NexusFi: Find Your Edge


Home Menu

 





Britain's Dream of an E.U. Exit is Slowly Turning Into Nightmarish Reality


Discussion in Traders Hideout

Updated
    1. trending_up 1,106 views
    2. thumb_up 4 thanks given
    3. group 2 followers
    1. forum 4 posts
    2. attach_file 0 attachments




 
Search this Thread

Britain's Dream of an E.U. Exit is Slowly Turning Into Nightmarish Reality

  #1 (permalink)
 
kbit's Avatar
 kbit 
Aurora, Il USA
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: TradeStation
Trading: futures
Posts: 5,854 since Nov 2010
Thanks Given: 3,295
Thanks Received: 3,364

The British wish to leave the European Union for good has never been clearer after Wednesday's televised debate, the second between pro-European Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and arch-euroskeptic Nigel Farage. Such a breakaway might seem like a good idea for libertarian Brits - but whether it would really be such a smart move is far from clear.

Unlike in the U.S., televised debates are a rarity in Britain and - it might seem impossible to believe this - still retain an air of glamor and excitement. They really matter. So when just 27 percent of voters judge Clegg to have performed best, compared to 68 percent for Farage, you can get a strong sense of the scale of Wednesday's victory.

With important European elections now less than two months away, there is a strong possibility that Farage's United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) might actually emerge as the outright winners. That would send shivers down the spine of those following the debates in Brussels and beyond. But it now seems like a real probability.

The rest of the world should wake up to the fact that, after years of rhetoric, the great dream of the U.K.'s potential exit from the E.U. is now a political nightmare slowly coming true. It has been simmering away, troubling but never alarmingly so, for years. Only now, after these two televised debates, is British euroskepticism suddenly threatening to boil over.

Everyone needs to get used to the fact, and fast. It ultimately means we could finally see a straightforward in-or-out referendum on Britain's ongoing membership of the E.U. before the end of the decade. Mainstream politicians' efforts to avoid a referendum on the issue can only be sustained for so long - and resentment has only built up as a result.

That resentment is the fuel that is helping burn UKIP's flame. For a party that's never won a seat in the House of Commons at a general election, it's got a lot going for it right now. For many disgruntled voters fed up with the mainstream, UKIP is the new protest vote - especially now that Clegg's Liberal Democrats stuck in government as the coalition's junior party. The rise of right-wing politics in Britain has helped UKIP prey on fears and misconceptions about immigration, too. And it's proved adept at rustling up the sort of nostalgic jingoism that moves Union Jack-waving Grannies into a fervour of tearful patriotism. The British are a reserved bunch at the best of times, but UKIP makes its supporters feel like there's more to this country than just the faded glories of an ex-Empire.

UKIP is, in its own words, a “libertarian” party. It doesn't really mean it in the true sense of the word. No party that supports the continued existence of the National Health Service really could. Even in the context of British politics, though, its opposition to statist solutions seems a little dubious. This is the party, after all, that proposed banning the burka. It didn't much like the idea of gay marriage. And its leader, Farage, came under fire on Wednesday for admitting the one politician he admires in the world right now is Vladimir Putin - not a leader exactly known for his libertarian values.

"If you scratch the surface you find one of the most illiberal and intolerant political parties in the U.K.," says Martin Horwood, the foreign affairs spokesperson for Clegg's Liberal Democrats. "The idea they are champions of personal freedom doesn't really stand much scrutiny."

He points out that Europe has provided individuals with a lot of safeguards for individual liberty, whether over consumer rights like data protection or the right to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

"Those who take the most liberal position on freedom of movement and free trade are quite clear that the European Union is the way to deliver that on a large scale," Horwood adds. "At its heart, UKIP and those campaigning for exit from the European Union are Little Englanders who would opt for protectionist policies at the drop of a hat."

The problem for those defending the status quo is that it's actually very hard to work out what would happen if Britain walked away from Europe. Imagining what it would be like negotiating a trade deal with the E.U. from outside isn't an argument that can be based on hard, cold figures. A lot of this is about gut feel - which is why those looking for a change for the hell of it are doing so well in the polls.

"It's not necessarily clear there's a straightforward liberty gain from leaving the E.U.," says Stephen Davies, Director of Education at the free market Institute of Economic Affairs think tank. He doesn't even think there's much of a link between euroskepticism and libertarianism, either. "They tend to go together because of a commitment to a particular style of politics more than anything else... I don't think there's a well-thought out necessarily logical connection."

Davies' theory is that the European project has become firmly left-wing and is now viewed through a very partisan lens. It wasn't always this way; in the 1970s socialists desperately wanted to leave Europe in order to set up a command economy. That all changed, though, when the left realised expanding European control could actually increase its influence. Shut out of power in the 1980s, the left saw it as a way of getting policies adopted that it couldn't pass domestically. Right-wingers' views of Europe have been slowly shaped against it as a result.

Now we're seeing the consequences of these frustrations - and they're getting very ugly indeed. We don't need to wait until May 22nd, when the European elections take place in Britain, to find out what all this means for the U.K. Right now those arguing against a British exit are losing, and losing badly. Clegg has done nothing to boost the pro-European cause with these debates. Farage, by contrast, has made the most of this opportunity to preach his message of jingoistic fervour to a big audience. There may not be much to back up his claims to libertarian politics - but when it comes to the raw emotions of the European debate, does he really care?


Britain's Dream of an E.U. Exit is Slowly Turning Into Nightmarish Reality - Reason.com

Started this thread Reply With Quote
Thanked by:

Can you help answer these questions
from other members on NexusFi?
ZombieSqueeze
Platforms and Indicators
Better Renko Gaps
The Elite Circle
NexusFi Journal Challenge - April 2024
Feedback and Announcements
NT7 Indicator Script Troubleshooting - Camarilla Pivots
NinjaTrader
New Micros: Ultra 10-Year & Ultra T-Bond -- Live Now
Treasury Notes and Bonds
 
Best Threads (Most Thanked)
in the last 7 days on NexusFi
Get funded firms 2023/2024 - Any recommendations or word …
59 thanks
Funded Trader platforms
37 thanks
GFIs1 1 DAX trade per day journal
22 thanks
NexusFi site changelog and issues/problem reporting
22 thanks
The Program
20 thanks
  #2 (permalink)
 
sands's Avatar
 sands 
London + UK
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Proprietary Analytics
Broker: Multiple broker + Multiple feed
Trading: Currently European and US equities
Posts: 443 since Dec 2013
Thanks Given: 257
Thanks Received: 234

Another great post kbit.

Fortunately neither of these fellows has any power to really lead public opinion on this topic. Clegg being the liberal democrat leader (the UK's third party) and Farage (the leader of the independent party) effectively means they are kicking around a tin can between them in that they are more peripheral in my opinion.

It will be interesting to see if David Cameron will give the country a referendum on our future in the EU. However in practice given the majority of UK's trade being with the UK it will be a massive mistake (in my opinion) to put UK businesses and economic growth in doubt by rocking the boat whilst the UK cannot realistically stand independently.

Interesting if ties with US or China, India would take up slack in the next few years. Personally I see a move to a more federal Europe which I wouldn't want the UK a part of, but trade agreements for now that arise from being a part of the EU are essential.

Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #3 (permalink)
 stjg 
Brussels, Belgium
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: TWS
Trading: Future
Posts: 14 since Feb 2014
Thanks Given: 1
Thanks Received: 3


I think it is highly unlikely that british politicians will make UK leave the EU. Who could they then blame for their own mistakes
Otherwise it could be done quite easy. There is some work to do for the economy, deciding how to handle contracts in the future, but why should the normal citizen care? The politicians on the other hand are bribed by the economy...

Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #4 (permalink)
 
sands's Avatar
 sands 
London + UK
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Proprietary Analytics
Broker: Multiple broker + Multiple feed
Trading: Currently European and US equities
Posts: 443 since Dec 2013
Thanks Given: 257
Thanks Received: 234


stjg View Post
I think it is highly unlikely that british politicians will make UK leave the EU. Who could they then blame for their own mistakes
Otherwise it could be done quite easy. There is some work to do for the economy, deciding how to handle contracts in the future, but why should the normal citizen care? The politicians on the other hand are bribed by the economy...

Hi Stjg,

Lol isn't that all politicians regardless .

On your other point, being an ordinary citizen it would certainly be something that normal folks would care about, because it would mean less jobs and generally worse economic terms until that trade comes from elsewhere. I'm starting to learn mandarin hopefully it's not a long commute to the office in the future..

Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)
 stjg 
Brussels, Belgium
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: TWS
Trading: Future
Posts: 14 since Feb 2014
Thanks Given: 1
Thanks Received: 3


sands View Post
Hi Stjg,

Lol isn't that all politicians regardless .

On your other point, being an ordinary citizen it would certainly be something that normal folks would care about, because it would mean less jobs and generally worse economic terms until that trade comes from elsewhere. I'm starting to learn mandarin hopefully it's not a long commute to the office in the future..

That job numbers stuff is always used as an excuse to justify decisions based on corruption.
Living in the UK you now what a neoliberal privatization delusion can do to the public water supply and the public railways.
There is always an optimum that is most of the time much less than the maximum.
In the end it is important to make the right decisions and not decisions that involves the most people. A general misconception of the globalization, by the way. If the decisions is to draw a lot of money out of a company, then I would say privatization worked well. If a continous business that exist to be beneficial to as many people as possible and earn a shit load of money in the long term, then they failed.
If ALL people on earth decide to do a foolish thing, it does not automatically become something really clever.

So back to the original point: I am convinced that, if UK decides to leave the EU, that there could be so many advantages, that these overweigh the disadvantages. The big problem: This needs thorough planning, which is something politicians are not capable of. They don't have the intellectual capabilities (of cause lobbyists help out for free) and not the time (to build up these capabilities or verify the lobbyists advices).
I guess this was the reason why the romans had a time limited dictatorship in times of trouble.

Reply With Quote




Last Updated on April 7, 2014


© 2024 NexusFi™, s.a., All Rights Reserved.
Av Ricardo J. Alfaro, Century Tower, Panama City, Panama, Ph: +507 833-9432 (Panama and Intl), +1 888-312-3001 (USA and Canada)
All information is for educational use only and is not investment advice. There is a substantial risk of loss in trading commodity futures, stocks, options and foreign exchange products. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
About Us - Contact Us - Site Rules, Acceptable Use, and Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy - Downloads - Top
no new posts