“I have near zero optimism because I think it is going to be very messy,” warned one UK minister, speaking to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity. The prospects of getting an agreement are slim, the minister said. “If we crash out without a deal, it’s going to be a historic catastrophe."
And he is not alone as the latest YouGov polls show 69% of Brits believe Brexit is going badly and the largest finger of blame for Brexit going badly is being pointed at the government. Two thirds (68%) of those who think Brexit is currently going badly say that it is the government’s fault. This includes three quarters who voted Remain (77%) and 58% of Leave voters.
Additionally, as TruePublica.org notes, with lots of talk of preparing for a no-deal Brexit, the possibilities of the Tory party completely disintegrating in 2019 becomes ever-more real. The electorate is now becoming very nervous of what Brexit may bring, given that the Conservatives have no idea themselves, which means it should be no surprise that Theresa May’s favorability score plummets to new low.
It should be noted that, as stated above, those turning against the Prime Minister appear to be Leave voters. The only truly amazing statistic about Theresa May is that at the summer recess – she’s still Prime Minister. And few would have bet on that at any odds just six months ago.
Perhaps even more ominously, for the first time ever, more people support a second referendum - 42% of Britons think there should be a referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal, 40% do not.
Zero HedgeTyler Durden - "An Unparalleled Economic & Political Crisis": Brexit Optimism Collapses As Ministers Fear "Historic Catastrophe"r
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I bought some tee shirts the other day for two for £8, and I wondered about the low wages of the people that made them. Then I had a thought experiment: Imagine if Western companies found another country where all the clothing for the UK market could be made at a fraction of the price so that the cost of clothing came down by 50%?
Now imagine that NGO's had campaigned to improve the wages of the workers in that country so that the following year the cost of all cloths shott up by 100%? Now imagine what the economists and the media would say: Inflation running at 100% in clothing!, would scream the headlines. People would get worried about becoming poorer and how to make ends meet unless wages go up, which never seem to, and pensioners on fixed pensions would worry that their pensions might not be worth all that much in the future. And yet if the low cost producer had never been found no one would have concerned themselves over the price of clothes. I could then see how difficult it was to reverse globalisation, and also, how difficult it is for Britain to leave the EU.
Now imagine if globalisation had never occurred? Western factories would be more fully automated and there would be more skilled people, with stronger unions so wages would be higher? I wonder what our standard of living would be like. If we were poorer because we were not exploiting workers in the third world would we care as we wouldn't know any different? But there would be less immigration and houses would be far cheaper while the councils may still have been building housing estates reducing demand to buy a home, so we might have all be a lot better off. Even if it turned out we were poorer, the hourly week would have been reduced and work would have been less authoritarian. I think we would have been a lot happier. KV
3 comments:
Tell militant remoaners in London that they're going to be needed in the Manc factories next year after their banks leave for Frankfurt. Their faces sink further into anger.
You should be scared, very scared.
That makes it easy to manipulate you.
@Noah Way:
Fear and greed are mirror images. One never exists without the other. The 1% use fear and greed as a weapon to control the mass mind.
The 1% use lies to stoke fear and greed in some areas, and other lies to downplay fear and greed in other areas.
The fear factor arises from doom-saying about inflation.
The greed factor arises from claiming that if social programs are increased, or if the U.S. government launches programs to create jobs, then everyone will benefit except you. Indeed, you will have to pay for everyone else (since the U.S. government has “limited money”). This lie appeals to your greed and selfishness.
Therefore, even though all industrialized nations have Universal Medicare, Americans can’t have it, since it will cause hyper-inflation, and it will make the USA socialist. (This is another lie. Does Social Security make America “socialist”?)
Meanwhile you must ignore the extreme inflation in housing prices and medical care, plus pharmaceuticals. (This inflation enriches the 1%.) Shut your mouth, and set up your cardboard box with the rest of the homeless. Just remember that Russia is evil. So is Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, “homo-phobia,” “toxic masculinity,” “anti-Semitism,” and blah-blah-blah. Everyone but you is a terrorist and an evil socialist.
Fear and selfishness are man’s great motivators and great enslavers.
Fear and selfishness is why we have rich and poor.
Fear and selfishness is why we have endless wars.
Fear and selfishness is why we are destroying the planet.
Fear and selfishness is why we are miserable.
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