I have a number of acquaintance in Britain and other places within the EU and they opine about our politics, politicians and upcoming election. They don't much like Donald Trump and most seem to think Bernie The Socialist is the best choice of a bad lot. This oar dipping leads me to think I can do the same - offer an opinion on something that really won't affect me.
It started yesterday when hubby said, "Do you want to watch this? We'll only watch ten minutes."
"This" was Brexit - The Movie and it was fascinating. Ten minutes came and went and I didn't even notice. We ended up watching the whole thing - over an hour - because it raised a number of really great points.
First - if you live in the EU, do you know the name of the person in Brussels who is your representative? The person who controls what you do, how you live your life? Could you recognize a picture of him or her? Are they a public figure who you see in your local newspaper?
Second - if you have a complaint or want something significant changed, do you have the ability to get their attention? Can you call their individual office and speak to someone?
Third - if your political representative in Brussels does something you don't like, can you vote that person out office?
Fourth - if you pay taxes, do you know or do you have any say about where and how they're used?
Not, according to what we watched.
If you live in the EU under the current regime you probably don't know who is in charge - and it's not Angela Merkel. She's just the public face of the most powerful of the countries within the Union, the country wholly bought in and with the most skin in the game.
In Britain, and most other places within the EU, if you and your neighbors want to change the laws that affect your everyday life, good luck with that. Brussels controls all of it and you, as an individual or even a group of voters and taxpayers have zero say. While you might be able to vote out your local representative or MP or PM, you cannot change the real regulators of your life. You have no say, no control over your "representative" in the EU governing body.
Last, you have no way of knowing where your tax dollars go. Like that £1.25M spent on paper mache terns funded by the EU.
The mating model terns causing a stir with Brexit campaigners
Some people think that money could have been better spent on funding the NHS or other things. But, nah. The rulers within the EU know better. Tern breeding is more important.
On the other hand, there is a lot of scary stuff being blared through the news. According to the Remain voices, if Britain leaves the EU everything will implode and the world will come crashing in. Even though it wouldn't, really.
All of it, all of the cries of "wolf, wolf" are from the power brokers in this world. If Britain leaves it will be a blow, perhaps a devastating blow, to the Central Banking system - the one that manipulates all of the world's currencies.
Who is crying "wolf"? Well, most of the most powerful politicians who have a vested interest - lining their own pockets and feathering their own nests - if Britain stays.
The 'little people' - you and me and others like us who live in this world and do the majority of working hard and trying to make ends meet and struggle to better ourselves - don't count for them. We are faceless replaceable cogs with zero importance to them except what we represent in taxes.
One of the big empty threats is trade deals. "If you don't have a trade deal with the rest of the EU you'll be isolated, you won't be able to buy stuff."
That's a truckload of codswallop. If you live in England, do you have a trade deal with your local Tescos? No. If you live in England and buy things online, from Amazon or another site, do you have a trade deal? No.
Trade deals are simply agreements between countries. They set tariffs and import requirements but don't really affect the price of the finished product much.
What you and Britain have is money - and even if the EU tries to punish Britain by increasing tariffs on trade, that will be temporary - no more than a year or two because, if the tariffs are too steep and the cost of goods is too great, no one will buy. Besides, in the long run, those high tariffs are going to hurt far more within the EU than they will across the water in Britain.
If businesses aren't selling, they're not making money, and they won't pay as much in taxes. If businesses aren't selling, they're not going to need as many people making them. They'll lay people off which means less tax revenue. Britons won't be able to afford the things they like, so they'll find alternatives - perhaps new British-made alternatives.
Right now, according to Brexit, Britain doesn't have trade deals with the US, with China and with many other economies with which it does business. So the impact on trade will be zero. Products will still be on shelves because governments still want the taxes generated by the manufacture of those products and the taxes on the wages of the workers. Even if they cost a bit more it won't be significant - and you'll save in other places because, over time, your taxes will likely go down. You won't be funding the behemoth that is the EU.
Even Obama's threat on trade is empty. He has no power over anything. He's going to be out of office in less than eight months and, as soon as the party conventions are over this summer, he's going to be a lamer duck than he already is. Trump, on the other hand, is a businessman - he will want to trade with everyone, so long as the rules make it fair for both parties.
What about the banks, though, Goldman-Sachs and J.P. Morgan that are threatening jobs?
This raises the level of codswallop to mid-thigh. London, within the EU or outside it, is till Europe's largest and most important financial center. It has been for centuries. Just because Britons choose to leave the EU is not going to change that. Being the largest and most important financial center means that the banks aren't going to leave. They have invested there and can't afford to throw that and their presence to the wind just because their knickers get knotted over this.
The primary reasons for these scare tactics are money and power, pure and simple. It is all about greed.
This is not to say that there would not be disruptions. Of course there would be, but they would be nothing like the world-ending cataclysm being threatened by those who benefit most from Britain remaining.
The fishing industry would come back, as would a lot of other industries that have been hurt or destroyed by the regulations and restrictions imposed by the EU and its Central Bank.
But think about it. Despite an initial period of unrest and difficulty while things settle out and Britain takes back control of itself, the end result would be a Free Britain. A Britain capable of and able to chart its own course, without restraint or directive from Brussels. Taxes paid would stay at home, not be handed out to all and sundry as Brussels decrees. Government would, once again, be truly accountable to the people it is there to represent, rather than a mindless, faceless bureaucracy.
All of it, all of the cries of "wolf, wolf" are from the power brokers in this world. If Britain leaves it will be a blow, perhaps a devastating blow, to the Central Banking system - the one that manipulates all of the world's currencies.
Who is crying "wolf"? Well, most of the most powerful politicians who have a vested interest - lining their own pockets and feathering their own nests - if Britain stays.
The 'little people' - you and me and others like us who live in this world and do the majority of working hard and trying to make ends meet and struggle to better ourselves - don't count for them. We are faceless replaceable cogs with zero importance to them except what we represent in taxes.
One of the big empty threats is trade deals. "If you don't have a trade deal with the rest of the EU you'll be isolated, you won't be able to buy stuff."
That's a truckload of codswallop. If you live in England, do you have a trade deal with your local Tescos? No. If you live in England and buy things online, from Amazon or another site, do you have a trade deal? No.
Trade deals are simply agreements between countries. They set tariffs and import requirements but don't really affect the price of the finished product much.
What you and Britain have is money - and even if the EU tries to punish Britain by increasing tariffs on trade, that will be temporary - no more than a year or two because, if the tariffs are too steep and the cost of goods is too great, no one will buy. Besides, in the long run, those high tariffs are going to hurt far more within the EU than they will across the water in Britain.
If businesses aren't selling, they're not making money, and they won't pay as much in taxes. If businesses aren't selling, they're not going to need as many people making them. They'll lay people off which means less tax revenue. Britons won't be able to afford the things they like, so they'll find alternatives - perhaps new British-made alternatives.
Right now, according to Brexit, Britain doesn't have trade deals with the US, with China and with many other economies with which it does business. So the impact on trade will be zero. Products will still be on shelves because governments still want the taxes generated by the manufacture of those products and the taxes on the wages of the workers. Even if they cost a bit more it won't be significant - and you'll save in other places because, over time, your taxes will likely go down. You won't be funding the behemoth that is the EU.
Even Obama's threat on trade is empty. He has no power over anything. He's going to be out of office in less than eight months and, as soon as the party conventions are over this summer, he's going to be a lamer duck than he already is. Trump, on the other hand, is a businessman - he will want to trade with everyone, so long as the rules make it fair for both parties.
What about the banks, though, Goldman-Sachs and J.P. Morgan that are threatening jobs?
This raises the level of codswallop to mid-thigh. London, within the EU or outside it, is till Europe's largest and most important financial center. It has been for centuries. Just because Britons choose to leave the EU is not going to change that. Being the largest and most important financial center means that the banks aren't going to leave. They have invested there and can't afford to throw that and their presence to the wind just because their knickers get knotted over this.
The primary reasons for these scare tactics are money and power, pure and simple. It is all about greed.
The site Fullfact.org shows that in 2015 Britain took £13 billion in the taxes it collected from its citizens and shipped it off to the EU. That is £13,000,000,000 pounds.
What did Britain get in return? Just one-third of what it sent to Brussels is what it got back: £4.5 billion. What happened to the other £8.5 billion? More importantly, what good could that £13 billion have done at home? How about investing in the NHS? How about going to pay for the social services Britain offers its citizens?
What did you get for part of that £13 billion? Paper mache terns.
The fishing industry would come back, as would a lot of other industries that have been hurt or destroyed by the regulations and restrictions imposed by the EU and its Central Bank.
But think about it. Despite an initial period of unrest and difficulty while things settle out and Britain takes back control of itself, the end result would be a Free Britain. A Britain capable of and able to chart its own course, without restraint or directive from Brussels. Taxes paid would stay at home, not be handed out to all and sundry as Brussels decrees. Government would, once again, be truly accountable to the people it is there to represent, rather than a mindless, faceless bureaucracy.
At the end of it, the program ended with the perfect question: "What price freedom?"
What price, indeed.
After all, isn't freedom, the concept of free men and women being free of governmental tyranny, the fundamental concept of the Magna Carta? Isn't the Magna Carta perhaps the greatest document ever conceived and written? That document effectively established Britain. It, established the rights of a free people and became the template for every democratic constitution written since.
Yet, that is all threatened by this one vote. Will the people of Britain willingly subject themselves to tyranny and serfdom, or will they fight to be free?
It's going to be interesting to watch. Almost more interesting than this, which should be required viewing for everyone even thinking about voting on 23 June:
Best~
Philippa
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