Brexit continues to shake the world. Markets lost more than $2 trillion last Friday, the worst single day for the global economy in history. In the aftermath of what one expert called “the biggest global monetary shock since 2008,” two facts seem clear.
One: There is a simple explanation for this shocking event.
CNN’s Nic Robertson interpreted Brexit this way: “The message from the shires of England is that they no longer trust their leadership.” As a result, many in the U.K. “see a rich upper class that has grown ridiculously rich, intertwined with a political elite in their pocket and their thrall.”
Chris Patten, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, agreed: “Growing social inequality has contributed to a revolt against a perceived metropolitan elite. Old industrial England . . . voted against better-off London. Globalization, these voters were told, benefits only those at the top—comfortable working with the rest of the world—at the expense of everyone else.”
Nationalist movements are gaining popularity in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Austria, France, Switzerland, Slovakia, Italy, and Greece. Radical Islam continues to gain adherents around the world. Brazilians recently voted to impeach their president. Anger against the establishment is growing in scope and severity. Brexit is just the first of many dominoes that will fall in coming months and years.
Two: Simple explanations are usually too simple.
Many who voted to leave the EU are now expressing regret on Twitter with the #Regrexit hashtag. A petition to force another referendum is gathering momentum with more than three million signatures.
Brexit was widely seen as a repudiation of establishment figures such as President Obama, who openly urged British voters to remain in the European Union. However, the president’s approval rating is at its highest level since the death of Osama bin Laden in May 2011.
Continue reading Denison Forum – THE SIMPLE EXPLANATION FOR BREXIT ISN’T SO SIMPLE
