I love the clever-by-half millennials and MSMers who pointed to Britain’s stock market and pound losing a whopping 3-6% against other currencies.
Thought I’d put things in context:
Keep calm and carry on.
I love the clever-by-half millennials and MSMers who pointed to Britain’s stock market and pound losing a whopping 3-6% against other currencies.
Thought I’d put things in context:
Keep calm and carry on.
And
http://joannenova.com.au/2016/06/brexit-reporting-nobody-mention-switzerland-or-norway/#comment-1813977380
I found it amusing how people were panicking about the market’s reaction the Brexit result.
Many of them were either too young to remember or weren’t even born on October 19, 1987. Those of us who were around at the time will recall how the Dow Jones index dropped by about 25% in a single day. A lot of doomsayers predicted the end of western civilization as we know it. Not only are we still here but the DJI is 6 or 7 times higher now than it was back then.
I’m not going to be concerned until this country changes its flag to that of a foreign occupying power or I see mushroom clouds on the horizon. If, however, I happen to be at any of a number of grounds zero, my worries, no doubt, will be over instantly.
Some of the most troubling aspects of the post referendum analysis are the comments by the leftist-progs who truly believe that a travesty has been committed by people who are too stupid to have voted ‘correctly’ and that the results of the referendum should be overturned by people smart enough to do what’s best for Britain. It’s increasingly obvious that these people only believe in democracy when it furthers their goals and that it can be put aside when it suits them; for the greater good of course. That is truly scary and does not bode well for the future of democracy.
Democracy needs to be explained, it’s supposedly government of, for and by the people last I checked. Perhaps it’s time for refresher courses for all politicians. We have a problem right here, a perfect example of a government with a majority whose leader is acting like a dictator. Sure they have been given the right to govern but when they want to make changes to something like our voting system we all should have a say through a referendum.
Trudeau and the Liberal cabal are in their we know best dictatorship mode which means they know what’s best for them and their future political ambitions not the people. We can’t allow this to happen, we need to pull out all the stops while we still have what we call a democracy.
While there is an obvious over-doing of the doom and gloom regarding Brexit, the graph you created clearly shows investors leaving the British pound and heading for the Euro in times of trouble, such as in early 2009 when both currencies were at parity after the Great Recession. This graph is not a good sign for Britain.
I suppose according to the “experts” it’s never a good thing to be a master of your own house.
hey Steve… that graph shows the pound getting stronger..
after reaching economic equilibrium,
the value bounces around..
A good argument prima facie. It could also be flipped. With Britain’s one foot in and one foot out, the GBP was fighting a war it couldn’t win because of net currency outflow to the EU. They were in the same position as the 13 colonies 250 years ago. When they did well the entire EU shared the spoils; when misfortune hit they were on their own.
Now the British will have the opportunity to show if they can outperform the European beurocracy.
Well said, Jean.
The British pound used to be $2.10 USD. It is now $1.37. In 2009, during the financial crisis, the Euro was preferred over the pound as a safe currency. The pound has been slowly rebounding from 2009 (as you point out) until Brexit. But it (the pound) is not the currency it once was. Check the pound versus the USD over a 20 year period.
The pound sterling used to be worth a pound of silver.
WalterF. I wasn’t providing a reason for the low pound, just pointing out that the pound is weak (even with the dead cat bounce after 2009).
But I doubt being in the EU has helped the British pound.
Here in Canada we have a lower dollar (supposed to boost the economy) and we are heavily into deficit spending (supposed to boost the economy). Yet our economic growth hasn’t improved as promised. I hope Britain has better leaders.
Exactly and well said, and Liz J expands well on your comment.
This reminds me of when Stephen Harper won a majority with 39.something and the left progs called the results illegitimate and stolen. However, when PM Empty Suit with Shiny Hair won a majority with a couple of points less it was hailed as a great victory for the Canadian people and that Canada was back.
The progressives have learned well from Lenin that the only legitimate government is one made up by them.
A pound of sterling silver is worth about $240 USD.
What is the significance of the UK leaving the EU? Other than it might precipitate a monetary crisis in the EU as others might jump ship as well, IMHO there are greater issues at work. Virtually the entire global economy is awash in debt. Brits voting to leave the sinking EU ship is a repudiation of monetary stimulus that most national governments are using. Other citizens might look at their own governments and start holding them accountable as the Brits have done of their Brussels overlords.
The Americans and next year the Germans will have national elections. If Trump has the smarts he could use BREXIT as a major weapon against the DEMs. The worse it gets as economies sink due to debt the bigger the club Trump will have. There is nothing like fear to galvanize voters on election day. Again, my question is whether Trump is smart enough.
The slogan was “government of the people, by the people, for the people” but all systems of government offer comfortable sinecures for some and once too many people realise and make government their profession, you get government of the people, by the government, for the government.
For getting effective and efficient government democracy isn’t any better than any other method of choosing. What democracy can do better than any other system is chuck out bad governments peacefully. And with any system you will get bad governments that need chucking out, so that’s why democracy is preferred. As Winston Churchill said, not because it is good but because every other system is worse.
The EU is run by a self-appointed bureaucracy that operates behind a facade of the democratically-elected European Parliament that has no control over it. The people are tired of paying for them to meddle everywhere to no apparent benefit to anyone except the Eurocrats themselves.
Typical so-called progressive/liberal/socialist thinking. We are smarter than you so listen to us. This vote was not a knee-jerk reaction as many leftist liberals are saying today. People were frustrated and fed up with an out of touch bureaucracy both in Brussels and in Westminister… When you pay your taxes diligently and then see billions upon billions inserted into a country that simply has no fiscal sanity or even care on having any (ie: Greece) it pisses the average 9-5er to the brink of rage. The euro is doomed but it was doomed long before last thursday. If Scotland wants to make the foolhardy decision and separate and rejoin the EU that is their choice. Same goes for Northern Ireland but when the Euro officially crumbles in the next decade when more countries regain their sanity and leave this trashy alliance tell Scotland and NI get to the back of the cue (think Obama-rama-ding-dong said that) and well consider your reinstatement under the union. The leave campaign has done Britain a great service in the long term.
Britain simply wished to be the masters of their OWN house. Not by some appointed bureaucracy.This is short term pain for long term gain.
Agreed!
The descendants of the people who drew up the Magna Carta have spoken. Long live freedom from governmental over reach!
Exactly, and exactly why the socialists are all gnashing their teeth and frothing at the mouth. Britain is showing they don’t need direction from a bureaucratic collective, neither do they need to listen to the self appointed media experts who are wont to tell us all what we need.
The birthplace of our democratic system is in disarray. The expected collapse of the British pound was not as precipitous as the fear-mongers had predicted, but the collapse of the British Labour party is Everest in proportion. The UKIP party in Britain is well on its way to holding a balance of power in the next minority British government. The massive resignations of the shadow Labour cabinet ministers in Britain this weekend has shown the true nature of the socialist leaders. They are quite willing to resign their shadow cabinet posts while retaining their seat in government, hence they will still be collecting a paycheck from the British taxpayer. If they were true socialists,(is there such a thing?) they would resign from parliament, en masse, and cause an immediate general election. The UKIP party can be seen as a refinement of the TEA party movement in America. As has worked in Britain since the Magna Carta, and the Tyler revolt a government of the people, for the people, and by the people means a government that by common consent will govern those that elected it to protect, preserve and propagate the society that elected it. The failure of previous governments in history to accomplish these simple directives are legion in example. Britain is about to set another example and it will be up to the British people to decide. They and only they can DICTATE to the government how they wish to be governed and thus set another example for the rest of the democratic world or they can roll over and accept the fiefdom that they had escaped 900 years ago.
In Canada, the “Trudeau” Liberal government will have to stop their present arrogance and show we are a true democracy by letting the people decide via referendum before changing how we vote in our country. It still belongs to the people. To not listen,to disallow us to decide such a drastic move is the behaviour we expect from a dictatorship. Are we there yet? We will soon find out what we are truly made of and if we truly value our democracy.
So now we see some of the leaders of ‘Remain’ wanting to have the vote results voided. They’re saying that a significant number of ‘exit’ voters have buyer’s remorse. I guess the democratic process is only good if your side wins.
Another disturbing factor about the vote is the results related to age. The youngsters mostly voted for the nanny state and the old folks voted for independence. If the youngsters hold on to this socialist dream as they grow older then the country is in deep trouble. Perhaps they will grow wiser with maturity, but then again perhaps not. As we’ve often discussed regarding education, such skills as critical thinking are not being developed. That and the willingness to set aside the democratic process does not bode well for the future.
A lot of BS is circulating about Brexis. Gibraltar wants to remain in the EU. The only reason the UK hasn’t punted Gibralter is that Spain would occupy it the same day. The UK would consider it a joyous day if Gibraltar voted to leave.
Apparently all the Northern Irish are going to turn in their Orange Lodge memberships and vote to join Ireland despite the fact that generations of Irish have preached hate against them. I mean seriously, I have known a couple Northern Irish Catholics and they are absolute lunatics. The Catholic Irish word for Protestants who have lived in Ireland for 400 years is English.
The Scots might leave, preferring goose stepping European dictatorship to British democracy. Idiots one and all.
You mean all those “old” people who are “stealing” from the young what with their paltry pensions and whatnot ? I guess those are the ONLY ones who still remember what it means to be British.
That’s what happens when you raise generations of little brats on selfishness and permissiveness. We only have ourselves to blame.
I used to be a member of a certain web forum and I heard a lot of caterwauling about us big bad baby boomers “stealing” *their* futures. I was given to understand that I had to kowtow to them and give them whatever they wanted because *they* were paying my future pension.
One reason, I think, that I ended up in the doghouse on that forum when I told those twerps in no uncertain terms that they weren’t paying for *my* pension as I’ve been living off my own resources.
I heard similar bilge while I was teaching, such as “I’m paying your salary, so you owe me high marks” and nonsense like that.
The fact is that many of that generation are extortionists and were taught how to play that game to get what they want.
Kenji & B;
As a member of the ‘boomer’ generation I can fully understand the resentment by the younger generations about the debt they are faced with. It was our generation that created most of that debt. Folks on here regularly rail about Turdeau Sr and the massive deficits he ran up in the ’70’s. There have been few governments since that have effectively curtailed government spending.
It was my generation that added to the social safety net whether the country could afford it or not. It is also my generation who is now pushing for enhancement of CPP benefits. Not enough money for retirement! No RRSP or TFSA savings apparently. Yes the boomers did this and no generation has had a easier ride than ours. No wars and compared to today’s economy we worked in boom times. My generation has no excuses worth listening to.
Mind you I am writing this on a Sunday. If the market destroys my portfolio tomorrow I will quietly join the line of whiners. 🙁
Don’t forget, though, why PET spent that money. He certainly wasn’t concerned about western Canada. Instead, he poured it into Ontario and Quebec in order to keep being re-elected. He knew that if he could keep those regions happy, he’d be returned to office.
Even when he was only able to form a minority government, it was because he had enough seats in those parts of the country. One reason many people out west became disenchanted with central Canada was because it didn’t matter how they voted. I remember the 1980 election and how disappointed I was. I was a grad student at UBC and, by being out west, I wondered why I bothered casting a ballot. The election was probably over by the time I got to my polling station. Sure enough, when the CBC TV coverage began at 8 PM local time, PET had already won before any ballots in my part of B. C. had even been counted.
While the millennials whine about how *I* helped steal their future, which I didn’t, they need to understand that people like me didn’t vote for the socialist robber barons who spent all that money.
ALL paper currencies inflate away to nothing, in time. Only the relative rates change.
The $US is a ‘rubber ruler’ against which to measure the Pound. Roughly 50 years ago we (USA) went off the gold standard. Gold then was $35 / ounce (then jumped to $45 before we packed it in totally). Now an ounce is nearer $1300. Yet it is still an ounce of gold and still buys “one men’s suit of fine clothing” as it did in Elizabethan England…
So comparing one rubber ruler $ to another Pound is just comparing two Central Bank Policy histories as both slide down the decay curve of the preferred “about 2%” inflation GOAL. (By the rule of 78s that 2% halves the value of your currency in 39 years. That it happens faster indicates “overachievers” at the Central Banks…)
A first class postage stamp was 5 cents, gasoline 25 cents / gallon US, cars about $1400, and a steak dinner out was @2.85 (at my parents restaurant – I helped make the menus…) Now all of those prices are about 10 x as high. 95% of the Gold Standard $US has evaporated. By Policy. By Design.
Also note that major currency traders, like Soros, like to short smaller currencies against larger. Why? They can move the smaller one with less expenditure… So is it any surprise that in a “long/short pairs trade” one would short the smaller and go long the larger? Is it any surprise that Great Britain is smaller than the Eurozone? Really? Moral: Don’t read too much into currency moves.
BTW, I’m old enough to remember the crash of ’87. On the 3rd day I bought one share of Berkshire Hathaway for $2800 (roughly). A few months back I sold it for about $190,000 (and yes, I held it all that time). “The time to buy is when blood is running in the streets” (Von Rothschild). That’s “any day now”… (watch for a halt to the fall mid-day and a slow rise into the close).
FWIW, I’m almost entirely in cash ($US) at the moment, but intend to “go shopping” in the UK markets “real soon now”. Everything is on sale, about 20%+ off. What’s not to like?
Now if the EUrocrats and The City Elite can just scream a bit more one more day, I can make even more…
(think about it…)
Goodness, Mr. Smith you’ve brought back vivid memories of the crash of 87. Sadly, I was in no position to profit from it. I recall commenting at the time, “Thank God I was already broke, or I’d have been wiped out!”