I wrote the following when the British voted to leave the European Union 3 1/2 years ago. Now it may finally happen. The arduous delay after delay reinforces the point of why they voted to leave so long ago………
-Cliff Jarvis
“Sixty years ago, the nations of Europe began uniting under one European Union. The first goal was to define themselves as Europeans instead of separate nationalities which repeatedly started a war with each other. The second goal was to integrate their economies to achieve greater prosperity for everyone. The European Common Market was formed and it worked for a while. Over time a total of 28 countries joined. The next major step was the creation of one common currency called the Euro. 19 of these countries discontinued their currency and adopted the Euro (the Eurozone). The goal here was to further simplify financial transactions across Europe by using just one currency. While Britain was the second largest economy within the European Union, it never joined the Eurozone and kept its own currency known as the Pound.
Each European nation not only had its own national government, but also the new supranational government created by the European Union. Unfortunately this additional layer of government formed by the European Union grew and metastasized into an overreaching giant that regulated, interfered, and constrained all aspects of activity. Due to this and many other reasons, the European economies are in decline. This, in addition to the unmanageable flood of immigration mandated by the European Union’s open border policy, brought Britain to the edge. Last week the British voted to leave the European Union and all of its rules.
The question now is, will Britain leaving the European Union for the sake of self-determination bring economic calamity or long term prosperity? And what effect will that have on the rest of the world?”
by Cliff Jarvis | Jun 27, 2016