Brexit

From Brexit To The Future

July 12, 2016 Staff, www.project-syndicate.org Educate! Brexit, United Kingdom (UK)

By Staff of Project Syndicate - NEW YORK – Digesting the full implications of the United Kingdom’s “Brexit” referendum will take Britain, Europe, and the world a long time. The most profound consequences will, of course, depend on the European Union’s response to the UK’s withdrawal. Most people initially assumed that the EU would not “cut off its nose to spite its face”: after all, an amicable divorce seems to be in everyone’s interest. But the divorce – as many do – could become messy.

Brexit And The Derivatives Time Bomb

July 3, 2016 Ellen Brown, www.ellenbrown.com Educate! Brexit, Derivatives, European Union (EU), Sovereign debt

By Ellen Brown for Web of Debt, Sovereign debt – the debt of national governments – has ballooned from $80 trillion to $100 trillion just since 2008. Squeezed governments have been driven to radical austerity measures, privatizing public assets, slashing public services, and downsizing work forces in a futile attempt to balance national budgets. But the debt overhang just continues to grow. Austerity has been pushed to the limit and hasn’t worked. But default or renegotiating the debt seems to be off the table. Why? According to a June 25th article by Graham Summers on ZeroHedge: . . . EVERY move the Central Banks have made post-2009 has been aimed at avoiding debt restructuring or defaults in the bond markets. Why does Greece, a country that represents less than 2% of EU GDP, continue to receive bailouts instead of just defaulting? Summers’ answer – derivatives: [G]lobal leverage has exploded to record highs, with the sovereign bond bubble now a staggering $100 trillion in size. To top it off, over $10 trillion of this is sporting negative yields in nominal terms. . . . Globally, over $500 trillion in derivatives trade [is] based on bond yields. But Brexit changes everything, says Summers.

The Silence Of The Left: Brexit, Euro-Austerity And The TTIP

July 3, 2016 Michael Hudson, www.counterpunch.org Educate! Austerity, Banking and Finance, Brexit, Democracy, European Union (EU)

By Michael Hudson for Counterpunch. The media in the United States have treated the British vote against remaining in the European Union (EU) as if it is populist “Trumpism,” an inarticulate right-wing vote out of ignorance at being left behind by the neoliberal economic growth policy. The fact that Donald Trump happened to be in Scotland to promote his golf course helped frame the U.S. story that depicts the Brexit vote as a “Trump vs. Hillary” psychodrama – populist anger and resentment vs. intelligent policy. What is left out of this picture is that there is a sound logic to oppose membership in the EU. It is Nigel Farage’s slogan, “Take Back Control.” The question is, from whom? Not only from “bureaucrats,” but from the pro-bank, anti-labor rules written into the eurozone’s Lisbon and Maastricht treaties. The real problem is not merely that bureaucrats are making the laws, but the kind of laws they are making: pro-bank, anti-labor austerity. Tax and public spending policy has been taken out of the hands of national governments and turned over to the banking centers. They insist on austerity and scaling back pensions and social spending programs.

America Should Exit From NATO And National Security State

July 1, 2016 Jacob G. Hornberger, www.fff.org Educate! Brexit, Europe, NATO, United States

By Jacob G. Hornberger for FFF - In its reporting on Brexit, the New York Times asks an interesting question: “Is the post-1945 order imposed on the world by the United States and its allies unraveling, too?” Hopefully, it will mean the unraveling of two of the most powerful and destructive governmental apparatuses that came out of the postwar era: NATO and the U.S. national-security state. In fact, although the mainstream media and the political establishment elites will never acknowledge it, the irony is that it is these two apparatuses that ultimately led to the Brexit vote:

After “Brexit”: A Social-Democratic Re-Founding Of Europe?

July 1, 2016 Sigmar Gabriel, Martin Schulz and Ingar Solty, www.socialistproject.ca Create! Brexit, Europe, Progressivism

By Sigmar Gabriel, Martin Schulz and Ingar Solty - In light of “Brexit” and within 24 hours after the publication of the final results in the British referendum on EU membership, Sigmar Gabriel, Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) chairman, German vice-chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs in the Merkel government, and Martin Schulz, EU Parliament President, published a new strategy paper analyzing the origins of the deep legitimacy crisis of the European Union amid the Europe-wide rise of the nationalist Right and outlining political pathways to overcome this legitimacy crisis in order to prevent the EU's disintegration.[1]

Brexit Confirms: The Center Cannot Hold

July 1, 2016 Staff, www.telesurtv.net Educate! Brexit, Europe, United Kingdom (UK)

By Staff of Tele Sur - Britain is in a general state of pandemonium. The U.K. finds itself in the midst of a full-blown constitutional crisis, Prime Minister David Cameron has resigned, and both the country's governing party and the opposition are in the throngs of a fierce internal power struggle. As the cheerleaders of the leave campaign dither with no clear plan on how to move forward, the financial consequences continue to ripple through the City

Freedom Rider: The Good News Of Brexit

July 1, 2016 Margaret Kimberley, www.blackagendareport.com Educate! Brexit, Europe, NATO, United Kingdom (UK), United States

By Margaret Kimberley for Black Agenda Report - In calling for the vote on BREXIT, the British guardians of the financial powers-that-be have shot themselves in all four feet. Trillions have been lost in money markets, “the Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is on hold for now, and NATO provocations against Russia will take a back seat.” The U.S. is losing its Trojan Horse in Europe. “Let the sun finally set on the British Empire.”

Brexit: A Nail In The Coffin Of Neo-Colonialism In Africa

July 1, 2016 Netfa Freeman, www.blackagendareport.com Educate! Africa, Brexit, Neocolonialism

By Netfa Freeman for Black Agenda Report - While much of the discourse and debate around the UK referendum to leave the European Union (EU), a move known as Brexit (= Britain + exit), seems centered solely on its impact on Britain, Western Europe as a whole, and the U.S., Foreign Policy Magazine (FP) warns us, “Brexit Is Bad News for Africa. Period.” Before listing a litany of cons, from the “loss of British leadership in places like Somalia” to “South Africa, where many large companies are co-listed on the London Stock Exchange,” FP explains a re-worked UK-Africa policy, “even unencumbered by EU inefficiencies, …will leave Britain with a fraction of the influence it currently wields in Africa.”

Europe Must Reform To Avoid A Populist Domino Effect

June 30, 2016 Sven Giegold, www.huffingtonpost.com Create! Brexit, Europe, European Union (EU), Populism

By Sven Giegold for The Huffington Post - Brexit is an historic setback for the European Union, but not a death sentence. As sad as the referendum result is, it must be respected. After referenda over the European Union’s constitution were held in France and the Netherlands in 2005, it was “business as usual.” That mistake must not be repeated. Europe has to prove that it is capable of learning and changing. Reforms can’t be made by heads of government behind closed doors — they should be transparent.

Blairites vs. Jeremy Corbyn: The Battle Heats Up

June 28, 2016 Nadia Prupis, www.commondreams.org Resist! Brexit, Labor Party, United Kingdom (UK)

By Nadia Prupis for Common Dreams - In the aftermath of last week’s referendum, our country faces major challenges. Risks to the economy and living standards are growing. The public is divided. The government is in disarray. Ministers have made it clear they have no exit plan, but are determined to make working people pay with a new round of cuts and tax rises. Labour has the responsibility to give a lead where the government will not. We need to bring people together, hold the government to account, oppose austerity and set out a path to exit that will protect jobs and incomes.

Newsletter: Brexit Backlash Against EU, Revolt Against Elites

June 25, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter Anti-Austerity, Austerity, Brexit, David Cameron, European Central Bank, European Commission, European Union (EU), IMF, Indignados, Jeremy Corbyn, Occupy, Panama Papers, Podemos, Spain, Syriza, TTIP, TTP

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. The globalized economy is not working for most people of the world. International trade agreements and new government structures like the European Union serve corporate power and put the people and planet aside to ensure profits continue to come first. They undermine democracy and national sovereignty, leaving people feeling more powerless. By pushing austerity and commodification of public services, people are now more economically insecure with less wealth and lower incomes. The response of many is anger. Some protest austerity, others blame people of a different skin color, heritage or ethnicity. The surprise vote in the UK to leave the European Union is the latest, and perhaps the biggest, example of the blowback economic and political elites are getting for their actions. Brexit shows we have our work to do to educate people that this is not about racism and anger at ethnic groups, but is really the battle between the people and the elites. It is a conflict over whether we the people will have the power to decide our futures, whether we can create a fair economy that serves more than the 1% and whether we can act in ways that are consistent with the needs of the environmental crisis we face.

2008 All Over Again: Great Britain’s Decision To Leave European Union

June 25, 2016 Chris Hedges, www.truthdig.com Educate! Brexit, Europe, European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK)

By Chris Hedges for Truth Dig - Great Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has wiped out many bankers and global speculators. They will turn, as they did in 2008, to governments to rescue them from default. Most governments, including ours, will probably comply. Will the American public passively permit another massive bailout of the banks? Will it accept more punishing programs of austerity to pay for this bailout?

Brexit Vote Sends Shockwaves Across European Establishment

June 25, 2016 Alan Woods, www.marxist.com Educate! Brexit, Europe, European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK)

By Alan Woods for In Defense of Marxism - The referendum result was a crushing vote of no confidence in the Establishment. It caused shock waves in the markets which last night were confident of the victory of a vote to remain. The Leave side won by a margin of 52 % to 48%: more than 1.2 million votes more than Remain, with the English shires and Wales voting strongly in favour of Brexit. But Scotland voted massively against. Voter turnout was very high: in Scotland 67%, in Wales 72% and in England 73%.

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