paid for by evermore profitable corporations unencumbered by human employees.
The threat of cultural annihilation is more difficult to resolve. History tells us: 1) All countries conquered by Islam since AD 629 started out with no Muslims and now all such countries are 90% Muslim. 2) The need to divide India so as to separate Muslims and Hindus and the need to separate Muslims and Christians by breaking up Yugoslavia are modern examples of the fact that Islam does not tolerate diversity. 3) Sharia has displaced secular law in hundreds of EU communities. Muslims now constitute 7.6% of the EU population, projected to increase to 10% by 2050…assuming no further immigration. 4) Muslims are already assuming local political power, as exemplified by London’s Muslim mayor.
It’s likely that the culture war will escalate given that governments are bereft of any solution to the problem.
8
You are correct that the underlying issue driving both Brexit and Trump is a lack of integration, but I fear you have not correctly identified the party that needs to be integrated: it is not the migrants (as you seem to be saying here), but those members of the 'native' population who have been left behind by the prosperity and inequity that has accompanied globalisation. The Brexit vote was a revolt of a poor, less educated, working class against the political and economic elites with whom they suffer a lack of integration.
7
"I hope the “Regrexit” campaign can reverse Brexit" . Can't live with democracy it seems?
7
Democracy requires a well informed public. Seems as though the public was lied to.
1
The recent Tom Friedman and David Brooks pieces make excellent reading but miss an underlying fact. How can there NOT be social disruption and instability when the top 1% has hijacked the new wealth created by technological advancement and globalization? Capital gains and carried interest are taxed at lower rates than wages. Social Security taxes are limited to just the first $118,000 of income. Billionaires play the system to pay no taxes at all. CEOs, sports figures and celebrities make obscene amounts of money. Only crumbs are left for everyone else to fight over. And those who lose that fight retreat to the false security of guns, drugs, alcohol, and scapegoating immigrants. We don't need a political revolution. We need a return to morality to make our current system fair.
392
I noticed that you don't even mention Hillarys 21 million taken from big wall Street banks.
Capital gains should be taxed at a lower rate, it was earned by putting money at risk while wages are never at risk and is guaranteed.... Apples to oranges.
Capital gains should be taxed at a lower rate, it was earned by putting money at risk while wages are never at risk and is guaranteed.... Apples to oranges.
Think of the vote as a rejection of everything Friedman stands for (although he probably isn't even aware).
8
If Brexit is indeed the rejection of everything Friedman stands for (as expressed in this column) that would be the problem. The solutions are more complex, because this simplistic rejection solves nothing and proffers nothing but regressive nationalism in its stead.
Thomas Friedman hit the nail on the head. Global society, global economics have been changing rapidly, and no western nation has been smart enough, strong enough, or had the kind of leadership and vision to navigate that change.
And no one has the guts to come out with the truth: there is no going back.
So we have hard truths to accept. We simply will not be as individually rich as we have been accustomed to being. We can do a lot to quell the worst of income inequality, but we can do nothing to change the fact that there are now 7 billion people using the resources of the planet, and those resources have not expanded.
Truth and reality are not political constructs. They just exist. The reaction to those truths, the policy to deal with those realities, are political constructs. But most of us - in the UK, and here in the US - simply want our politicians to change reality.
And that stupidity, and the result of it, is on us.
And no one has the guts to come out with the truth: there is no going back.
So we have hard truths to accept. We simply will not be as individually rich as we have been accustomed to being. We can do a lot to quell the worst of income inequality, but we can do nothing to change the fact that there are now 7 billion people using the resources of the planet, and those resources have not expanded.
Truth and reality are not political constructs. They just exist. The reaction to those truths, the policy to deal with those realities, are political constructs. But most of us - in the UK, and here in the US - simply want our politicians to change reality.
And that stupidity, and the result of it, is on us.
15
PRIVATE MONEY FOR PUBLIC GOODS
Mr. Friedman talks of the need to protect the the losers in globalization and automation. But he doesn't frame the action choices available to governments.
I see two:
1. Tax and spend public money for such job creating public goods as infrastructure and schools, daycare, and other labor market supports;
2. Incent private corporations and wealthy individuals to make profitable investments in them, using the models of privately-funded tollroads or future tax benefits against current approved investments, as in public - private partnerships.
I suggest #2 deserves more attention, to sidestep tax avoidance politics.
Mr. Friedman talks of the need to protect the the losers in globalization and automation. But he doesn't frame the action choices available to governments.
I see two:
1. Tax and spend public money for such job creating public goods as infrastructure and schools, daycare, and other labor market supports;
2. Incent private corporations and wealthy individuals to make profitable investments in them, using the models of privately-funded tollroads or future tax benefits against current approved investments, as in public - private partnerships.
I suggest #2 deserves more attention, to sidestep tax avoidance politics.
3
Mr. Friedman's remarks are spot on.
A "Representative" form of democracy relies on capable and wise woman and men elected to put their constituents' and nation's best interests at first. This requires courage and willingness to embrace principled positions that might
at times result in the representative being on the unpopular side of the argument posited by huckster politicians and tabloid press.
However, substantial blame lies at the desk of the German and French political leadership who were not flexible enough to adjust immigration policies that would not feed the UK anti-EU hucksters arguments.
That being said, there has been a tremendous cost in developing the EU over the past 50 years; for both the UK and the continental powers.
The best course of action at this point would be for leadership to pause, not push, and push the reset button in the fall. No need to make an non-reversible choice that will punish all parties.
A "Representative" form of democracy relies on capable and wise woman and men elected to put their constituents' and nation's best interests at first. This requires courage and willingness to embrace principled positions that might
at times result in the representative being on the unpopular side of the argument posited by huckster politicians and tabloid press.
However, substantial blame lies at the desk of the German and French political leadership who were not flexible enough to adjust immigration policies that would not feed the UK anti-EU hucksters arguments.
That being said, there has been a tremendous cost in developing the EU over the past 50 years; for both the UK and the continental powers.
The best course of action at this point would be for leadership to pause, not push, and push the reset button in the fall. No need to make an non-reversible choice that will punish all parties.
3
Excellent analysis of not only Brexit but the problems every nation faces.
It's wake up time for not only our nations politicians but our citizens. We are facing real challenges that require real bi partisan solutions.
Henry Hill aka Forrest Trump can be very dangerous because he has convinced us we need a band. Too many people are buying the uniforms and the instruments and when Trump skips town or God forbid wins there is going to be a heap of trouble in River City aka Washington.
Bottom line. Our issues are serious. The only joke is Trump. And in the UK the joke of vapid ideology and hucksterism is now on them.
Let's just pray it's not contagious. We don't want that old time religion of narrowness and low information.
It's wake up time for not only our nations politicians but our citizens. We are facing real challenges that require real bi partisan solutions.
Henry Hill aka Forrest Trump can be very dangerous because he has convinced us we need a band. Too many people are buying the uniforms and the instruments and when Trump skips town or God forbid wins there is going to be a heap of trouble in River City aka Washington.
Bottom line. Our issues are serious. The only joke is Trump. And in the UK the joke of vapid ideology and hucksterism is now on them.
Let's just pray it's not contagious. We don't want that old time religion of narrowness and low information.
1
But at the end of the musical, a community divided by prejudices was brought together by pride in the marching band. Everyone was made to feel a part of the project and shared in their success. And even the huckster was demeeded by love.
Rita
You are correct but I was just using the movie to make a point.
Really how many people even saw the movie and know the plot.
The key is the huckster.
Frankly I have no problem with Robert Preston as President.
Anyone---alive or dead is better than this rabid dog Forrest Trump
You are correct but I was just using the movie to make a point.
Really how many people even saw the movie and know the plot.
The key is the huckster.
Frankly I have no problem with Robert Preston as President.
Anyone---alive or dead is better than this rabid dog Forrest Trump
Freedom of the press is very important. But when the press lies (how did we forget that Boris Johnson was sacked by The Times for making up quotes) as they did in this case, you must question their viability. I told my young sons a decade ago that newspapers, magazines and the internet contain a lot of "stuff", much of which is non-factual. I think that they and their generation understand this. In the UK it was the older generation that lost the ability to discern fact from fiction. They believed what was in the papers because, well, it was in the papers. Shame on them. Shame on the press.
14
Are you seriously suggesting that the "older generation" cannot distinguish between fact and fiction? Shame on you actually.
3
What about Friedman and the NYT?
1
The issue before us is jobs, jobs, jobs.
Austerity and reduction of government employees and the transfer of public dollars to,for profit schools have crippled our country.
There are no standards or consistency or accountability.
We are dumber, sicker, and poorer.
Austerity and reduction of government employees and the transfer of public dollars to,for profit schools have crippled our country.
There are no standards or consistency or accountability.
We are dumber, sicker, and poorer.
5
Is it pluralism, or diversity? Why the switch in lingo? Is there an upper number of immigrants into the US that is ideal? We currently have 40 million legal immigrants--including about 13 million with green cards--and 10 million or so illegal aliens residing in the US. Is that enough? If 53 million immigrants isn't enough to accomplish pluralism/diversity, just how many do we need...and where are we going to get them?
6
"We currently have 40 million legal immigrants". FALSE!
The population of the US is 319 million, and all of us have immigrated here. Even the 5.4 million so-called "native Americans" have immigrated from Asia, they just did it long before the European Americans did.
The population of the US is 319 million, and all of us have immigrated here. Even the 5.4 million so-called "native Americans" have immigrated from Asia, they just did it long before the European Americans did.
But why is all the condemnation of Brexit only targeting the action of a few in UK and only events that transpired in the last few months?
Just like the 2008 crisis, even the analysis or post mortem is rather short sighted....albeit a rear view look.
Why is there no acceptance of the need for new thinking not just tweaks to rules? Are international institutions with global accountabilities mere proxies or do they get to act without interference?
EU like the UN is noble and perhaps too lofty to be seen as a benefactor by the man on the street; and this is before the bureaucratic nonsense and the vested interests got their way.
If you make rules, you can't define exceptions for yourself, even if you believe in your exceptionalism!
Just like the 2008 crisis, even the analysis or post mortem is rather short sighted....albeit a rear view look.
Why is there no acceptance of the need for new thinking not just tweaks to rules? Are international institutions with global accountabilities mere proxies or do they get to act without interference?
EU like the UN is noble and perhaps too lofty to be seen as a benefactor by the man on the street; and this is before the bureaucratic nonsense and the vested interests got their way.
If you make rules, you can't define exceptions for yourself, even if you believe in your exceptionalism!
2
Britain will be fine. They've been around before the EU and they'll be around after its dissolved.
10
As you say, the referendum was not meant to produce Brexit, but just as one more step in entrenching globalization, without any regard for the forgotten parts of a disappearing working middle class. But the EU was not broken by this one vote, rather by a long series of decisions unfavorable to this neglected middle class; it was a long process under the 2 big parties that in effect painted themselves into a corner, where this vote was unavoidable, and where the fertile ground for extremist movements was allowed to develop.
And if you look carefully, each step in the process was framed in such a way that the “obvious” best choice was the one taken, just as the “obvious” best choice here was ‘remain’, but the global effect of all the choices nevertheless, was not the best outcome. There may have been some long term manipulation of how these choices were structured, and which led to this undesirable outcome, but its too late now to have regrets. Better to understand what can be done in the future to stop special interests from gaming the system.
And if you look carefully, each step in the process was framed in such a way that the “obvious” best choice was the one taken, just as the “obvious” best choice here was ‘remain’, but the global effect of all the choices nevertheless, was not the best outcome. There may have been some long term manipulation of how these choices were structured, and which led to this undesirable outcome, but its too late now to have regrets. Better to understand what can be done in the future to stop special interests from gaming the system.
1
Yes, "integration" is the key word, but integration is a very complex phenomenon.
When immigrants from Europe arrived in America in the early 20th century, they were not interested in establishing themselves as the "Irish in America" or the "Italians in America" and so forth, they wanted to be "Americans". They came to America in search of a better life for themselves and future generations and importantly, they were separated from their countries of origin by distance and lack of communications, so they had to integrate.
The migration flows in the 21st century include many people seeking economic opportunity, and refugees of war, terrorism and repression. Within the former group, we see people who emigrated only to work to send money to their countries of origin; with technology, these immigrants can regularly be in touch with their families abroad; they can also live with other immigrants from their countries of origin and they don't need to learn much of the language in the country where they are living; there is thus little incentive for them to integrate. On the other hand, refugees are involuntary immigrants, many of whom are dreaming of nothing other than to see their homeland again. Here, too, the incentives to these people for integration are lacking.
Does this means that the host countries in the 21st century must act more intelligently and more decisively to insure integration?
When immigrants from Europe arrived in America in the early 20th century, they were not interested in establishing themselves as the "Irish in America" or the "Italians in America" and so forth, they wanted to be "Americans". They came to America in search of a better life for themselves and future generations and importantly, they were separated from their countries of origin by distance and lack of communications, so they had to integrate.
The migration flows in the 21st century include many people seeking economic opportunity, and refugees of war, terrorism and repression. Within the former group, we see people who emigrated only to work to send money to their countries of origin; with technology, these immigrants can regularly be in touch with their families abroad; they can also live with other immigrants from their countries of origin and they don't need to learn much of the language in the country where they are living; there is thus little incentive for them to integrate. On the other hand, refugees are involuntary immigrants, many of whom are dreaming of nothing other than to see their homeland again. Here, too, the incentives to these people for integration are lacking.
Does this means that the host countries in the 21st century must act more intelligently and more decisively to insure integration?
4
Take the Norwegian model for integration: refugee immigrants receive free mandatory Norwegian language lessons and are placed in and among the general population preventing self-selecting immigrant ghettoes.
So, one person's "more intelligently and more decisively" is another person's "coercively and in limitation to an individual's rights".
As Doug Linder of the UMKC Law School puts it: rights-oriented liberalism that holds that a person's identity comes from individual choices (and that government ought to create a framework of laws that remove barriers to choice) and communitarianism, that holds that a person's identity comes from the communities of which an individual is a part (and that communities are an important buffer between the government and the individual).
So, one person's "more intelligently and more decisively" is another person's "coercively and in limitation to an individual's rights".
As Doug Linder of the UMKC Law School puts it: rights-oriented liberalism that holds that a person's identity comes from individual choices (and that government ought to create a framework of laws that remove barriers to choice) and communitarianism, that holds that a person's identity comes from the communities of which an individual is a part (and that communities are an important buffer between the government and the individual).
1
Everything that separates is regressive. A politics of nationalism is regressive. There is little else that needs to be said to understand Brexit and Trump and to appreciate what is at stake here in November. If Brexit looks ugly, imagine how ugly things would look with Trump at the helm. We can already see the lies from the Leavers. It is just as easy to see the lies that have been coming out of Trump and that will continue to come out of Trump. The English have proven mighty stupid and now have the biggest hangover in modern history. There is something to be learned from the simplistic and regressive anger-and-hatred politics of Brexit. I hope Americans do the learning.
9
The failure of governments to deal with inequality, rising costs and inadequate housing , training and staffing of the National Health Service(NHS)and above all explaining and debating the cost/benefit of increased immigration left the door open for those who could blame it all on the EU. Both parties but especially the Conservatives are responsible for this debacle.
7
Ok Tom, you laid down the gauntlet. The arguments that came from the Stay side were just as much half baked, warmed over dogma as were the Leave side. At what point did any of the Remain side shills come up with a reasonable way to deal with the fears and anxieties of the radical Leave crew. It was always: believe us, trade is good, these are not the immigrants causing problems, let them go, the world is flat, us must get used to gruel. . People recognized "free trade" had a cost: rising inequality, slave wage conditions in the low wage countries, environmental degradation, not to mention shirking of responsibility by corporate citizens. I can't prove this, but it seemed to me that the more the Stay side rolled out another discredited shill(Blair et al) the more the polls turned against them. And your catchy title, I could say the same about the arguments your flat world social, political and economic elites handed the rest us in the first place.
6
The "half baked, warmed over dogma" of the Remain campaign has proved remarkably prescient. The regretful hangover that the UK is suffering, now that the pound and British markets have tanked, shows that the regressive Leave voters have only amplified their own fears and anxieties. Globalization is indeed one of the major causes of inequality, but the solution is not isolationism. We're not going to solve environmental, immigration, and other crises unless we work together as a community of nations.
1
So it is always when complex issues are reduced to soundbites: such as 'we needed to show them it's not OK' and 'suck on this'. Yes, you say that about the Middle East and send troops into Iraq and you end up birthing ISIS. Funny how that works isn't it Mr Friedman?
4
As usual, a perceptive article from Mr. Friedman. Unfortunately, Trump supporters will likely be loathe to read it. Populist movements are generally fueled by emotion rather than logic, and neither Trump nor his supporters share an ideology, program, hope or plan.
8
And it's that very condescending attitude they also vote against. "I'm smarter than you ergo your views do not count"
5
As an American expat in Singapore I believe that Singapore represents a society where the government has successfully encouraged the integration that Mr. Friedman recommends. Other countries could learn from Singapore's path to multi-cultural peace.
1
Integration is the answer, but it must include the economy and the political system. Neither is integrated. The economy is segregated -- the benefits are going to a tiny percentage at the top, magnified by their ability to avoid taxes that would provide resources for the infrastructure investments Mr. Friedman mentions. The political system is also segregated, as Congress is controlled by a handful of corporations and individuals capable of contributing tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, insuring deadlock or defeat whenever their privileges are imposed upon by potentially integrative legislation.
16
I have been reading all I can on Brexit and so far this is the best and most helpful summation of the whole thing. Thank you.
2
Integration is a two-way street. You cannot integrate people who are not willing to integrate. Ghettoes (like the infamous Molenbeek quarter in Brussels) where people only speak their native language, look at the satellite TV from hrtheir native countries, and especially follow an extreme form of their religion (the responsability of Saoudi Arabia here is staggering) do not lead to integation, they foster hatred and extremism. Europe has to be selective in whom it admits into our society.
17
Reminds me of a public service television ad in Holland which was intended to make potential immigrants aware of the Dutch culture before attempting to immigrate:
1) The LGBTQ community is out and proud here.
2) Dutch is a really difficult language.
3) We eat pork.
1) The LGBTQ community is out and proud here.
2) Dutch is a really difficult language.
3) We eat pork.
The problems outlined by Friedman are myriad and real. However, one other issue environmental scarcity (clean water, arable land) is omitted and the core issue behind all these problems in our increasingly instable world is left unaddressed. There are simply far too many people on the planet and it is in the zones of chaos in the Middle East and Africa where even basic education is suspect and people are least able to adapt to change populations are booming the most. Having more children is, in fact, their reaction to an unstable world. No one wants to address overpopulation. Europe better buckle up. The chaos in the Middle East is not ending any time soon and the neo cons are just getting started with their "military training" and weapons sales to Africa.
13
Why does Friedman always have to be so unrelenting in his arrogance and smugness. He writes "we must use the shock of the Brexit vote to reimagine, reform, and rebuild a new Europe.” Ok Thomas for once go out on a limb...how do you reimagine, reform, and rebuild a new Europe when the voters are rapidly losing all confidence in their leaders? How? No answer of course. I guess the World isn't as Flat as you Imagined....yes? The strongest argument for the UK leaving the EU is that European bureaucrats have usurped many of the powers that should be vested in democratically elected officials in Westminster. Laws in Brussels are not made by people who can be readily held accountable to voters. Instead, a maze of one-size-fits-all bureaucracy has slowly and steadily eroded the role of national parliaments and other political institutions. This ultimately was and is a convincing argument for British voters. This is just he beginning ...we are not even close to the end.
6
If you have followed Friedman at all, you know that he has built a career on describing "the next new thing" without fully examining the implications and potential trajectories (because no one really knows). It's like the Geico commercial - if you are Thomas Friedman it's what you do. Friedman's schtick is that by never fully providing solutions to problems he poses, he is never wrong. "See, I told you what the problem was, but it was your job not my job to solve it."
2
We see it happening all around us, and what is to be done? Complex problems often require subtle solutions, but how are those popularly sold? At the very least that takes exceptional leadership, but as we've seen for the last 8 years, even that may not be enough. "Easy" solutions are so easy, populists spout facile solutions. As Adlai Stevenson famously said, "We American are suckers for good news." Guess we're not the only ones.
3
As England, not Great Britain, seems to be moving rapidly from Brexit to Regretsit, a re-vote to remain in the EU could result in a net positive given the political wake-up and shake-up resulting from the first vote.
2
Unfortunately, if the sizable Trump base lacks an education beyond high school, then it is unlikely they read this or other newspapers or media about Trump's games.
What's even more incredible is that he told his Pittsburgh audience yesterday that he's no longer part of that wealthy elite as he emerged from a plane with Trump emblazoned across it..
What's even more incredible is that he told his Pittsburgh audience yesterday that he's no longer part of that wealthy elite as he emerged from a plane with Trump emblazoned across it..
6
Such logical thinking, so clearly articulated. Why can't everyone think this way??? (Thanks, Thomas Friedman, for at least putting this out there.)
1
Just who are the elites who perniciously have stolen the means of employment from the masses? The 1% ers? They couldn't have done it without Congress, more specifically the GOP. The wealth concentration is the result of estate tax decimation and low tax rates on the wealthy plus a demonization of the IRS. Then there are corporate boards who vote to move jobs from the U.S. to anyplace with lower wages which is anyplace because of our high standard of living. We have to adapt and we have to start working together politically. Anger is pointless.
15
Taking the European experiment to the extreme, let us have the whole planet be one nation and have the UN administrate it. While I disagree with Brexit, the EU has made a mess of the European experiment.
4
I don't understand why the European Union is not getting any criticism here. The EU is a customs union. What is their excuse? Britain will now be free to negotiate free trade agreements with China, India and the U.S. I cannot say if Britain voted for Brexit for the right reasons. I'm sure there was some xenophobia at work. But there were some good, healthy reasons for Britain to choose leaving the EU. People need to face up to that reality as well.
7
As you imply, and as detailed in Chris Hayes' excellent "Twilight of the Elites", the world is experiencing the results of the feedback loop that Mark Thomason accurately and thoroughly described in an earlier comment. We've been here before, although never when the planet was as overpopulated or with resources as pressured as today. It is difficult to imagine a positive outcome, but I wake up every morning in an effort to do so, albeit with little supporting evidence in the news. Our tech knowhow, and thus our productive potential, could save us, but we must overcome our human frailties of greed and egoism. Can we, before it's too late?
47
Indeed, break it and own it. There is one problem. Nigel Farage and Boris Johnston have already reneged on their compromises to their constituents, so is the referendum still legitimate? And does the REGREXIT camp have a legitimate ax to grind?
The irony is that the BREXIT gang speak with bravado but they really don't want to own Article 50. EU being hawkish on the divorce, as in "not amicable" is a foregone conclusion. There will be pain all around but EU will need to maintain discipline. And it's only logical for Scotland and N Ireland to leave the UK to rejoin EU. So Britain will not only lose a partner, she will lose the custody of the children too.
And England cannot look to the U.S. for special favor. Her border doesn't touch Russia!
The real beneficiaries in the messy divorce will be Russia, and maybe China.
An united Europe may have a lot of family problems but they pale by comparison when the EU is disbanded.
For people who are so shortsighted, maybe Britain deserves her fate by following pied pipers like Nigel Farage.
And for us Americans, this is a wakeup call if we follow extremists and manipulators like Trump
The irony is that the BREXIT gang speak with bravado but they really don't want to own Article 50. EU being hawkish on the divorce, as in "not amicable" is a foregone conclusion. There will be pain all around but EU will need to maintain discipline. And it's only logical for Scotland and N Ireland to leave the UK to rejoin EU. So Britain will not only lose a partner, she will lose the custody of the children too.
And England cannot look to the U.S. for special favor. Her border doesn't touch Russia!
The real beneficiaries in the messy divorce will be Russia, and maybe China.
An united Europe may have a lot of family problems but they pale by comparison when the EU is disbanded.
For people who are so shortsighted, maybe Britain deserves her fate by following pied pipers like Nigel Farage.
And for us Americans, this is a wakeup call if we follow extremists and manipulators like Trump
262
Friedman blames the side that won. I blame the side that lost.
Those who lost failed to present decent arguments for their side. They instead built up anger and resentment against themselves and their very attitude that led the voters to reject them. The voters took even a poor choice over these losers. That is the fault of those who had the right side, and lost it anyway.
Glen Greenwald explained this best:
Corrupt elites always try to persuade people to continue to submit to their dominance in exchange for protection from forces that are even worse. That’s their game. But at some point, they themselves, and their prevailing order, become so destructive, so deceitful, so toxic, that their victims are willing to gamble that the alternatives will not be worse, or at least, they decide to embrace the satisfaction of spitting in the faces of those who have displayed nothing but contempt and condescension for them.
https://theintercept.com/2016/06/25/brexit-is-only-the-latest-proof-of-t...
If this is applied here, then I'd blame Hillary, not Trump.
She is the one who offers wars and status quo globalization and big money donor control. She is the one who tells us we can't do any better than small adjustments of all that is wrong. She poisons what should be the better position. Trump is just the protest against her that can only win if what she presents is so very bad. That is on her, if that is all she offers.
Those who lost failed to present decent arguments for their side. They instead built up anger and resentment against themselves and their very attitude that led the voters to reject them. The voters took even a poor choice over these losers. That is the fault of those who had the right side, and lost it anyway.
Glen Greenwald explained this best:
Corrupt elites always try to persuade people to continue to submit to their dominance in exchange for protection from forces that are even worse. That’s their game. But at some point, they themselves, and their prevailing order, become so destructive, so deceitful, so toxic, that their victims are willing to gamble that the alternatives will not be worse, or at least, they decide to embrace the satisfaction of spitting in the faces of those who have displayed nothing but contempt and condescension for them.
https://theintercept.com/2016/06/25/brexit-is-only-the-latest-proof-of-t...
If this is applied here, then I'd blame Hillary, not Trump.
She is the one who offers wars and status quo globalization and big money donor control. She is the one who tells us we can't do any better than small adjustments of all that is wrong. She poisons what should be the better position. Trump is just the protest against her that can only win if what she presents is so very bad. That is on her, if that is all she offers.
325
I agree with what Mr. Friedman has written about Britain.
AS for the US, Hillary needs to also look at the dialogue that Bernie Sanders has proposed, and seriously look to see if there is anything that she can use from his platform. Mr. Sanders has focussed his attention on the weaknesses of America, but as many readers have suggested, has not offered enough solutions to the problems.
Mrs. Clinton offers minor band-aid solutions to major problems and has not yet (if at all) incorporated any of Mr. Sanders platform.
It would be a big mistake for Mrs. Clinton to brush aside Mr. Sanders, since there are many points that need the attention of the nominee for POTUS.
If not, the Senate and Congress may still be in the hands of the Republicans.
And as Mr. Friedman wrote for his article title - "You Break It, You Own It."
AS for the US, Hillary needs to also look at the dialogue that Bernie Sanders has proposed, and seriously look to see if there is anything that she can use from his platform. Mr. Sanders has focussed his attention on the weaknesses of America, but as many readers have suggested, has not offered enough solutions to the problems.
Mrs. Clinton offers minor band-aid solutions to major problems and has not yet (if at all) incorporated any of Mr. Sanders platform.
It would be a big mistake for Mrs. Clinton to brush aside Mr. Sanders, since there are many points that need the attention of the nominee for POTUS.
If not, the Senate and Congress may still be in the hands of the Republicans.
And as Mr. Friedman wrote for his article title - "You Break It, You Own It."
26
"She is the one who tells us we can't do any better than small adjustments of all that is wrong."
This is a complete misrepresentation of her proposed agenda.
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/
If you vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, give us 60 Democratic Senators and Nancy Pelosi in charge of the agenda in the House rather than Paul Ryan, you will see dramatic change.
This is a complete misrepresentation of her proposed agenda.
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/
If you vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, give us 60 Democratic Senators and Nancy Pelosi in charge of the agenda in the House rather than Paul Ryan, you will see dramatic change.
573
I am not sure laying blame is the right way to see the BREXIT gang or even Trump because "I told you so" is as bad as any regrets.
Perhaps the uneducated voters bought the £350M NHS injection cool-aid but there is little the BREMAIN camp could do. This is the same with the Trump cool-aid, except that Americans have seen this before. Any promises from extremists always blow up in their supporters' face. But hey, that's why people like Trump love uneducated voters.
The only viable position is to allow voters to see all sides, and quite frankly, I don't think Mr Greenwald himself is a good candidate either. For people should understand extremism and purism are not possible in a multi-cultured world. Instead, people need to remind themselves 'compromise' is not a dirty word
Perhaps the uneducated voters bought the £350M NHS injection cool-aid but there is little the BREMAIN camp could do. This is the same with the Trump cool-aid, except that Americans have seen this before. Any promises from extremists always blow up in their supporters' face. But hey, that's why people like Trump love uneducated voters.
The only viable position is to allow voters to see all sides, and quite frankly, I don't think Mr Greenwald himself is a good candidate either. For people should understand extremism and purism are not possible in a multi-cultured world. Instead, people need to remind themselves 'compromise' is not a dirty word
14
A sad reality in both the UK with the Brexit voters and so many of the Trump supporters is the fact that they are voting for and trusting candidates who lie about the causes of economic problems and play upon their fears. So, in the end the economically vulnerable are tricked into voting against their own interest. It's both infuriating and sad. There is absolutely no reason why the U.S. shouldn't be investing in infrastructure and high tech trade schools - and yet the GOP block these efforts consistently while whipping up their base, many of whom would be the beneficiaries of these programs, into thinking that immigrants and trade agreements are the source of their woes.
111
The Democrats idea of "investing in infrastructure" is Solyndra.
Their candidate today is completely in the clutches of Wall Street, and does their bidding for bribes.
Their candidate today is completely in the clutches of Wall Street, and does their bidding for bribes.
2
The Dems aren't fighting too hard for the solutions either. Cha ching.
2
No one trusts Trump..It's just that some of us are terrified about what new havoc the pretend to be for the people and not for a police state and the use of taxpayer dollars to support I mean bail out Wall Street Clintons. Maybe if the NYTimes writers at least listened to NPR and read The Atlantic they would be less myopic. As well as eliminating welfare for the poor, signing NAFTA, and apparently doing much to create the NSA, Clinton supported the building of more prisons leading to more persons of color being incarcerated.. for economic reasons? (guaranteed dividends- growth?) He also made 16 million from a for profit online university with which he has since cut ties.
Clever person, trade agreements don't matter, if people abroad were paid US level wages for the products they produce where do you think those goods were be produced? DUH. T his is not a new problem -- cheap goods on the market or monopolies- go way back try the 18th C if not before:- oh yeah monopolies are the new business model.t
Clever person, trade agreements don't matter, if people abroad were paid US level wages for the products they produce where do you think those goods were be produced? DUH. T his is not a new problem -- cheap goods on the market or monopolies- go way back try the 18th C if not before:- oh yeah monopolies are the new business model.t
2
"Things are falling apart and the center cannot hold--" a gloom and foreboding seem to be coalescing around this presidential race where the sleep deprived megalomaniac is only a few digits away in national polling from taking control of a very threatened free world; where angry Democratic party voters have been whipped up about free trade agreements that have shuddered 60,000 manufacturing plants in a few decades and left behind 47 million impoverish and ill equipped and under employed workers. Where Bernie Sanders continues to luxuriate in the after glow of his populist campaign with no practical policy proposals, save "soak the rich." Time is running out on what could be the fading light of the Obama presidency and the darkness that may very well overtake us in just a few short months.
6
The "rich certainly soaked the poor" time to "give back" the favorite cliché of the one percent looking for another tax deduction.
7
Come on, Tom, you were the one who championed global integration as inevitable. How a smart guy like you could disconnect the economic from the political is disturbing and disappointing. So now you're having second thoughts about the flow of jobs (and manufacturing) to the east and the tsunami of capital to the west? You sound like a British Leave voter. What you didn't envision in proclaiming a flat world is the political architecture necessary to accomplish that, an economic institutional design that allowed the tens of millions of skilled and unskilled workers to be displaced and set aside to the historical scrap heap without so much as a political peep. Global integration needn't be deregulated into full-on lassez-faire capitalism, where profits become a justifying ideology. That was a political problem that you didn't see coming, or worse, that you did and chose to ignore.
204
He didn't care, because like all the NYT columnists and pundits, he is a very (VERY) wealthy elite, living in one of the luxury enclaves of wealth -- and his profession leaves him completely free of worries that he will be replaced, laid off, outsourced, see his job sent overseas or be forced to train his Pakistani replacement (who earns half as much money). He doesn't need to worry how he will pay for that lousy Obamacare Bronze policy with the $6300 deductible.
Times have been very, very VERY good for the elite of the US and the EU....only they have built their luxury McMansions on the misery of the "proletariat" -- the same proles they claim to value, but in fact, utterly despise and call things like "low information", "stupid" or "xenophobic racists".
Times have been very, very VERY good for the elite of the US and the EU....only they have built their luxury McMansions on the misery of the "proletariat" -- the same proles they claim to value, but in fact, utterly despise and call things like "low information", "stupid" or "xenophobic racists".
11
The Brexit vote is like 52 card pickup. It's fun to throw the deck in the air--because it's just a game. But now, the reality is, the floor is a complete mess and there are three cards in the lampshade. Let the politicians who fed their ambitions by beating the drums show they have a serious plan. The true test in in the next few years--will the British people be better off than they are now? Or, will they just have new rulers, and deeper problems?
8
Reading Friedman's second paragraph, "A major European power, a longtime defender of liberal democracy, pluralism and free markets, falls under the sway of a few cynical politicians who see a chance to exploit public fears of immigration to advance their careers..." Sounds eerily familiar to a demagogue isolationist running for the presidency who would love nothing more than for the Brexit catastrophe to spill over to this side of the Atlantic. Trump has a lock on semi-educated white males; let's hope the full demographics are on the side of reason.
71
THomas, I think this is seriously misguided article which shows no understanding of the complexities of British society. It's frankly insulting to more than half the British voters, who according to you, are so stupid they don't know what they are voting about and have been swayed by racist demagoguery. I suggest you visit northern Britain and talk to some real people who voted for Brexit.
85
Kathy, it is just the same smug, lazy and condescending way they call Trump supporters in the US "stupid low information voters" -- i.e., we won't let elites tell us what to think or how to vote.
That just infuriates lefty liberals, who just under the surface, are clearly all totalitarians who seek absolute control over public policies, the economy, etc.
That just infuriates lefty liberals, who just under the surface, are clearly all totalitarians who seek absolute control over public policies, the economy, etc.
9
I fully agree with Thomas Friedman's analysis. As an American academic who lives in both Berlin and Copenhagen, I have seen first-hand how EU institutions attempt to integrate research and teaching across European universities. Such programmes benefit not only teachers and researchers, but many young students as well, who look forward to being able to spend part of their educations learning abroad at another European university. These programmes demonstrate the optimistic and integrative initiatives of the EU project. Of course any large and ambitious enterprise can soon become encumbered in non-sensical bureaucracy, but when one becomes frustrated with that, it is time to remember why the Union was founded in the first place and why it has become a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
30
"There is no plan. There is just barking."
This is no coincidence given that the Brexit campaign was an unholy coalition of 1) racists xenophobes, 2) the economically disaffected and 3) globalising free marketers. There literally is no plan that can make all three factions happy at the same time.
Worse yet, none of these factions made any trade offs - they somehow believed you could close your borders and globalise; cut regulations and protect the vulnerable; and return to the past and compete in the future. You can have some of these things, but not all at the same time.
That is also why I'm so sceptical about Trump and Sanders; they are not making trade offs and are not planning to govern, that to me is the canary in the coal mine.
This is no coincidence given that the Brexit campaign was an unholy coalition of 1) racists xenophobes, 2) the economically disaffected and 3) globalising free marketers. There literally is no plan that can make all three factions happy at the same time.
Worse yet, none of these factions made any trade offs - they somehow believed you could close your borders and globalise; cut regulations and protect the vulnerable; and return to the past and compete in the future. You can have some of these things, but not all at the same time.
That is also why I'm so sceptical about Trump and Sanders; they are not making trade offs and are not planning to govern, that to me is the canary in the coal mine.
22
We are living much of what Alvin Toffler talked about in his 1970 book "Future Shock" (defined as too much change in too short a period of time). He popularized the term 'information overload' and the transitioning to a post-industrial society.
The disorientation is real and it has consequences which, if not mitigated in so far as possible, will created a spiral of disruptions that will overwhelm us.
The disorientation is real and it has consequences which, if not mitigated in so far as possible, will created a spiral of disruptions that will overwhelm us.
81
And you ain't seen nothing yet. You can't get enough education to outrun automation - ask new lawyers with $100K debt. Ask taxi drivers in 10 years why they'll be setting fire to google cars. Ask the 60,000 foxxconn workers just replaced by robots.
5
Tom all of this is highly academic and abstract. If your job as a Times Editorial writer was supplanted by some poor worker in Poland and you were out of work you might have a different view. The EU is run autocratically by its governing elites for the benefit of the corporate elites. Let the public vote to stay in or exit periodically and the rules would be fast changed to benefit all. It was much better and more defensible as a Common Market, the labor provisions which allow free movement of workers from poorer countries to richer destroy the Unions in the richer countries. While free markets in goods and services are defensible, free markets in labor are not.
139
I am surprised that Tom Friedman conflates, as many British voters seemingly did, the issue of migrants and asylum seekers with the true issue at stake, which is the right of European Union citizens to establish themselves and study, work, retire - and pay taxes - (in other words, live) freely in all European Union Countries .
Some of the "Leave" voters seemed to have got the message,however, as witnessed by an emerging and revolting campaign against Polish Citizens settled in the UK .
Some of the "Leave" voters seemed to have got the message,however, as witnessed by an emerging and revolting campaign against Polish Citizens settled in the UK .
1
Of course, the issue is integration, not immigration. But, in Europe these two go hand in hand. The U.S. is uniquely excellent at integrating immigrants. In Western and Northern Europe, where the majority of new/newer immigrants are asylum seekers from Muslim countries integration is a major challenge. While many new immigrants seek the refuge of their host countries, they do not necessarily share the cultural norms and values with respect to democracy, women's rights and religious freedoms and so the tension builds as newcomers try to maintain their cultural norms in their adopted countries. I think if there was a frank and open discourse in countries like Germany, Norway, etc about the rights and responsibilities of immigrants and the expectations of locals to help integrate them there would be a lot less tension. Instead, there is the usual name calling of "racist," "xenophobe" etc. and dialogue shuts down.
23
The English are harassing the Poles and the Czechs. Explain that.
5
Why can't the elites understand that Brexit won because the neo-liberal world of corporate freedom has failed the majority of citizens?
Notice please also the rising drumbeat of questioning the legitimacy of having people actually voting directly on issues that concern them rather than going through the gate keepers of their bought and paid for politicians on all sides of all the aisles. Notice the New York Times joining the chorus.
Mr. Friedman supports his undemocratic, elitist position with Mr. Mousavizadeh, that famous consultant to the luxury fashion industry. His public concerns best expressed in his own words. "“I would worry that [luxury goods] become, in a way, unfashionable, among the next generation of very wealthy people,”
And please do not talk about "cynical politicians" until you examine the completely unfounded fear campaign waged by the stay camp. http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-21/drop-the-u-k-panic-tal...
Take a look at the business pages. The pound's fall has been minor as have the stock markets, both in most cases retreating from the run up in both in the anticipation of the stays winning. This is not the end of the world as we know it. It may inconvenience the British banks who decide to vacate to the EU jurisdictions. Mayfair property prices may falter slightly if the tax avoiders, Russian Oligarchs and other dirty money types might have to visit their bankers elsewhere.
Life will go on.
Notice please also the rising drumbeat of questioning the legitimacy of having people actually voting directly on issues that concern them rather than going through the gate keepers of their bought and paid for politicians on all sides of all the aisles. Notice the New York Times joining the chorus.
Mr. Friedman supports his undemocratic, elitist position with Mr. Mousavizadeh, that famous consultant to the luxury fashion industry. His public concerns best expressed in his own words. "“I would worry that [luxury goods] become, in a way, unfashionable, among the next generation of very wealthy people,”
And please do not talk about "cynical politicians" until you examine the completely unfounded fear campaign waged by the stay camp. http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-21/drop-the-u-k-panic-tal...
Take a look at the business pages. The pound's fall has been minor as have the stock markets, both in most cases retreating from the run up in both in the anticipation of the stays winning. This is not the end of the world as we know it. It may inconvenience the British banks who decide to vacate to the EU jurisdictions. Mayfair property prices may falter slightly if the tax avoiders, Russian Oligarchs and other dirty money types might have to visit their bankers elsewhere.
Life will go on.
145
Too bad Mr. Friedman didn't talk to Ian Jack of the Guardian who talks about the "neglected". Or to the American philosopher, Michael Sandel, whom Mr. Jack quotes;
"A large constituency of working-class voters feel that not only has the economy left them behind, but so has the culture. ... The sources of their dignity, the dignity of labour, have been eroded and mocked by … globalisation, the rise of finance, the attention that is lavished by parties across the political spectrum on economic and financial elites, [and] the technocratic emphasis of the established political parties. ... (This is a) failure of the elites." http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2016/06/michael-sandel-energy-br...
"A large constituency of working-class voters feel that not only has the economy left them behind, but so has the culture. ... The sources of their dignity, the dignity of labour, have been eroded and mocked by … globalisation, the rise of finance, the attention that is lavished by parties across the political spectrum on economic and financial elites, [and] the technocratic emphasis of the established political parties. ... (This is a) failure of the elites." http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2016/06/michael-sandel-energy-br...
10
The millions who voted for Brexit, hope their lives will be improved by their choice.
What happens, in a few years, if these same British voters, find their life has actually gone backwards? People are unhappy that their incomes are not growing. Their standard of living is deteriorating. Their prospects appear bleak. Voting Brexit may have been the result of years of frustration with the political system in Britain. Deciding to exit the EU, may not lead to an improved living standard. What if the EU was a convenient scapegoat for ills of the UK? How will these same people react, if they realise they have been conned by the Brexit leaders?
Parliament should have decided on Britain's place in the EU. A straight vote shows the decision at one particular point in time. Such an important decision may have been hijacked by the leaders of Brexit for their pwn political purposes. PM Cameron should never have allowed this referendum to occur. He assumed he would win. Elections do not always give the results you would like.
The Brexit team won the election, but they appear to have no plan to leave the EU, and how this will effect the UK in the long term.
What happens, in a few years, if these same British voters, find their life has actually gone backwards? People are unhappy that their incomes are not growing. Their standard of living is deteriorating. Their prospects appear bleak. Voting Brexit may have been the result of years of frustration with the political system in Britain. Deciding to exit the EU, may not lead to an improved living standard. What if the EU was a convenient scapegoat for ills of the UK? How will these same people react, if they realise they have been conned by the Brexit leaders?
Parliament should have decided on Britain's place in the EU. A straight vote shows the decision at one particular point in time. Such an important decision may have been hijacked by the leaders of Brexit for their pwn political purposes. PM Cameron should never have allowed this referendum to occur. He assumed he would win. Elections do not always give the results you would like.
The Brexit team won the election, but they appear to have no plan to leave the EU, and how this will effect the UK in the long term.
4
Take the time to read this very thoughtful essay, and it will bring some hope to a dire situation:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/29/why-elections-are-bad-fo...
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/29/why-elections-are-bad-fo...
5
The two currents of change, rapid technological and expanded immigration, are presented as co-dependent variables by Mr Friedman, but it is unclear that they are of necessity linked. Initially, most of the immigration was relatively unskilled, and this category did not foster technological change, it fostered price competition with local unskilled labor. This acts to drive down local wages, and those affected are resentful. You would be too, if you were paid pennies a word. Now engineers are discovering that they are subject to the same forces and processes, with H2B visas depressing their wages. Is it not fair for them to advocate and vote their own perceived self-interest? Is that not what the advocates and exploiters of globalization have been doing all along?
To advocate that rapid technological change and disruptive immigration are somehow inextricably linked, and that those who oppose having the value of their labor diminished are somehow luddites or racists is manipulative and unfair.
To advocate that rapid technological change and disruptive immigration are somehow inextricably linked, and that those who oppose having the value of their labor diminished are somehow luddites or racists is manipulative and unfair.
35
I think you over complicate this way too much. When you come right down to it this is all about fear and hate. Fear of losing what you have, fear of losing the illusion of control, and fear of an unknown future, combined with pure and simple hate of anything different from yourself whether it be by color, national origin, gender, sexuality, age, or "class".
To put it even simpler we are living in a world where our understanding of the world around us is a lot like those of cavemen who shuddered in their caves at the sounds and sights of thunder and lightening they could not possibly understand and the only comfort comes from huddling deeper into their cave.
To put it even simpler we are living in a world where our understanding of the world around us is a lot like those of cavemen who shuddered in their caves at the sounds and sights of thunder and lightening they could not possibly understand and the only comfort comes from huddling deeper into their cave.
43
How do you know cavemen's only comfort in reaction to thunder and lightning was to huddle deeper in their caves? They might equally have stood at the cave's mouth and contemplated "ha! No thunder and lightning can hurt me here!", perhaps even enjoying the show while it lasted...
How dare you. Taking a hugely complex decision with multiple very real pros, and multiple equally real cons and decide that people who choose differently from you are hateful and afraid. A very big reason why remain lost is that their whole campaign was based on fear of the outcome, you couldnt live in Britain over the last few months and not constantly hear of the terrible things that would happen if we left.
I don't know how much importance you put on having democracy but everyone I know who voted leave thought long and hard about it, and did it despite not because of the fear. Also, I love the fact that Britain is such a multicultural place, whatever future we have that wont change.
I don't know how much importance you put on having democracy but everyone I know who voted leave thought long and hard about it, and did it despite not because of the fear. Also, I love the fact that Britain is such a multicultural place, whatever future we have that wont change.
4
I beg US opinion formers to *not* use Brexit as a lazy analogy to argue for voting against Trump.
1. Brexit campaign was not as racist as Trump's: Boris Johnson's official leave group immediately, publicly and consistently criticised the nasty language and imagery of the racist leavers. The Leave campaigners consistent praised immigrants and thanked them for their contribution to the UK.
2. Brexit may turn out to be good (or not as bad as the EU) before Nov 2016, which would then strengthen Trump.
3. It's a bad analogy, because Brexit was *not* primarily about immigration. In the ComRes poll on "When casting your vote, what was the most important issue in your decision?" the result was the Economy (34%), Sovereignty (29%) and Immigration (20%).
4. Brexit was supported by 52% of brits, most of whom will find it offensive to be equated with Trump supporters.
There are lots of good reasons to vote against Trump. Talk about them.
1. Brexit campaign was not as racist as Trump's: Boris Johnson's official leave group immediately, publicly and consistently criticised the nasty language and imagery of the racist leavers. The Leave campaigners consistent praised immigrants and thanked them for their contribution to the UK.
2. Brexit may turn out to be good (or not as bad as the EU) before Nov 2016, which would then strengthen Trump.
3. It's a bad analogy, because Brexit was *not* primarily about immigration. In the ComRes poll on "When casting your vote, what was the most important issue in your decision?" the result was the Economy (34%), Sovereignty (29%) and Immigration (20%).
4. Brexit was supported by 52% of brits, most of whom will find it offensive to be equated with Trump supporters.
There are lots of good reasons to vote against Trump. Talk about them.
34
The economy took a big hit and it is not clear how long it will take to recover, if ever. Immigration from the former imperial colonies is much larger than from European citizens; BTW, who is going to pay the pensions of the aging English population? As for sovereignty, Britain always did what it wanted, and had a lot of special deals with the EU. The question is: how do you think that Brexit made you better off? Why do you think that the EU should open its arms and accept all the "pie in the sky" promises of your politicians?
Whatever the truth about the Brexit vote, whether or not the bold-faced-admitted-after-the-fact-lies on the side of a bus and elsewhere suckered enough people to vote for leave, whether it was racism and xenophobia, whether it was the expression of people who were simply sick of taxation without representation, or all of the above, regardless of the truth, what matters here in the USA is that the Brexit vote is being interpreted as support for the foreign policy proposals of Donald Trump.
Brexiteers who voted to leave have to live with the fact that Donald Trump and his know-nothing friends are their face and voice in America and that far right nationalist movements across Europe have been encouraged by their vote.
The vote was advisory and does not force policy. British leaders have the option of not invoking article 50 and seeking a revote on the basis of the openly admitted lies and misinformation spread by the Brexit campaigners. They should do so. If the vote is again to leave, then Britain knows that a majority of its people really wanted that outcome.
Brexiteers who voted to leave have to live with the fact that Donald Trump and his know-nothing friends are their face and voice in America and that far right nationalist movements across Europe have been encouraged by their vote.
The vote was advisory and does not force policy. British leaders have the option of not invoking article 50 and seeking a revote on the basis of the openly admitted lies and misinformation spread by the Brexit campaigners. They should do so. If the vote is again to leave, then Britain knows that a majority of its people really wanted that outcome.
4
I would say that Boris Johnson is just craftier than Donald and doesn't do his xenophobic schtick in public. How do you explain Amnesty UK report of bug uptick in racially motivated harassment? How do you explain the American being attacked by a bunch of thugs on a bus in Manchester because he has darker skin? You're letting these people turn your country into a mess.
1
But what about the chaos? Does the world deserve it because a few thousand people provided a small margin of victory, many of whom now admit they didn't know what they were voting for?
14
It's several million people, and a majority of the voters.
It is the same margin of victory that Mr. Obama had over Mitt Romney in 2012.
Should we have a "do-over" and get rid of Mr. Obama based on that logic? After all, I think most people voted for him due to his black skin and "political correctness", not that he's done a good job.
So can I have a "do-over"?
It is the same margin of victory that Mr. Obama had over Mitt Romney in 2012.
Should we have a "do-over" and get rid of Mr. Obama based on that logic? After all, I think most people voted for him due to his black skin and "political correctness", not that he's done a good job.
So can I have a "do-over"?
2
*1.27 million, and we knew what we were voting for
1
It was over a million people - not "a few thousand". And most DID understand what they were voting for - the UK press has shown it's bias in headlining stories of a couple of scared people who were worried by the press negativity which was rampant when the results were announced.
But I'm truly sorry that the UK's desire to make take back control it's own law making function has somehow inconvenienced you (although how is not clear to me since nothing yet had changed). I hope you'll have the grace to apologize to the world for the chaos the US inflicts on it every time it goes to war?
But I'm truly sorry that the UK's desire to make take back control it's own law making function has somehow inconvenienced you (although how is not clear to me since nothing yet had changed). I hope you'll have the grace to apologize to the world for the chaos the US inflicts on it every time it goes to war?
2
How is it that in a few short days everyone has suddenly forgotten the flaws of the European Union. Is it not still opaque and corrupt? Has it stopped insidiously increasing its powers with no mandate? Has it started to respond to the will of its people? Did the enforced austerity on Greece and others mean nothing?
This is especially hard to hear from across the Atlantic, I was fully aware of the financial risks when I voted leave, I wasn't duped, or chauvinist, or wanting to return to some historic utopia. I'm also extremely pro the EU idea, just not what it has recently become. The phrase 'live free or die' is an American ideal, when faced with the choice 'live free or lose 1.5% of gdp' you're all suddenly shocked and mocking when we chose being masters of our own destiny.
This is especially hard to hear from across the Atlantic, I was fully aware of the financial risks when I voted leave, I wasn't duped, or chauvinist, or wanting to return to some historic utopia. I'm also extremely pro the EU idea, just not what it has recently become. The phrase 'live free or die' is an American ideal, when faced with the choice 'live free or lose 1.5% of gdp' you're all suddenly shocked and mocking when we chose being masters of our own destiny.
130
The EU of today represents classic governmental overreach. The majority of the objectives of an integrated Europe had been reached by 1990, with the EU. While the common currency further reduced trade friction, it did so at a price, that of country sovereignty. That price was not worth paying.
3
This is ONLY what lefty liberals and the lefty media believe; trust me that the vast majority of the USA is 100% behind the British people and the "Leave" vote!
5
I still support you. Britain will be fine. The island isn't going anywhere. The Remains would like you to panic about nothing.
3
Excellent poem Mr. Eisenberg! Careful now, I would not be surprised if Trump slaps you with another one of his bogus lawsuits. I know you will come up with a inspirational poem just for that! Cheers!
6
This rock grows tinier by the day. Nobody will be able to wall off the consequences of climate change colliding with overpopulation.
308
What is the purpose of your despair? Are you saying that nothing will change, that nothing can change? That's rubbish.
1
The political world just looks to be getting more stupid and shortsighted to me.
2
I would love to ask Trump how he will deal with climate change and overpopulation being the existential threat to life on our planet. I can see him responding by sucking his thumb and hiding under his blanket.
The people who voted for Brexit (and will vote for Drumpf in November) are not thinking of connectivity or the global economy or the shape of international commerce or the effects of robotization in industry. They don't like that brown-skinned people, or people speaking foreign, have moved in down the street.
The number one issue pushed by the Brexiters was immigration. "Take back control," was their slogan, and it was chiefly about taking back control of the UK's borders. The sharp rise in hate crimes and public displays of xenophobia in the days following the Brexit vote -- Polish schoolchildren upraided as "vermin," for instance, or shouting "We won, so get out!" at minorities -- demonstrates as clear as day where these people are coming from.
The same goes for the Drumpf campaign. In announcing his candidacy, Drumpf assailed Mexicans and has since broadened his hate net to include Muslims. "Make America Great Again" is really about getting rid of all the scapegoat groups. Why do you think the KKK and white supremacist groups support him in droves? He is their candidate.
So, sorry, Mr. Friedman, the Brexit and Drumpf voters are driven by something a log more atavistic than concerns for the shape of the global future: guarding their own little square of turf from "those people."
The number one issue pushed by the Brexiters was immigration. "Take back control," was their slogan, and it was chiefly about taking back control of the UK's borders. The sharp rise in hate crimes and public displays of xenophobia in the days following the Brexit vote -- Polish schoolchildren upraided as "vermin," for instance, or shouting "We won, so get out!" at minorities -- demonstrates as clear as day where these people are coming from.
The same goes for the Drumpf campaign. In announcing his candidacy, Drumpf assailed Mexicans and has since broadened his hate net to include Muslims. "Make America Great Again" is really about getting rid of all the scapegoat groups. Why do you think the KKK and white supremacist groups support him in droves? He is their candidate.
So, sorry, Mr. Friedman, the Brexit and Drumpf voters are driven by something a log more atavistic than concerns for the shape of the global future: guarding their own little square of turf from "those people."
482
To borrow from a line on the Brexiters, I don't think all Trump supporters are racist. I just think all racists are Trump supporters.
14
You are correct Gfagan, as we say down south, we don't want none of them 'ferrerners' in our neck of the woods.
1
The British public now votes in US elections?? Who knew!
And while the US is overrun with illegal immigrants from Mexico (most of whom self-identify as white, but who YOU consider "brown"), Great Britain's immigration of Indians, Pakistanis and Africans comes from their former colonies -- ergo, not affected at ALL by the EU or its rules. The European immigrants to Great Britain are nearly all white Europeans.
Do you now consider Poles to be "brown skinned"?
And while the US is overrun with illegal immigrants from Mexico (most of whom self-identify as white, but who YOU consider "brown"), Great Britain's immigration of Indians, Pakistanis and Africans comes from their former colonies -- ergo, not affected at ALL by the EU or its rules. The European immigrants to Great Britain are nearly all white Europeans.
Do you now consider Poles to be "brown skinned"?
5
Excellent article, and unfortunately, it will fall on deaf ears as the majority of the people who shoot from the hip would never take the time to read it, to think about it, and to open their eyes....
I am in Europe right now, and see the fearmongering of the few ultranationalists on TV. Where are the smart, thoughtful, eloquent, respected politicians that can counter these greedy, crooked "preachers" ?
Where are they in the USA?
I am in Europe right now, and see the fearmongering of the few ultranationalists on TV. Where are the smart, thoughtful, eloquent, respected politicians that can counter these greedy, crooked "preachers" ?
Where are they in the USA?
393
Far from being excellent, it is anti-democratic.
I don't know but I know they are not running for president.
1
Please read Mark Thomason above you.
I doubt that the British will actually invoke article 50.
9
The know-nothing choice, build a Wall,
And that is the Donald Trump call,
Take problems complex
That viciously vex
Give them a dumb-down overhaul.
The Brits have their own con men, yet,
Who blindly apple carts upset,
Not subtle or smart
Just rend things apart,
And blanch at the chaos they get.
Let' learn that when a fool unlocks
And opens a Pandora's box
As was done in Iraq
Which thoughtfulness did mock,
Get ready to walk on loose Rocks.
And that is the Donald Trump call,
Take problems complex
That viciously vex
Give them a dumb-down overhaul.
The Brits have their own con men, yet,
Who blindly apple carts upset,
Not subtle or smart
Just rend things apart,
And blanch at the chaos they get.
Let' learn that when a fool unlocks
And opens a Pandora's box
As was done in Iraq
Which thoughtfulness did mock,
Get ready to walk on loose Rocks.
223
Genius, Larry, genius!