ThroughThickAndThin
*Personally, I am wracking my brains to think of anything which will directly affect me. Although I wonder if there will economical turmoil and whether to plan for an interest rate rise (our very high mortgage). Which will in turn affect Dhs business.
If we remain, I'd imagine it's just business as usual.
Anyone have any thoughts?*
Counties trade with others all the time without trade agreements.
The US, Canada, Australia etc. aren't going to give up their sovereignty or open their borders in order to have a free trade agreement with the EU, so why should we?
Back in the 60's when the common market was being devised, it made sense. However, moving forward to 2016, things are very different. Improvements in communications and indeed dirt cheap at that has meant it's cheap and easy to communicate with most places on the planet. Add into the mix the internet meaning the free flow of information on pretty much any conceivable idea or item is available to you in seconds. Add in easy and relatively inexpensive air travel both passenger and freight. The introduction of cheap as chips e-commenceNo chat rooms in 1973 yet today we can chat with anyone in the world about anything 24/7 for peanuts. So today we know much more about the goal of the EU than perhaps did those that voted for the common market. It' pretty clear they want to control all countries in the EU and form a superstate. I won't go into the theories behind this here but suffice to say in creating a free trading bloc, it is not necessary to take control of the countries within it so one must ask oneself, what is the real agenda and what's in it for us?
Today anyone can trade both services and products globally with nothing more than a computer, internet connection, email, IP phone, Amazon, TNT and PayPal. None of this was available in 1973. Commerce was much more restrictive and harder to conduct back then so a Common Market was a good idea. Today, the EU is pretty redundant.
In 1998 I started an internet business and had customers from all over the world. It bothered me not which country they lived and it bothered them not where my company was based. The EU didn't make a blind bit of difference to the performance of my company. What made my company possible was the internet and other 21st century developments, not the EU.
I still trade and unlike the doom and gloom merchants out there I don't believe my business will be any worse off either way because for every argument that favours an in vote, there will be a counter agreement and vice verse.
What is much more of a threat is that the UK is in such debt and getting worse, not helped by massive fees, fines and other costs of being in the EU. I can't help but wonder how things would have turned out if we had not joined the EU and not over the years paid in 500 billion pounds. That builds about 3 million homes. How ironic that we could have had more homes and a smaller population.
I would venture to say that if we were not members of the EU today and the referendum was a shall we join, the answer would be no. Who would vote for unlimited unchecked immigration, open borders, loss of sovereignty, a court that overrules ours, laws made by a regime that does not have our best interests at heart, a Euro army to stomp our streets, a restriction of who we can form trade agreements with and a monthly bill of some 500 million (about 3000 houses) pounds net? Not such a good proposition is it?
The EU bloc of counties has not grown in the last decade in contrast to the rest of the world. Also, our exports to the EU as a percentage of our output is decreasing. That makes sense if the EU is not keeping up with the rest of the world. After inflation, the EU is getting poorer.
There are only 3 major contributors to the EU of which we are one. There are 5 countries with a small net contribution and the rest take from the pot. The next 5 counties on the agenda to join are poor countries that will also be drawing from the EU pot. Turkey is already being given billions and it's not even a member yet. Where do you think that extra cash is going to come from? Yes, it'll come from the net contributors. Our taxes will need to rise or Osbourne will need to borrow even more money to pay the ever increasing cost of being a member of the EU. To add insult to injury, our percentage representation at the Euro table will get smaller and smaller as each new country joins. We have a measly 9.7% of the votes at the moment. It'll probably halve in time. How much of a puny voice is 5%. I think I'd rather have 100% say in the laws and the way our country is run. We can only achieve that if we vote out.
In summary, trade wise there's nothing in it provably one way or the other. Anyone claiming to be able to predict our circumstances in 2030 is in lala land or deluded or most likely both.
So as I am not in favour of subsidising the EU Eurocrats and their mega wastage and 20 and rising other EU states, unlimited unchecked immigration, open borders, loss of sovereignty, a court that overrules ours, laws made by a regime that does not have our best interests at heart, a Euro army to stomp our streets, a restriction of who we can form trade agreements with and a monthly bill of some 500 million, I will, on balance, be voting out.