I just had to make a note of this, because I wondered if anyone else had noted that.
8 june '16 In the papers in the last couple of days:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/06/05/economic-arguments-about-brexit-have-succumbed-to-group-think/ We like Roger Bootle.
and
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/embracing-role-as-eus-de-facto-leader-germany-expands-its-army/article30282688/ Shades of 1930. Will we have the luftwaffe on Britain's air bases?
10 June: From my Capital & Conflict newsmail:
But what about Brexit?
If Goldman is worried that Brexit is one of the “concerns” that could lead to a 20% drawdown in stocks, should you be worried too? Chancellor George Osborne says yes. Showing the fortitude and perseverance that have characterised the British attitude toward adversity, Osborne told the BBC last night, “there’s a lot to be scared about.”
How Churchillian.
He was responding to allegations that he and the prime minister have engaged in a scare-mongering campaign to persuade the British public to vote Remain in the referendum on European Union membership on 23 June. Appearing on the BBC, Osborne said, “If we vote to leave, then we lose control... If we lose control of the economy, we lose control of everything. People should be under no illusions.”
Control of their own economic and political future is precisely what the British people can get if they vote to leave. Also, note to chancellor: the government doesn’t control the economy and we don’t want the government to have “control of everything.”
He’s right about one thing. People should be under no illusions that when push comes to shove, a certain species of political conservative reveals its preference for arguments from authority. If we’ve learned anything this week, it’s that Cameron and Osborne don’t believe the British people can be trusted.
To be fair, the elites on the left and the right are united in this belief these days: you don’t know what’s best for you so you need to be told. This is not your Britain.
Ever the voice of calm reason, The Fleet Street Letter’s Charlie Morris had something to say about Brexit in his latest update. Charlie commented that both the pound and the euro had rallied against the US dollar on the back of a weak jobs report last Friday in America. Then he wrote:
| This is important because despite a shift in the polls towards Brexit, the pound hasn’t collapsed at all. The scare mongering campaign, otherwise known as “Project Fear”, is hugely exaggerating events. If Britain votes to leave, life will continue as normal. There will be a period of renegotiation, and a new agreement will be reached. The fall out – if there is any – will not come from Britain leaving. It will come from a diminished EU as other European nations follow Britain’s lead. |
I won’t publish the rest of Charlie’s analysis (which is available to FSL readers). But the last point gets to the heart of the matter. For Charlie, this is your Britain.
Elites in British public life and elites at organisations like the IMF, OECD, the World Bank, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan all want to remain because it’s good for them. They make the rules for the rest of us and live a largely separate life, benefitting immensely from the financialisation of the economy (and from huge and perpetual public debts).
No wonder they don’t want any change. The status quo is good for those at the top. And it keeps everyone in their proper place. If Britain bolts from the EU, the stampede will be on (see Soros below). It will be the high-water mark for the whole European project in its current, anti-democratic, bureaucratic, highly-regulated form. And that’s not a bad thing. Why?
The project will be forced to evolve into something the people of Britain and Europe find more useful (and more accountable). In nature, apex predators don’t have to adapt. They’re at the top of the food chain. They kill what they want. When you’re the king of the jungle, it’s good to be the king.
Brexit is an external event (like the meteor that killed the dinosaurs) which threatens the current unnatural political order in Europe. British and EU political elites are acting like annoyed and cornered predators. Annoyed because they have to lower themselves to seek the public’s approval. Cornered because now that they’ve left the result to democratic forces, it’s beyond their control.
And as Osborne said last night, it’s about control, isn’t it?
