Parity baby, parity baby. Let them rue the day they listened to Boris.
4
I see a trip to Scotland on my near future.....
1
Britain is being kind enough to give us in the US a preview of our future. Many countries are actively looking for a currency to replace the current standard, the US Dollar. This is a direct result of having a narcissistic, economically ignorant, evil clown for a president.
1
It still seems oddly suspicious that Brexit and Trump’s election both polled poorly until the Ruskies started meddling.
3
Watch what happens in England, that is our future. Things like this happen when racist fools get elected.
2
Maybe Boris Johnson will do the right thing, and convert the UK from the BPS to the Euro, before he takes the country into his 'free fall' Brexit plan. That way, Scotland won't be as badly damaged financially, and the Caledonians can finally pull out of the UK, take over their North Sea oil, and join the European Union as their own sovereign country, free of this English farce.
3
Something not reported is because of the uncertainty created by trump many countries are search for a currency to replace the US Dollar as the international standard.
This is not speculation, it is actively being looked into. Just wait until they decide to base all international transactions on perhaps Swiss currency. The international trading power the US now holds will evaporate and with much of the influence of the USA world wide.
This should be interesting, like the coming recession. Anyone that thinks one is not coming, like the republican shill I saw on CNN this morning is in for a shock.
I’m glad everything I own is paid for and I’m no longer in the workforce.
5
@Paulie
There are 49 billion Swiss Francs in circulation vs. 1.5 Trillion US Dollars so the Swiss Franc is unlikely to displace the USD as the world's largest reserve currency. Euros or Chinese Renminbi are a more likely alternatives, but both have issues.
4
@Interested it was just a example. Do you think that actual dollar bills are used when a company buys a item that costs hundreds of millions? It is nothing more than numbers in a computer system that is hopefully secure.
1
I’ve been waiting for the value of the pound to represent what can be bought with it. I’ve never found the pound to buy any more than the dollar. Then add on the VAT (what added value pray tell?). London will still be worth visiting, and little Britain will be more affordable. My guess is the rest of Britain will revert to bargaining.
2
The EU version of the Americas ... a vision ... if it is good for Europeans why not for us?
How about a "Union Of All The Americas"?
What would one think of a single "American Union" submerging the identities of all of the countries in North America, Central America and South America?
In such a grand Union, all of the constitutions of all of the countries would be abolished.
The legal systems would be subsumed under single Americas wide legal system with the highest court called "The Supreme Court of the Americas".
The economies of all of the countries in the Americas would controlled by central authority, perhaps located in a small, but centrally located country.
How does Guatemala sound?
And there would be completely free movement of goods and services.
The currency would be made uniform from Tierra del Fuego to point Barrow.
Shall the currency be called the Amerigo?
There would be no borders.
There would free movement of people from all the participating nations.
There would be no need for expensive border walls and no need to incarcerate thousands of people.
That would be a major savings.
Does this sound great?
No! It sounds horrid!
But model is the EU and it is why the Brits want out.
1
@Meta1
What you've just described sounds fantastic, as long as there are mechanisms to prevent the large countries from making rules that favor themselves to the detriment of the smaller countries. You're right that the EU provides a useful template for success. Bring it on!
@Meta1
Actually it sounds pretty good. We have to put the central authority in Costa Rica though ;-)
@Meta1: In WW2 Germany and Japan thought they were Big Dogs due to their ignorance of the world. At the end of the war they had learned how small they were. The US and the USSR knew they were Big Dogs, but the UK, being a "winner", thought so too. Even after some 60 odd years and the loss of Empire they still embrace the illusion. Europe figured out alliance can make a Bigger Dog through the EU. Brexit may well have the opposite effect on the UK, devolving into Little England. Russia is now a "regional power", opposing the EU with a GNP a fraction of the EU's, but still harboring the illusion of Bigness. The US is still the Big Dog, but challengers are on the horizon.
Want to know how a US system can solidify the Biggest Dog position for the foreseeable future?
A North American Union (NAU) would own the 21st century. An isolated US, not so much.
The only thing missing at this point is a flying cute dragon to call this the "Neverending Story II".
4
Has anyone asked Boris at a press conference whether he knows that becoming the 51st state requires a republican form of government?
15
@PSP
I'd be willing to take a Windsor as head of state and add the ability to replace failing governments before 4 years have passed......
4
Ah, just when the world's two great English-speaking economies should be using their booming economies to solve climate change and commit to world peace, they are instead isolating themselves behind a narrative of lies and false fears. It's beyond perplexing. It's more than concerning. It's downright frightening. And when the pound and the dollar go crashing out, and the economies tanks, the opportunity will be lost. Hopefully not forever.
27
The real culprit in all of this is former prime minister David Cameron in putting Brexit to a referendum in the first place or, in going down that path, to at least have called for an affirmative vote by 2 out of 3 voters to pass.
10
Thank your for the informative report. Nevertheless, a lower UK Pound will help offset some of the short term undesirable effects of Brexit.
In the big picture, this Brexit business is a lesser event in the history of Britain. The British, you will recall, have weathered the inordinate debts of Kings for various adventurism, then also the Spanish Armada, the Seven Years War, Napoleon, WWI, the Nazis, and a variety of missteps and social dead ends, including a failed industrial policy in the 1960s-70s...
Anyway, friends recently returned from London tell me the it is booming - as in economic activity - and I see also that the Unemployment Rate in the UK is below 4%!!!
So the Brits will get through this too....
3
@James F. Follwell
yes, london still booms, not so much on the high streets of the rest of the UK though...
3
@cossak
Perhaps so, Cossak. I suppose it all comes down to quality of life. I would like to spend a year in the North of England. I have been imbued with British History and Literature all my life. But I expect my sojourn in places life Manchester and Liverpool, would be bittersweet, and confirm the quality of life we have, but under appreciate, where I live on Canada's east coast.
HAGD
2
Don’t you believe it. The UK is on the edge of a precipice. Fun to watch - if you’re not on this side of the pond.
2
I guess its time to travel to Britain
5
When a nation does stupid stuff, it's currency loses value. Look at the Russian Ruble, down to 1.6 cents. But the Swiss Franc is now worth MORE than a dollar.
9
@Dadof2 But the euro? $1.12.
1
Give Boris Johnson a year or two, and "the pound" will be known as "the ounce."
31
The European Prime is zero except Sweden where it is -.25.
When lending money offers no return economic growth is not in the cards. This is the norm and for most of us enough is enough.
The exit from the EU will leave the world's plutocrats with one less place to park their money in a world where playing the markets seems as safe an investment as anything else.
I wonder how long New York will remain in an isolationist America. When will the streets of New York be filled with young people fighting corruption in a city where every day the money and power is more concentrated. Hong Kong is the safest city in the world; it has a modern infrastructure and a citizenry that believes in and understands liberal means free and a free market requires scrupulous oversight to be fair.
Neither London nor New York can survive the kleptocracy promised by Brexit England or kakistocracy that runs America.
I am sure the new generation of globally educated Chinese leaders knows that a separate free and independent Hong Kong is the last brick needed to make China the world's new economic superpower. I wonder if the Hong Kong riots aren't in fact Beijing crying please don't throw me into the briar patch.
6
In the short run, the falling Pound will boost Britain's exports, allowing Brexiteers to continue claiming that there is nothing wrong with Brexit till Brexit really happens.
Once out of the EU, the Pound will fall further, cushioning the economic damage from the loss of free trade. However, imports will start to be more expensive (fruit, vegetables and many basic necessities in the first line) which will especially affect the poorer classes.
For those who voted to leave, I feel they deserve it. for those who voted to remain, i feel pity that they've been dragged into this mess and will suffer the consequences as much as the others.
Also, how much will Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg financially reap from betting against the Pound? Both used to work as investment banker or trader before turning to politics.
11
@SJP
Even in the short run, the pound will have to fall a long way to offset the tariffs that automatically will be imposed most places where the U.K. does not have its own trade agreement.
3
And Rees-Mogg has already moved his asset management company to Dublin so that the Brexit catastrophe won’t hit his pocket.
5
There is no way that Parliament can get a majority to reverse Brexit, or get a good deal from the EU, or even just leave without a deal.
Which means the only thing that will happen is a no deal Brexit, which is the only option that doesn’t require a majority. It’s automatic.
Absent another absurd extension, Britain is out in October. This has been pretty obvious for at least two years... I’m not sure how any other option could happen.
9
HaHaHa. Too late to worry about this now. Shoulda worried more 3 years ago when the mob picked Brexit from a list of 2 choices. The UK is a rump state left after the dissolution of empire. It had a chance to thrive under the EU but this option needed better leadership than Cameron could muster. As in any.
3 months to crash and burn.
15
@DaveD. Why would any country want to be subjects of Brussels? If Italy pulls out, the EU is finished.
1
@Jackson: Because there's economic power in numbers; they were able to keep their own currency; and unity means peace. There's lots of good reasons to stay in the EU. This Republican position that western nations should abandon international organizations because they encroach on our sovereignty is nothing more than a talking point intended to gin up this nationalist anti-immigrant thing they have going on. Peace among neighbors is something that all western nations have cherished for the past 70 years. Perhaps that's too radical a concept for Conservatives.
3
Rather, the UK has inoculated all other member states from copying its folly.
3
Why would pro-Brexit Britain buy anything from anywhere else? If they don’t make it or grow it, they don’t need it.
They are going to enter their time machine and go back to when they were a great empire.
9
@Brad
But this time minus the Empire!
I think they may have forgotten that crucial little difference.
Not even Greece wanted to leave the EU, although that would have been an easy way to get rid of its crushing debt. The benefits of being in the EU are just too great.
The Brexiteers didn't think that through.
11
To quote Austin Powers (of the once great British empire)
“No doubt, love, but as long as people are still having promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection while at the same time experimenting with mind-expanding drugs in a consequence-free environment, I'll be sound as a pound!”
6
@Brad: I wonder how long it will take them to remember that tea does not grow in the British Isles?
10
Try living in London when the pound equals a dollar.
It is still way too expensive to live there even compared to some Europeancities.
Having lived there - provided prices do not go up to keep up with falling pound - for an American - the best value is when the pound is about worth 60 cents.
Then, may be it is affordable to live there.
Even as an expat in the oil patch, we could never understand how brits live there on a paycheck.
7
The only way for Great Britain to survive after leaving the EU will be to devalue the pound even further, for some that won’t be so good, but for others (like exporters) it should help ease up the burdens of Brexit.
1
In my lifetime, wasn't the pound worth >$5.00/dollar? (I am a geezer.)
7
@turbot highest rate was in the 1950s when it was 2.8
2
So is the rising and falling of the dollar a good metric (based on Banker sentiments) for whether or not America should adopt certain planks of the Democrat platform? Of course not. And so it is unfair to use it here.
1
When it is all done and the pound is worth 25 cents the UL will be competitive with China and become the industrial super power they all imagine in their dreams. 1830 all over again.
4
Seriously? Do you have any idea how many factors drive the price of a currency??
4
Brexit is conservative fraud aided by Putin, just like trump. Brexit must be rejected and the damage repaired, just like the USA will do with trump starting in 18 months.
34
@Murray Bolesta I’m sure the British will accept your very flawed analysis which is based on nothing.
4
@Jackson
Nothing but the facts.
3
So you are saying Brexit is not all bad? Britain gets more tourists and more duty-free shops selling cheap English booze. Score 1 for Brexit. I knew it would all work out!
8
@Mickey
I assume you are being ironic, sarcastic, though it is not as clear as it could be
@Pat Yep - That's the thing with sarcasm - it's not funny when too literal. Dr. Johnson did call it the lowest form of wit, so I guess he also identified some of its shortcomings.
2
Looks like a good time visit the UK. But it will always be expensive in terms of what it really costs for the means of daily living. I don't know how the locals afford it. And that's not good for anyone.
4
Invoking Churchill during the Blitz, Johnson will demagogue for nostalgia, patriotism and nationalism — and get a hard Brexit. The Pound will crash, and the UK finally gets what the slim majority voted for — then we can all book cheap London vacations. David Cameron, who should have required a 66% plurality in the Stay/Leave vote, will bear the weight of this disaster in history; Johnson will only finish the demolition.
The US needs to pay attention to this moment, as the UK goes from international respect to no more than a tourist destination with quaint villages, historical buildings, and, of course, the Monarchy. America will become a collection of Trump golf courses and clubs catering to those who benefitted from the tax reduction and farm subsidies, while we put up the "Closed for Business" sign with tariffs and no trade deals.
33
@Evelyn
which in real terms(a small island off the coast of ireland) is all it has been these past 70 years or so.
6
@MCV207. So you disapprove of our unemployment at 3.7%? I’m Sorry you are unable to find a job.
@MCV207
...as the UK goes from international respect to being no more than an island off the coast of Ireland.
25
What Brexit will mean for the British economy is still a bit unclear. The Germans haven't quite decided yet, it seems.
In a larger (and more significant) sense, the primary effects of BREXIT will be Scottish Independence and Irish Unification.
39
@Roger - avoid a "hard border" in Ireland but build a hard border near Hadrian's Wall?
1
The dollar value of the pound makes an interesting comparison but often does not measure the economic stature of the average UK worker. One of my theories has always been, "How many minutes must the average citizen work to buy certain commodities?" Necessities like a gallon of gas, or a quart of milk, or a pound of beef, or a pair of socks. A low evaluation of a nation's currency is great for exporting... but the UK is a serial importer. The penalty for a weak British pound is paid by its citizens.
17
The exchange rate for the pound illustrates a puzzle: like many other currencies, its exchange rate doesn't reflect its local purchasing power.
I have relatives in the UK, which has prompted several visits over the years. I've noted that in terms of local purchasing power, the pound was always roughly at par with the Canadian dollar: We paid about the same number of pounds as dollars for the same or similar products and services. This made the UK an expensive place to visit. About the only exceptions to this were high-end tech and luxury goods.
I suspect the high exchange rates for the pound over the years were related to the value of London's financial services, but I haven't found an explanation to confirm or refute this suspicion.
4
@Wolf Kirchmeir When the pound is low everything imported is more expensive. Coffee, Tea, Petroleum, cars...... Everything exported from Britain is cheaper. Beer? Gin?
2
The pound sterling was replaced by the US dollar as the international currency of choice. For some time, the UK depended on their unique position. We are now in a similar position. If we are not careful in how we use the US dollar, it will similarly be replaced. Woe to the US when this happens. Look to the UK for the implications.
20
@Bruce Maier
What will replace the USD? We are a mess in many ways, but so are many other places.
1
@Bruce Maier. Do tell us what stable economy will be replacing the dollar.
2
This is a self-inflicted bullet in the head for a sunsetting empire
69
Currency exchange rates are unstable, unpredictable, poorly related to "fundamentals," and basically not indicators of much of anything. That's why you can write write articles that explain them as the result of pet influences, like the descent into Brexit. There's no credible competition.
3
@Joe Ryan You can't really make these distinctions as an American. The UK is an Island of 66M. If the Scots and Wales leave as has been discussed the country continues to fall in Population to 50M. Everything that happens in England is directly related to trade. Half of the food they eat is imported. Yes, that makes them dependent on the value and the exchange of the pound to the Euro.
11
@Joe Ryan
You made a very good point! There are many factors constantly interplaying which make hard to predict definitive outcome. powerful countries " all deal with all sorts of problems which all make them vulnerable because it is very hard to manage with unpredictability. Mathematicians, economists, politicians play with models, which are easier to design than to interpret!
@RPU
Yes, I agree with your point that the impacts of changes in currency exchange rates are substantial, and more so in smaller jurisdictions.
It's just that you can't predict those changes, and they're not dependably related to (don't compensate for) changes in "fundamentals."
In another comparison many Brits are surely ticked about, the Pound will soon be worth less than the Euro.
31
@D.A.Oh it already is for tourists.
10/31/19: PM Johnson crashes out of the EU without a deal. Celebrates the fact that Britain will not pay the agreed-upon exit fee. Tories distribute MBGA hats ("Make Britain Great Again")
1/1/20: The people of "Great" Britain become restive as inflation and shortages of food, fuel and medicines begin to bite. A cynical populace scoffs at Johnson's reminders that "we got through the Blitz and we can do it again." Demands in Scotland for a new independence referendum, this time likely to pass. Terrorist incidents at the now-hard Irish border. The carrot of a generous US trade deal not likely to materialize in the face of strong Congressional opposition.
?4/1/20: What's a demagogue to do? Start a little war, perhaps renewing claims to France (after all, he's read his Shakespeare). Worked for Margaret Thatcher with the Falklands and for the US with Grenada and Panama.
The solution: Another referendum with 3 options: 1) no-deal Brexit; 2) May's plan accepted by the EU (which will not re-negotiate another deal: 3) revoke Article 50 and stay in the EU.
38
@Pat Well said. I've been thinking about this a lot and would add another factor to your 1/1/20 scenario: unemployment escalates and the UK populace demands that the government "do something about it".
This whole mess crystallizes what happens when single-issue voters (sovereignty) fail to understand complex realities.
35
@Pat
If Johnson does indeed lead a crash-out on 10/31, he will probably lose a no-confidence vote within 90 days when the consequences of that action become apparent. The new election could mark the end of the Conservatives as a major party in the United Kingdom of England and Wales.
6
@Pat Have some more fun and imagine capital flight as pensioners move their savings to Euros and dollars.
As in Calle Florida in Buenos Aires not so long ago, you can imagine touts buying/selling dollars every five feet in SoHo.
More realistically though, in order to keep the pound stable, the Bank of England raises interest rates to unpleasant levels.
When someone wants to manipulate statistics, a chart is often a good place to start. How would the chart look different if it extended back to the year 2000 instead of starting in July of 2016. How would the chart look different if it included from zero instead of from $1.20? If you look at a mountain from a few miles it look immense. You can't see mountains from outer space. The value of the pound against the dollar fluctuates and it is not surprising it is doing so during this time of uncertainty. It is certainly possible that after Brexit is completed, the pound will reach an exchange rate of $2.00. The truth is the Times is biased and opposes Brexit and will do anything to raise fear and advance their agenda.
6
@Michael Green
I hate to break it to you, but reality is 'biased' against Brexit. The Pound has weakened each step of the way. Leaving the EU, where the UK had a sweetheart deal in the biggest market in the world, was always going to hurt. Even hard line Brexiteers have invested accordingly. Uncertainty is always bad for business. Now, will it eventually be better for Britain? Well, seems unlikely but no one reall knows, I'll grant you that.
18
Came to the comments section to specifically state to be wary of charts that don't start at zero.
3
@Michael Green. Great idea! But lets go back to 1933 when it took more than $5 to buy one pound sterling. The British Empire has been in a steep decline for many years and Brexit will hasten that fact. Invest wisely with that in mind and you'll make money.
13
Brexit is simply another misguided misadventure in “Whiteness” The referendum, led by the Tories (Republicans) fueled by social media tampering by the Russian govt. (such a fun loving bunch) passed amongst mostly older white and rural members of Brits. It was driven by bigotry, and anti-immigration sentiment fed by the upper classes in the Tory party. Racism is absolutely the easiest way to manipulate narrow minded people. This is an age old play and gets used to great effect time and time again. Hannah Arendt spells the strategy out in detail in The Origins of Totalitarianism The upper classes manipulation of the bourgeoisie (The average middle class) by playing the racism card. It’s easy and works every single time. The upper class Tories have many foreign investments in the markets. The lowering of the pound if played correctly enriches their accounts. The chaos that plays out as a result of such tampering within society counts for little in the minds of those driving it. It’s time we began to realize that for the safety and security of humanity and civilization itself we need to examine the deeper causes of the problems that create such massive migration from one culture to another which leads to additional race baiting. The problems are global warming, wars, and squalor resultant from the exploitive foreign policies of post WW2 western powers. One last note of irony is that Winston Churchill’s dying wish was to create a “United States of Europe.”
63
@Timothy H. Excellent comment. Thank you
5
@Timothy H.
I really don't think you can easily transpose US race relations and politics directly over the situation in the UK.
Yes, racism (as more narrowly defined in the US) was the motivation for some who voted leave.
But the reasons are more complex than that, and include (for example) anger about the cuts to public services which was part of the Tory/LibDem austerity policies, but was blamed by the Tories on the EU. That is why the "£350m/week for the NHS" was such a potent campaign slogan.
I was watching BBC World the other day and one very anti Brexit commentator said that Britain's divorce from the European Union has now made the country a "dependency" of the United States. The British do you know a lot about dependency. When the United Kingdom declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939, the empire quickly followed suit. The UK and its global dominions and colonies included the entire Indian subcontinent, Canada, Australia, large swaths of Africa and sundary other places.
The empire is gone and if the EU is gone, then Britain truly stands by itself. That would be a three trillion dollar economy in a one hundred trillion dollar global system. The U.S. economy, seven times larger, and its global navy and force projection capabilities far beyond anything Britain can muster, will be big brother. No equality in that relationship. Britain may have to conclude a bilateral trade agreement with NAFTA to ensure markets for its goods and services.
Britain's status, globally, will shrink to that of to just what it is, an island off the coast of Europe.
22
@Yankelnevich Sadly, the largest problem won't be sending stuff across the channel. The biggest part of their economy is services. Those functions won't be portable without a significant trade deal with the EU. The Americans already have big banks on Wall Street. The UK shouldn't expect the same treatment from America that it has being in side the EU. That's why the Bank of England is suggesting a drop of 5% on GDP. And that's why the Pound has been getting hammered.
16
@RPU The Americans will squeeze everything out of the UK for an awful trade agreement. Prince George will end up having to marry a Trump in all likelihood.
2
@RPU the uk will just have to come to terms with *reality*...finally!
The Pound has been overinflated for several years against the dollar, it needs to adjust itself. The cost in the UK for goods, services and housing is too high for the value returned. The people are overtaxed in every consumer area in addition to financially supporting the Royals with their "Spend" and "Enjoy the Good Life" mentality. The Military has suffered, the Police have suffered, the NHS is barely afloat. Criminal gangs, robberies, knife crime and an influx of incompatible immigrants is rampant. Can a new PM do something.....? Doubt it, but at least a new broom sweeps clean. And atop of all this, the EU wants to hammer the UK with a big stick. Yes, the Pound is overinflated. We wish them the best!
5
@andre duvall What on earth are you going on about? The pound is incredibly weak and as someone who has lived in Britain 22years, I don’t recognise anything of my home in your description. What a ridiculous caricature. Now post Brexit, it will likely be a different story.
2
@andre duvall
"An influx of incompatible immigrants is rampant"
Really?
Actually that is only one of the lies which was pitched to secure Brexit. Immigration has been shown to have been beneficial to UK, and Scotland wants more.
2
It’s comforting in a way to know the English are even crazier than the Americans. Hard to imagine how that’s possible, but they are. Of course, America is a much greater danger to world stability if not the survival of human civilization than Britain, but still...
43
@Mark I agree. A minority of Americans have voted for insanity, but Brexit won a majority of votes. We are down low on many things here in the US. The worst healthcare, the worst education, the prison industrial complex, and of course really being very racist, but at least the UK has more fools as a percentage of the population than does the US. We just have some structural problems that always makes it possible for a minority to rule, and rule poorly at that. That minority is corporations and the politicians, bot GOP and DFL, that they own.
8
Brexit is a suicide pact. And to think I regarded the British as sophisticated, educated and practical. Goes to show how wrong it is to stereotype.
People do another vote. The end result is obvious.
46
It's keeping illegal, disruptive migrants out of Britain which is at the heart of Brexit.
I would imagine that if Britain could avail itself of the economic benefits of EU membership, without getting stuck with EU rules as to immigrants and border control, that they'd enthusiastically go along with that.
I don't blame a country for wanting to exercise border and immigration control so as to preserve its national identity and not have to deal with incompatible migrants who would dilute the prevailing culture.
Britain is for the British and those certain select foreigners whom they choose, in their sole discretion, to offer residency and eventually citizenship. This is not something that should be forced down their throats by Germany and Merkel as a condition of EU membership.
Germany already messed up Europe twice.
Here we go again.
12
@MIKEinNYC
Totally wrong. It's about keeping legal EU immigrants out of Britain because free movement of labor is one of the cornerstones of the EU project. The famous Polish plumbers. And yes the Brits want to have their cake and eat it but they are not going to get it. And the four freedoms of movement (capital, labor, goods and services) are not being forced down their throat by Germany or Merkel since Thatcher when she was PM back in the 1980's was one of the prime movers in the creation of this concept when she signed the Single European Act treaty. You really need to learn a bit about the subject.
87
@MIKEinNYC
On a smaller scale, traditionally ethnic neighborhoods in the US continue to face a similar crisis over "immigration."
Trying to preserve their ethnic identity, the residents are fighting a losing battle. Outsiders with enough money will "steal" a few bargains or bid up properties to a price point at which ethnic owners won't be able to say "no."
I've seen it happen. Once upon a time, low cost affordable housing goes by the boards and outsiders begin moving in, making condos out of tenements in neighborhoods that were once out of the question but are in close enough proximity to much more desirable after real estate. Next generation ethnics … forget about it.
When I was a poor college kid receiving buckets of financial aid financial, we rented in an ethnic neighborhood, and let's just say none of the neighbors ever pulled up in a welcome wagon. Far from it. We were shunned and lightly scorned, but we kind of understood and never took it personally because the price was right.
Preserving one's ethnic, cultural or national identity has deep roots, which is how Brexit -- and Trump -- get their mojo.
However, money and commerce will likely be the final arbiter in the Brexit mess, but it's still a question as to how many Brits are willing to put national pride above the almighty dollar, er, pound, and fall on their swords.
Territorial pride and cultural identity are baked into the human experience. Something always has to give ... or not.
6
@MIKEinNYC --"
I don't blame a country for wanting to exercise border and immigration control so as to preserve its national identity and not have to deal with incompatible migrants who would dilute the prevailing culture."
Right out of the nativist playbook which decried the arrival of immigrants. Nonsense.
25
Britian needs a major overhall and a new start. The place to begin is to do away with the British monarchy which is an affront to the modern world.
7
@Jack
You wouldn't trade Trump for Elizabeth in a second?
5
Look at a chart of the Cable exchange rate over the last century. From $5 to a pound it dropped to about $4, then $3 (after WW2), then $2 (1970s), and now a pound buys a little over one dollar. Brexit has certainly battered sterling, with more to come maybe, but there is something else at work here - a deeper malaise in the British system that has yet to be acknowledged.
36
@Nullius They only ever prospered when they were exploiting weaker nations. Now they had a chance to join a union of nations to stabilize their economy, but they are not happy with that because they then get judge relative to other more industrious nations. They have always expected to bully others and they can't do that in the EU. They actually can't do it anywhere anymore, thus their demise is destined to happen. More quickly, with brexit, but eventually anyway, regardless of whether they halt the current lemming herd.
3