The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has weighed in on the Brexit issue. IMF says Brexit could do “severe regional and global damage.” It added that the disruption of existing trade relationships between Britain and the Continent would pose “major challenges.”
Sounds about right. And I would argue that the EU needs some major disruptive change, lest it become an overbearing and menacing uber nanny state with the power to tax, regulate, borrow, and jail.
But it would be wrong to dismiss the IMF analysis as mere scaremongering. It’s a dead set fact that if Britain leaves the EU, things are going to change. Like most of the future, exactly how things will change is something we can’t know. But is not knowing what the future will bring the best reason for not leaving?
Is it really fair for the Bremainers to demand an exact forecast of what will happen when no one can ever know what’s going to happen? What do you think? Before I give you my answer, I’m going to read the handy literature the government has printed and mailed at taxpayer expense. I’m sure it will have all the answers.
The end of Europe?
In the meantime, let’s keep in mind the relationship the Bremainers would like to preserve. The European Union is in “mortal danger” if it doesn’t find the cash to settle 500,000 refugees a year, according to George Soros. Justifying a €30 billion debt splurge in an essay for the New York Review of Books, Soros writes that:
Throughout history, governments have issued bonds in response to national emergencies. That is the case in Europe today. When should the triple-A credit of the EU be mobilized if not at a moment when the European Union is in mortal danger?
First off, Europe is not a government. It’s a continent. But the European Union has given itself permission to borrow money in global capital markets on behalf of member governments (who presumably have lousy credit ratings and can’t borrow themselves, or at least not at low rates of interest).
But I’m quibbling over details. Soros wants the EU to either spend money it already has or borrow new money to address the migration crisis. It is the only way, in his view, to preserve the free movement of people (Schengen) and keep the European project alive.
The superstate needs money. Soros wants it to take money from the future. Can 100-year EU bonds be far away? The interest can be paid by raising VAT, or some sort of Union-wide levy. Border security has a price. Time to pay.
Category: The End of Europe