Brexit Through the Gift Shop

Full disclosure, I don’t live in England. Or the European Union. Or even Europe.

I live in America, Land of the Free™.

But I consider myself an Anglophile. I like soccer, Formula 1 Racing, British TV, and gin. And I was very heavily invested in the recent EU referendum, aka Brexit.

I settled in for the night Thursday after having found a stream of SKYNews and with two bits of Ikea furniture to build. Ready with coffee and Johnnie Walker in case the night went really long, or I started to feel bad about the result. The same strategy I had in the 2012 US election — a bottle of champagne in case of a win and a bottle of cheap scotch in case of a loss.

I didn’t end up needing the coffee, but I did put a dent in the whisky.

The UK voted to leave the EU. A little less than 25 percent of the population was thrilled. The rest of the country was pretty bummed. The British Pound dropped about 10% to the US Dollar. The Dow Jones dropped 500 points in the first 5 minutes of trading Friday morning. The markets are in a tailspin, Prime Minister Cameron resigned, the whole thing is a mess. But what is the issue with the EU in the first place?

A large part of the issue, as I understand it, had to do with immigration.

There were some other issues, like not wanting a larger governmental authority to tell them what to do. The government is also contributing a large amount of money to the EU and feels that they don’t get enough in return.

Immigration though, according to the “leave” camp, was costing hard working Brits jobs and as a result they wanted to seal their borders. The betting market had the odds of staying in the EU as about 8% on Monday. But a late, unexpected surge means that they are out, and the global economic and political landscapes are just as surprised.

An unlikely result in a single election in a single country, based on the xenophobic, isolationist, and and anti-governmental sentiments has caused widespread negative impact on that country and other countries as well.

Thank god nothing like that could happen here in the US of A, Home of the Brave™.

Listen to this week’s episode, Episode 103— Flowers, Netflix, and Jihad (featuring a piece by Yours, Truly):

Written by Louis Reich of Comatose.

Comatose is a weekly series of amusing anecdotes, insightful commentary, and pithy stories. Every week three contributors are featured in short segments. The segments, though often unrelated, are tied together using music and narration to set the scene. Relax and enjoy the ride while listening to topics as varied as love, birthdays, and reciprocity.

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