Boris Johnson: markets and the pound are ‘stable’—- Seriously???
“Are they?
Boris Johnson, seen as one of the main contenders to replace David Cameron as UK prime minister, has suggested the worst of the markets turmoil is behind Britain, claiming “people’s pensions are safe, the pound is stable, markets are stable”.
Sterling hit a new low for the day after his remarks.”
Source: Boris Johnson: markets and the pound are ‘stable’ Financial Times
And you see, that’s the problem with this brand of politics. You can manipulate a sector of the population for a certain amount of time- but just repeating slogans doesn’t really transubstantiate said slogans into facts. Stability is certainly not the word that comes to mind right now no matter how many times Johnson repeats it.
The fact of the matter is Brexit has set up the entire continent for turmoil significant enough to cripple various economies. UK bank shares were crashing this morning. Barclays and RBS dropped so much trading was halted. Add to that this imposed waiting period of now to the Tory leadership election in October. That’s +3 months during which investment will be paralyzed. House sales will be hit. Britons who planned on spending their summer holidays in the EU will have to deal with a much weaker pound- meaning they might not be able to afford those holidays after all. And there we have the knock on effect with Spain and Greece being the hardest hit.
Anyway I leave you with Nick Cohen on Johnson and Gove: “If sneers won’t work, the worst journalists lie. The Times fired Johnson for lying to its readers. Michael Howard fired Johnson for lying to him. When he’s cornered, Johnson accuses others of his own vices, as unscrupulous journalists always do. Those who question him are the true liars, he blusters, whose testimony cannot be trusted because, as he falsely said of the impeccably honest chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, they are “stooges”.
The Vote Leave campaign followed the tactics of the sleazy columnist to the letter. First, it came out with the big, bold solution: leave. Then it dismissed all who raised well-founded worries with “the country is sick of experts”. Then, like Johnson the journalist, it lied.
And here’s John Oliver:
My Mazamet 
The floor is stable except during an earthquake.
Maybe that’s what good Boris was trying to say.
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True, but it cuts both way, Pink. Osborne lied about his emergency austerity budget, Cameron lied about invoking Article 50, Sajid Javid (Tory Business Secretary) put on an utterly cringe worthy denial of all he and the Tories said on Andrew Marr’s show yesterday, the idea of a second referendum keeps being pushed by Bremainers who days previously were insisting there was no second chance, and that this was it. Together, they said interest rates will rise in the case of Brexit and devaluation, and now we here that a cut is more likely, if anything. Two weeks ago the FTSE was at 5,923. As I write, it’s 6,039. Sterling against the Euro is higher today than it was for most of 2012, the whole of 2013, and the first third of 2014. As I see it, both sides lied and used hyperbole throughout the campaign, with the notable exception of Corbyn, who now is getting it in the neck from the miserable Blairite PLP for not being a devout enough Bremainer.
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That’s sort of a moot point. There’s simply no way around the fact that the Brexit promises aren’t viable- and that’s the reality being faced right now.
An associate status deal for the UK a la Norway or Switzerland is EU membership by another name. That’s the only path by which the UK can maintain unfettered access to the common market. That means freedom of movement and following EU regulations. The alternative, which is being outside the market, is economically disastrous. In that sense the predictions actually didn’t go into enough (frightening) detail. Do you think the 250 billion Carney just pumped into the markets was free? He had it under a mattress? Ordinary British people are going to have to foot that bill.
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I understand all that, though think the queen of Europe – that’s not you! 😛 – is making the right noises, and that the outline of a workable trade deal will get done over the coming six months. But yes, the Brexiter suggestions of curbing inward migration are not yet substantiated at all. Of course, they could be, dependent upon the nature of the trade deal Merkel gives the nod to, and the degree to which an emboldened, even more Right Wing Tory Party with a new electoral mandate feels it must put up the shutters to hold true to itself. If the EU descends into chaos, then it will.
Carney has not ‘just pumped 250 billion into the markets’, Pink. He’s saying to currency speculators like Soros that they’re going to have to bet big if they want to play poker again. Look, it’s a mess, but as Mervyn King (previous Governor of The Bank of England) just said in the last hour, it’s the remaining EU states that are likely to come off worse than Britain. British banks will get clobbered because they’re massively exposed to mainland Europe, so it was their price which got hit today. If you want ‘frightening detail’, then read Chris Hedges’ Death of the Liberal Class – it’s going to get messy all over the place.
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Of course Europe is going to be hit. The weaker economies being the first to suffer; but what we’re discussing here is varying levels of misery.
As for Merkel’s trade deal- I doubt it’ll be that simple. Her position was much stronger with Cameron at her side. It was the UK and Germany together who opposed a blacklist for tax havens. It was the UK & Germany who fought against minimum wages etc. etc.
And noises are already being made in Germany, France and Benelux on removing the City of London’s financial “passport” to the EU. That could mean 10’s of thousands of jobs lost in the financial sector alone.
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Yes, the U.K.’s (better stop calling it that) financial sector could get hit very heavily, which in turn would hit the U.K. property market big time – both good things in the eyes of many. Britain based its economy on shopping and banking in recent decades, the latter creating ridiculously inflated asset bubbles in housing and equities. Neoliberalism is screwing everyone – inside or outside the EU. Anyway, if Article 50 does get invoked – and it’s still a case of ‘if’ – then at least we’ll finally be able to give state aid for the supply of hi-speed broadband and my chronic connection out here in rural Somerset will improve. It’s like bloody pigeon post here.
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The video clip was good at least.
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Honestly, I don`t think Boris thought they’d win. I figure he was just positioning himself as a lower-case nationalist, garner some greater support, and launch a bid for PM’ship before 2020. That all seems to have backfired rather disasterously.
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That’s pretty much how I was looking at it as well.
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I rather thought that Boris was parachuted in to make sure that Leave lost….
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If only they had left him there…
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Bojo, the uncrowned (or rather crowned…) clown of politics…
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This whole thing is a clusterfuck. John Oliver’s segments about Brexit have been more informative than actual news channels, and he’s a damn comedian. I’ve avoided commenting because really an American’s POV doesn’t matter. It’s like watching a train wreck.
Oliver pointed out last week that Boris and Nigel were outright lying. Does nobody have YouTube or HBO in Europe?
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For anyone who didn’t understand the power of religious thinking… this is an extraordinary example of it. People ignored every bit of evidence there was, every study, every serious expert- all based on emotion and fantasy.
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Consensus, i talked about it on another thread. When you change your Constitution which is the Supra Governoring Laws the people agree to, no laws can be voted in that run counter to the Constitution, when you change your Constitution there has to be more than a simple majority, there has to be a National consensus.
Likewise when you vote on Statehood issues, and the EU vote was a vote on being a Nation State of the EU, you must have a consensus vote of the people, a simple majority vote is insufficient. I bring this up again because I read an article on the plebicite Austrailia looks like it is going to run on Civil Marriage for sexual minorities. In the article it describes the mechanism for changing the Australia Constitution. In Australia to change the Constitution you must have a double majority. A majority vote by the people, in a majority of the States. The US is even stricter, to change the US constitution you need a majority vote in 3/4 of the States. It blows my mind that an issue so basic, so central to self governance can be changed on a simple majority vote.
I listened to that Nigel guy give a speech at the EU, he was absolutly appaling, appaling. “You laughed at me 17 years ago when I said I wanted UK out of the EU, but you are not laughing today are you?” He reminds me so much of Donald Trump. Do you know what Trump said at one of his rallies? “When I’m President you will ALL have a better job, and you will make more money!” And people cheered! They believed it, or at least they want to believe it. The ignorence and gullibility of the masses astounds me, it truly does. Look at the UK, it worked over there. Now days later it is like waking up with a hangover, “Why did I drink so much and bitch at my girlfriend? Now she won’t even reply to my texts.”
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The marriage equality plebiscite the Liberal government wants to hold is non binding so it’s like a nationwide poll. Total waste of time and money. Most of us think the Libs are just hoping to drag the question out until no one cares any more. 😦
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