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Thanks for taking a look, Jeff.
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yup, and good post about London and the financial industry in Britain.Comment
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Which was the latter you mean?Comment
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I guess we have all heard the politicians say something on the order of "we are using a credit card as a country, and our kids will have to pay off the debt. . ." I think that a major flaw in the political union in Europe is it makes it much harder for a country to devalue its currency. That was the traditional way that debtor countries "paid the bill". Greece, and to a lesser extent the rest of the PIGS, could use a devaluation, but Germany won't or can't let that happen.
Another factor is that about 12 years ago, the EU expanded by adding several countries in eastern Europe whose citizens were willing to work for much less than the citizens of France, UK or Germany. I still am unable to understand why countries with high youth unemployment would want to have migrants come into the country. Again, in Britain, the youth voted to stay by large margins.Comment
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The Peterson article. That mostly focused on the financial sector and London.Which was the latter you mean?Comment
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Ah, ok. Thanks.Comment
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Wow... Read Paul Manziel's comments..
Sent from my iPad using TapatalkGrammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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Interesting stat...a majority of those Brits who are currently employed voted Remain
[ame]https://twitter.com/arhurrell/status/746616542578810880[/ame]
The threat of an economic downturn had less impact on those already unemployed or those retired.Comment
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[ame]https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/746406350385717248[/ame]Comment
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I fear that "education" is the reason that younger folks voted heavily to stay. I use the term "indoctrination" as a synonym to education when applied to belief systems. This is the same type of education that the youth in the US received during the last 30 years or so. I don't understand why we should believe that bureaucrats would allow educators to use material that would jeopardize their own job by saying that power corrupts and that bureaucracy is a burden on an economy. In my own experience, I tried and failed to find an 8th-grade American History book that mentioned Robert E. Lee. All had significant sections on Eugene McCarthy. I think the youth vote in the US and in favor of change (Sanders) and in the UK against change (Brexit) reflects indoctrination in the wonders of socialism.I knew America didn't have a monopoly on stupidity, but I also didn't know it had very serious competition. At least people in poor countries have the excuse that they could not get a proper education.
Admittedly, this statement is cherry-picked from a generally fair treatment of the points that the "remain" side used. I don't believe anyone can accurately predict numbers two years from now, much less, 14 years from now. I doubt if anyone would have predicted a Brexit 10 ago. I guess they call this a black swan event, but events like this occur much more regularly than the birth of a black swan.The prediction: GDP, real wages and household consumption will all fall markedly after leaving the EU. While some of the short-term shock dissipates, the transition continues to weigh in the longer term, resulting in a loss to GDP of 1.9-7.8 per cent by 2030.
I view Brexit as an opportunity both for the US and for the UK, but that is the view on an entrepreneur. I view the drop in the pound as a devaluation that will make British exports cheaper on the world market. For the small business owner in the UK, Brexit will have several positive effects, mostly involving less bureaucratic overreach. Trump said of the pounds drop that it would increase bookings at his resort in Turnberry. If Hillary has not attacked him for this, she will. Nothing in her globalist world view prepares her to understand Trump's analysis.
Finally, I don't understand how a person favors the nation-state but dismisses the effects of nationalism.Comment
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If you think that the US educational system is an ``indoctrination'' then you should take a look at what goes on elsewhere in the world. I have plenty of first- or second-hand detail for you on what goes on in some of those places. I think when you're talking about OECD countries you are talking about the absolute very best the world has to offer in terms of educational value, including leaving out the value judgements and teaching kids how to think for themselves. Maybe the US doesn't rank up there with Canada or Finland or whomever tops the league tables in Europe right now, but in a relative sense Americans have free access to an education sufficient to help them think for themselves.Comment
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Finally, I don't understand how a person favors the nation-state but dismisses the effects of nationalism.
What do you mean?Comment
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I certainly am out of my depth if talking about the relative merits of OEDC countries' educational systems(with the exception of Estonia). I'll defer to you on that.
The pertinent part of what I was trying to say wasPeople of my age view socialism as including the Soviet Union, North Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba along with Denmark and Sweden. What is now taught is anti-capitalism, and if you ask a college student what is to replace capitalism, they will not answer. I definitely don't think the youth of today think for themselves. If they did, college students would overwhelmingly reject the devoted few who shut down free speech on campus. There is a new book out recently called The Silencing by Kristen Powers (a liberal Democrat). Its subtitle says it all "...How the Left Shut Down Free Speech in America..".I think the youth vote in the US and in favor of change (Sanders) and in the UK against change (Brexit) reflects indoctrination in the wonders of socialism.
I suspect that what seems to you to be "thinking for yourself" to me seems to me merely spouting ideas learned from a government education system. In general, as Jefferson said, government tends to grow. I'm not surprised that government bureaucrats choosing materials to be taught by government employees would promote bigger government. I'm not surprised that Departments of Education in colleges are hotbeds of Progressive thought. Many of our youth and also those in Britain have a favorable view of socialism. I just wish they were taught the wonders of the Socialist state in Russia or the one in Germany in the late 1930's.
And as I've said many times to you, you cannot believe that man is evil and that power corrupts and, at the same time, believe in socialism.Last edited by Da Geezer; June 25, 2016, 01:09 PM.Comment
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As for nationalism, I believe you have said that the nation-state is a good form of political organization. I agree. But virtually every nation has its own myths and its own history. In the US some of our myths involve the wild west, "give me liberty, or give me death" or "...I cannot tell a lie.. ". These are by in large good things.
But the exit polls show, and the only pollster who called the election correctly (49-47 Leave) says, that Brits wanted their government's every-day decision making back. If their hair dryers were too powerful for Brussels, too bad. Wattage of lightbulbs and height of ladders is really no one's business, and should not be dictated from the continent. I suspect this holds true in France, Italy, and Germany.
The Common Market was a good idea. It gave the Eurozone 300 billion customers and trade that was more free. The concept (beginning around 1955-60) also made war among states far less likely. But it eventually morphed into a political entity, and the political entity trended toward getting bigger and more socialist. Remember, the Dutch and the French rejected the Treaty of Lisbon, but the elites in those countries overrode the will of the people.
If you have a nation, you have some myths unique to that nation. I think that affected the vote, at least as far as older folks were concerned.
I'd appreciate your take on Angela Merkel's reasoning behind letting in so many migrants when youth unemployment is high.Comment
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