General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: As a British citizen, I am oscillating between sadness and rage: Brexit is the worst of times [View all]whatthehey
(3,660 posts)It will hurt the banksters! Nope. Other than some small UK only banks they'll be fine, the only impact to big boys like HSBC will be the costs to move their EU HQ to Paris, at the much greater and more germane cost of thousands of jobs and many millions in spending in the UK.
It means they are independent from unelected bureacrats! Nope. Always were. Not only did the UK have a greater proportion of votes in the very much elected European Parliament than their population as a part of the EU, but Cameron also recently negotiated a veto right in the attempt to avoid this clusterfuck.
The EU cost them more in contributions than aid! Sure, because they are, for now, richer than most EU countries so isn't that progressive taxation that we all claim to want? But even if you don't buy that, EU contributions are minuscule compared to the GDP loss that will come from losing tariff-free access to a 750MM person open market.
They had a trade imbalance with the EU! Richer countries usually do. We do. A trade imbalance also signifies demand for the debtor nation's currency. We can see from GBP exchange rates what just happened to that demand. Good luck paying for things in pounds now.