Altair
Well-known member
What's so good about the EU again? Because I can name a lot of stuff wrong with it.
OT: The News Thread
- Thread starter MindzEye
- Start date
UWHabs
Well-known member
To me, the EU might not be the best, but the past 20 years has seen the world move to a more open, more free trade society, and in general, I think most people believe we're better off for it. If you don't like how the EU is run, then the better answer is to try to change it, not to run away. I mean, Britain controls probably 1/4 of the EU, you'd think they have the clout to try to enact reforms.
The fact is that the EU is not gone, so it really doesn't help the UK to leave. They still need to follow EU regulations to sell good to them, so it's not like leaving will save UK business any money in red tape. Yes, the UK does give more to the EU than it gets back, but whatever they save in payments will pretty much get eaten up whenever they negotiate a trade pact after leaving. And it's certainly not a crippling amount.
Essentially, even if they actually save something by leaving, they've started by digging themselves a hole due to the uncertainty. And it's not like the decision they made will help overall either, so they've essentially voted to dump financial stability in exchange for a minute amount of sovereignty.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Well, economic benefits are quite clear. You can nibble around the edges with what's wrong with it, but at the end of it all, any imported good or service is cheaper while being part of the EU. Any exported good has fewer barriers to market access. Borrowing costs are significantly lower within the union.
It's pretty telling that the Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates twice in the back half of 2016 to combat slow economic growth in direct reaction to an exit from the EU. The UK will have to renegotiate pretty much every free trade agreement it was a part of through the EU, including one with the EU, where most of the issues Brits wanted no part of, will be pushed on them as a requirement of a trade deal...and not having a trade deal with the continent would be an expensive mistake. As for the other trade deals (Canada, US, Asia, etc)....where is the UK going to get a better deal, all by it's lonesome with it's non essential market showing up hat in hand to negotiate deals with governments it already had a much bigger EU deal with, or as part of the largest economic block on the planet?
JohnnyHolmes
Banned
I have to agree with this.
England will be fine. There are already plenty of countries that are not a part of the EU that are doing just fine. All that will happen is that England will be able to dictate their own terms in areas like trade and immigration.
You know... sovereign nation stuff.
I know a ton of Brits and the overwhelming majority want out.
As for immigration, England already got flooded with Eastern Europeans since the Iron Curtain went down. These days they are still one of the top targets for "migrants" to settle in. What do you think is going to happen when the Turks are given full member status?
It's pretty easy to sit over here in North America and pontificate about what Europe and the UK should do, and how great open borders are. Living with it is another thing. Watching your country / culture slowly disintegrate isn't fun, I would surmise.
I think in the end this will be a positive move for England.
It's not like they are physically moving their country away from where it is. They just don't want clowns in Brussels or morons like Merkel having any authority over them, nor the prospect of 12 Million Turks deciding they want to live and work in London.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
The 350M was apparently 190M in reality, and that's projected to be the additional costs for the UK to access European capital markets, now that they've chosen to no longer be a part of them.
Iirc UK will have no say in said negotiations. They get told here is what you get.
JohnnyHolmes
Banned
Maybe if the remain campaign had ever explained the positive points of being in the EU, rather than running a transparent fear campaign, the results might have been different.
JohnnyHolmes
Banned
Spun by professional liars?
Yeah.
Yeah.
How exactly was this suposed to be good for the Limeys?
Beyond stopping muslims from coming in..name some economic benefits of this?
Habsy
Not playing around anymore.
They get to hold their own cocks again.
JohnnyHolmes
Banned
Who said anything about Muslims?
As for your question, look at Switzerland and then tell me why it's so important to be a part of the EU.
The EU only benefits broke ass countries.
In any case, the EU is like any other union. Their priority is self preservation.
I looked outside this morning. The sun was still there.
As for your question, look at Switzerland and then tell me why it's so important to be a part of the EU.
The EU only benefits broke ass countries.
In any case, the EU is like any other union. Their priority is self preservation.
I looked outside this morning. The sun was still there.
UWHabs
Well-known member
In the UK, it probably wasn't.
JohnnyHolmes
Banned
Just saw an interview on CNN. The sun was indeed shining.
Now Obama says that the UK will still be an important partner, blah blah blah.
The sky is still not falling.
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MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Didn't you just bring up Turks?
Because not everyone gets to have a clandestine banking industry that floats the country? Switzerland would have to adopt a ****ton of banking regulation that would be counter productive for their banking industry (because it's kind of ****ing shady), thus they never seriously entertained entry.
No nation has benefited from the EU like Germany, and no one has been harmed by it like Greece.
No one is predicting the end of the UK in a fury of hellfire. They are however predicting shitty economic consequences for leaving like higher unemployment, higher inflation, worse trade deals