Hmm, getting serious. The Economist had a cover story on this some weeks ago. Now the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has announced he will hold a referendum, sometime in 2014 to 2017, if his Conservative party stays in power that long. The EU is not popular with the average Briton on the street, and everyone expects the referendum will be a massive vote to leave.
Trouble is, the bulk of British trade is with the rest of the EU. As an EU member, it's all tariff free. After Britain leaves the EU, it will have to pay tariff on exports to the EU. And the EU is just chock full of underemployed farms and factories who will be all too happy to offer tariff free goods.
And, scheduling this referendum so far in the future creates uncertainty which discourages investment. Not exactly the best way to pull the economy out of Great Depression 2.0
I suppose we shouldn't criticize our British friends, but is sure looks like they are stuck on stupid with this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment