A Classic Case of Failed Socialism: What’s Next After the Brexit?
By: Frank Holmes
GoldSeek.com
Tuesday, 28 June 2016
Defying sentiment polls leading up to last week’s historic Brexit referendum, British voters said “thanks, but no thanks” to excessive EU taxation and regulation, choosing to take back Britain’s sovereignty in financing, budgeting, immigration policy and other areas essential to a nation’s self-identity. It was a momentous victory for the “leave” camp, led by former London mayor Boris Johnson and U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, who invoked the 1990s sci-fi action film “Independence Day” by declaring June 23 “our independence day” from foreign rule.
As I’ve been saying the last couple of weeks, British citizens and businesses have grown fed up with an avalanche of failed socialist rules and regulations from Brussels, responsible for bringing growth and innovation to a grinding halt. Even if the referendum had gone the other way, it should still have served as a wake-up call to the European Union’s unelected bureaucratic dictators. Euroscepticism and populist movements are gathering momentum in EU countries from Italy to France to Sweden, and the week before last, fiercely independent Switzerland, which voted against joining the EU in the 1990s, finally yanked its membership application for good.
American voters should be paying attention. Many have already pointed out the parallels between the Brexit movement and Donald Trump’s populist campaign for president. This connection was not lost on Trump, who tweeted early Friday morning: “They took their country back, just like we will take America back.”
Britain’s decision to leave exposes the fragility of trade right now and mounting apprehension toward globalization. The EU is mired in tepid growth, and the blame cannot be pinned on immigrants, as some have tried to do. Instead, Brussels’ policies are anti-growth. Moore’s Law says the number of transistors in a microchip doubles every two years. That’s just a fact. American entrepreneurs embrace and indeed push the limits of technological innovation, but “Eurocrats,” to a large extent, seem to be in open opposition to it. This is why many large, successful American tech firms such as Facebook and Google are treated with such hostility in Europe. The bureaucrats are so against growth and prosperity, it wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to do away with Moore’s Law.
A Legendary Day for Gold
Immediately after results were announced, the British pound sterling, one of the world’s reserve currencies, collapsed spectacularly against the dollar, plunging to levels not seen since Margaret Thatcher’s administration. The euro, the world’s only fiat currency without a country, fell more than 2 percent.
Gold, meanwhile, screamed past $1,300 an ounce to hit a two-year high, proving again that the yellow metal is sound money and fervently sought by investors worldwide as a safe haven during times of economic and political uncertainty.
The Rest…HERE
