8 ms·

Brexiteers have nothing but disdain for the City and finance. They're a know-nothing movement unswayed by economic research and proudly ignorant concerning, am

Brexiteers have nothing but disdain for the City and finance. They're a know-nothing movement unswayed by economic research and proudly ignorant concerning, among a myriad of hard truths, the realities of operating in the modern global economy. They think with a simple wave of their plastic sovereignty wand, Britain will be magically restored to some fictional past where a dominant UK thrived in an economic self-sufficiency bubble. No banking sector or stock brokers required. Good bloody luck with that, mates.

nly 6y ago
It's not just finance though. The trade agreement between the EU and the UK only covers goods, but the UK economy is 80a% services...
- zx14 6y ago
  How many of those services are cross-border though? Does "services" include real estate agents and IT contractors?
  - quelsolaar 6y ago
    One example of things the UK have been exporting is audits, to large companies in the EU. UK auditors are no longer accredited to perform audits of EU countries. Now the have to retake an exam, and then work for 3 years as a apprentice of someone who is already accredited. Since there is no one in the UK that is accredited you pretty much have to move to the EU for 3 years to do that. You can imagine that for a lot of people with families that are 40+, that pretty much ends their careers. Apparently the same goes for many other finance and legal professions.
  - addicted 6y ago
    The majority of UK exports is also services.
mrlonglong 6y ago
I concur with that assessment 100%. It's quite shaming how it's all been handled. Even worse, I've had to take German citizenship to keep my European internet domains.
krona 6y ago
All the London traders I know are pro Brexit. 100%. People in compliance, 100% remain.
- specialist 6y ago
  Huh. Given that the City will lose its preeminent spot in the world of finance, I assumed traders would be anti-Brexit. What's the (typical) trader's reasoning?
  - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
    One would assume lack of oversight and regulation.
  - albertgoeswoof 6y ago
    Traders are gamblers, the city might not lose it’s place, and they’ll be riding a massive wave if that happens. Not a bad calculated risk.
    - Ekaros 6y ago
      Short it all the way down. Then buy at the bottom. It will rise again... Rather ugly way to do things, but it can work for them...
  - coldtea 6y ago
    >Given that the City will lose its preeminent spot in the world of finance It wont really lose anything. UK can now start new "tax haven" initiatives (discouraged under EU) and companies will flock there better than before... London didn't get its "preeminent spot in the world of finance" by entering the EU/EEC etc or because of it. It earned that spot by itself 100+ years before... Not to mention EU is barely doing well itself...
    - breakfastduck 6y ago
      Yeah people a quick to forget that London is not what it is because of the EU. It has been a global hub for centuries.
specialist 6y ago
I've not yet heard what the pro-Brexit faction gets from this? I mean who are the people who stand to gain? Based on the theory that people are motivated by self-interest. Putin financed the campaign to sow chaos (just like w/ Trump). Murdock monetizes outrage (again, just like w/ Trump). Neoreactionaries such as the Mercers are against any power apart from their own. Boris and maybe the Tories have longed been anti EU, Brexit is just a bludgeon (wedge issue) for elections. But I don't understand which stakeholders will actually materially benefit from Brexit. Especially once Scotland leaves the UK and rejoins the EU on their own.
- mrlonglong 6y ago
  Scotland needs independence, badly.
- toyg 6y ago
  > I don't understand which stakeholders will actually materially benefit from Brexit. Two types: - the spivs who felt harangued by all those reasonable EU rules, and are now free to again abuse the unwashed masses (like Farage selling scams on Youtube, or the gentlemen selling flammable cladding to builders). I knew a guy like this, holding dangerous chemicals in his garage and moving goods from China to Iran without ever entering the EU, to avoid any scrutiny of their debatable quality... Kind man but ethically challenged, so to speak. - the oligarchs who couldn't bend Bruxelles' ears as well as they can make the weather in Westminster. Some of them are not even English, but London is their plaything.
- zimpenfish 6y ago
  > I've not yet heard what the pro-Brexit faction gets from this? Farage is currently popping up on YouTube with some financial malarkey (I hesitate to use the words grift or scam but it does look very much in that direction) that presumably wasn't viable before we left the EU.
coldtea 6y ago
>Brexiteers have nothing but disdain for the City and finance. As the left once did, before it went in-bed with big finance and globalization...
- breakfastduck 6y ago
  Sadly true.

nly 6y ago

It's not just finance though. The trade agreement between the EU and the UK only covers goods, but the UK economy is 80a% services...

zx14 6y ago
How many of those services are cross-border though? Does "services" include real estate agents and IT contractors?
- quelsolaar 6y ago
  One example of things the UK have been exporting is audits, to large companies in the EU. UK auditors are no longer accredited to perform audits of EU countries. Now the have to retake an exam, and then work for 3 years as a apprentice of someone who is already accredited. Since there is no one in the UK that is accredited you pretty much have to move to the EU for 3 years to do that. You can imagine that for a lot of people with families that are 40+, that pretty much ends their careers. Apparently the same goes for many other finance and legal professions.
- addicted 6y ago
  The majority of UK exports is also services.

mrlonglong 6y ago

I concur with that assessment 100%. It's quite shaming how it's all been handled. Even worse, I've had to take German citizenship to keep my European internet domains.

krona 6y ago

All the London traders I know are pro Brexit. 100%. People in compliance, 100% remain.

specialist 6y ago
Huh. Given that the City will lose its preeminent spot in the world of finance, I assumed traders would be anti-Brexit. What's the (typical) trader's reasoning?
- DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
  One would assume lack of oversight and regulation.
- albertgoeswoof 6y ago
  Traders are gamblers, the city might not lose it’s place, and they’ll be riding a massive wave if that happens. Not a bad calculated risk.
  - Ekaros 6y ago
    Short it all the way down. Then buy at the bottom. It will rise again... Rather ugly way to do things, but it can work for them...
- coldtea 6y ago
  >Given that the City will lose its preeminent spot in the world of finance It wont really lose anything. UK can now start new "tax haven" initiatives (discouraged under EU) and companies will flock there better than before... London didn't get its "preeminent spot in the world of finance" by entering the EU/EEC etc or because of it. It earned that spot by itself 100+ years before... Not to mention EU is barely doing well itself...
  - breakfastduck 6y ago
    Yeah people a quick to forget that London is not what it is because of the EU. It has been a global hub for centuries.

specialist 6y ago

I've not yet heard what the pro-Brexit faction gets from this? I mean who are the people who stand to gain? Based on the theory that people are motivated by self-interest. Putin financed the campaign to sow chaos (just like w/ Trump). Murdock monetizes outrage (again, just like w/ Trump). Neoreactionaries such as the Mercers are against any power apart from their own. Boris and maybe the Tories have longed been anti EU, Brexit is just a bludgeon (wedge issue) for elections. But I don't understand which stakeholders will actually materially benefit from Brexit. Especially once Scotland leaves the UK and rejoins the EU on their own.

mrlonglong 6y ago
Scotland needs independence, badly.
toyg 6y ago
> I don't understand which stakeholders will actually materially benefit from Brexit. Two types: - the spivs who felt harangued by all those reasonable EU rules, and are now free to again abuse the unwashed masses (like Farage selling scams on Youtube, or the gentlemen selling flammable cladding to builders). I knew a guy like this, holding dangerous chemicals in his garage and moving goods from China to Iran without ever entering the EU, to avoid any scrutiny of their debatable quality... Kind man but ethically challenged, so to speak. - the oligarchs who couldn't bend Bruxelles' ears as well as they can make the weather in Westminster. Some of them are not even English, but London is their plaything.
zimpenfish 6y ago
> I've not yet heard what the pro-Brexit faction gets from this? Farage is currently popping up on YouTube with some financial malarkey (I hesitate to use the words grift or scam but it does look very much in that direction) that presumably wasn't viable before we left the EU.

coldtea 6y ago

>Brexiteers have nothing but disdain for the City and finance. As the left once did, before it went in-bed with big finance and globalization...

breakfastduck 6y ago
Sadly true.