Boston, 2017
Michael Bloomberg sat on a white cushioned chair addressing the small audience at a technology convention. The billionaire businessman looked at ease, microphone in hand and a smile dancing across his face as he talked to the Boston crowd. Naturally, the topic of conversation moved on to Brexit. Bloomberg told his audience:
“I did say that I thought [Brexit] was the single stupidest thing any country has ever done but then we Trumped it … it is really hard to understand why a country that was doing so well wanted to ruin it.”
The audience laughed and Bloomberg went on to share further opinions surrounding the matter before moving on to the next topic.
Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t?
Despite coming a year after the referendum result, Bloomberg’s words echoed a sentiment felt by many. How could a country that was doing so well choose to deliberately shoot itself in the foot? Why had Britain chosen to leave the European Union in a move that would seemingly cost the country economically?
Herein lies the problem that Michael Bloomberg and many thousands of others systematically failed to understand (I include myself in that number). The status quo was simply not good enough for a majority of the…
