Has a nation ever sacrificed so much for so little? Britain made a bad decision about five years ago: Brexit. Incompetent and venal politics, sophisticated disinformation efforts, delusional politicians on both the left and right, and a public shattered to the point of apathy by perpetual austerity propelled it — and then compounded it.
What had happened to the Britain of the 1990s and 2000s? The kind, optimistic, warm, and intelligent civilization that served as a beacon to the world, a leader among nations, and one that the world revered and looked up to? Nationalism, foolishness, paranoia, greed, and selfishness had devolved into a shambles. Every manifestation of human ignorance was on full show. The United Kingdom had become a laughingstock. But the worst was still to come: disaster.
Britain's odd decision to quit the EU frightened every sane person — and every decent economist and social thinker left in the country, which, to be honest, wasn't many. Why is it necessary to abolish the ability to live and work in 27 countries? For naught? For what became known as "sovereignty," a shibboleth.
This is how the tale went. The EU was to blame for the United Kingdom's decline into poverty and despair. Which had been quick: Britain had been the envy of the world in the early 2000s. It was a mirror picture of America by 2010 or so, with a dwindling middle class, a collapsing working class, young people with no prospects, and plummeting earnings, savings, and happiness.
Britain has no one but itself to blame for this, and certainly not the EU, which was one of Britain's major investors and best political and economic partners.
Who else would be imposing austerity to the point of gravely damaging its crown jewels, the NHS, once the world's best healthcare system, and the BBC, once the world's best public broadcaster, if Britain didn't have "control" and "sovereignty"? Who else was forcing young people to pay tiny fortunes to attend university, destroying the underpinnings of what was once a nascent social democracy, assurances like basic healthcare, a place to live, and a little amount of money? Nobody had ever had more power over Britain's destiny than Britain. The idea that the EU was a puppet master was a neurotic fantasy. It was merely that the British couldn't take responsibility for their own lousy decisions, which included choosing a succession of the world's worst administrations since the Weimar Republic.
Despite this, this incredibly stupid and pitiful notion spread like wildfire across the country because it was appealing, because it's always simpler to blame someone else for your own bad decisions. By 2015, Britain was engulfed in a fever dream of nationalism. If the EU was to blame for Britain's woes, then "regaining control" of the country was the only way to turn things around.
This bacchanalian rage for scapegoating the EU quickly became the norm. Turn on the television, and you'll see some lunatic who has no place in a civilized society - some radical, supported by a zealous billionaire. Was this, after all, America? And on the BBC, no less, where Jeremy Waxman and David Attenborough previously worked. The deception was welcomed with triumphalist acclaim — snarls of self-satisfied wrath were heard from the British populace now, where the good sense of love and tenderness had settled down pleasantly not so long before.
Eventually, British culture and society altered as a result of this ferocious environment of scapegoating. So quickly that nothing like it has ever happened in a contemporary democracy. In one of modern history's strangest and darkest turns, the government formally declared a "hostile climate" for anyone who wasn't "really" British. Was this now America, or Russia? Perhaps Poland?
In hell, JG Ballard and Golding smiled. Unpeople – loathed Europeans, immigrants, outsiders, refugees, and everyone who wasn't "real" — were the target of the formal declaration of a "hostile atmosphere." Was this the rise of fascism? Some weird, dumb, grunting caveman forefather? And before long, the United Kingdom had devolved into xenophobia, cruelty, and hatred. Open scorn, derision, and hatred of these now unwelcome, scapegoated individuals became the new cultural norm, and what economists term human capital flight began — all of those people began to flee in a huge exodus since life had become unbearably unpleasant for them. They were tormented, harassed, lectured, and mistreated, as is customary when a country is granted formal permission to be "hostile."
But "they" — the unwanted ones, the scapegoats now blamed for a nation in rapid, self-inflicted decline, all those decades of austerity reaping the terrible fruit of societal breakdown — were academics, physicians, nurses, investors, engineers, and ordinary people who kept things running. People are what a modern civilization requires.
The New Britain exclaimed, "Good riddance!" On your way out, don't let the door hit you! It cackled with victorious, self-satisfied delight at the ruins of its own society, at the degradation of decency and openness, at no longer being a part of the modern world. If you weren't angry, vicious, or mean, if you didn't want them to go because, after all, they were to blame for the wreckage of us, then you couldn't possibly be a part of this...this...monstrous and wretched thing Britain had become, a mindless mass pulsing with hatred, its dead eyes gleaming with destruction, its limbs twitching with rage.
A brand-new national crusade had erupted. Britain would once again be a swashbuckling empire. On the one hand, it had to be cleansed from the inside out. On the other hand, it was to be free of the EU, its despised oppressor. It's worth noting the absurdity of the British believing they've ever been oppressed, given their history of imperialism. However, imperial mindsets persist, and in Britain's case, the old one seems to have never changed. Britain would not be a part of anything if it couldn't rule. It couldn't accept being treated equally in a world-changing political undertaking like the EU because equality equals tyranny to an imperial worldview. Brittanies, Above All!
Despair was expected by sane minds. What is this weird nationalist frenzy? Perhaps the term "nationalism" was overused at this point. All of this ugliness, stupidity, delusion, hatred, passion, and conviction? In a word, it was terrifying. The thinking of a nation had become jumbled. Sure enough, disaster was on the way. What else could happen to a country on the verge of breaking up with its largest trading partner — a country ten times its size — for no other reason than to resent it and have a scapegoat to blame for the heroic, dumb fiction of its own purity? All of this without a contingency plan? What would happen if the British economy collapsed, and the vicious cycle of insolvency — unemployment — poverty set in...to a society that was already lying to itself about its own ruin?
Whether we like it or not, economics is the destiny of nations. It's a depressing reality. In terms of social science, Keynes – possibly the greatest thinker of the twentieth century, and, ironically, British — loathed it. Despite this, he saw that the only way to free himself from its iron grip was to avoid the certain calamity of being squeezed to death by its ruthlessness. In the United Kingdom, disaster was about to strike.
All of this, however, was disregarded as "scaremongering" by a British press and political and cultural society that had succumbed to that most clichéd and jingoistic of British tropes: the Blitz Spirit. Maintain your composure and carry on! Was there, however, some type of...war...going on? But I'm getting ahead of myself. Which side had the upper hand?
Duh. The evidence on Brexit is finally coming in. It's even worse than the most outspoken Brexit detractors — including yours truly — predicted. It turns out that Brexit isn't simply a blunder — it's a historic, jaw-dropping, and catastrophic disaster. Do you have any doubts? Continue reading.
Trade with Europe began to come to a halt in the first month of the year, a phenomenon called in economics as a "sudden stop." That is one of the most dreadful things that can happen in the field of bleak science. It's more accurate to term it a "heart attack," because it refers to when an economy seizes up and ceases to operate. Take a look at the numbers for yourself. They're absolutely jaw-dropping.
Seventy percent drops? What percentage is it? 80 percent? 90 percent? Nothing even close to this has ever been seen in modern culture. The only analogs are hardcore social collapse versions. These figures imply that swaths of the British economy are being vaporized overnight by a laser beam from the sky or a nuclear explosion.
But which swaths are we talking about? Prepare to be astounded at the depths of human stupidity. The very people who vehemently favored Brexit. Fishing? Brexit's supporters to the nth degree. Brexit has turned everything into a vapor. Cheese? Meat? The narrative continues.
Here's a story about British expats who voted for Brexit and are happy in Spain. Deluded enough to believe that it wouldn't make a difference, affect anything, or accomplish anything. They are now being deported to a nation they do not want to live in, and they are startled and indignant. How could a human mind come up with anything so ridiculous? At this point in the story, words are beginning to fail us, but we must proceed.
Britain is now a leper.
The British economy is starting to suffocate. In the most heinous way possible. It's not a sudden death, which would be preferable. It's a horrible, lengthy, and agonizing process. It's decomposition death, one piece at a time. Oh crap, there's your nose on the floor. Oh no, a finger has just fallen off! Its industries are being wiped out one by one, like if someone had leprosy and was losing limbs or fingers one by one, or if they had a dreadful disease that ate away at their organs one by one.
Meat, cheese, fishing, and food are the first to perish. Those were always going to be "toast," as we say in America. Because trading these goods where customs and duties apply makes them almost utterly uneconomical, which is why you're stuck eating all that terrible American food in America, for example. Then there are the ones that are considerably bigger and more destructive. As their suppliers and clients die, the hospitality industry — hotels, restaurants, pubs, and so on — begins to die. Then there's the major one: banking and insurance, which are already migrating to Europe in large numbers.
The cycle then enters its truly destructive phase. The public commodities of the United Kingdom are privatized and sold to American capital. By the way, that's what Brexit has always been about. Who else did you believe was supporting all the lies that turned the typical British citizen into a growling, zombie-like idiot? The answer is simple: the profits to be made through defrauding American customers are no longer available; America is now bankrupt. As a result, American capital requires a "new market," or a new victim. The only country stupid enough to desire to be one is the United Kingdom.
What will Londoners do when they receive "insurance bills" from the American "health insurer" that has already purchased London's GP practices? When an X-ray costs $5000, or a simple operation costs $50,000? They'll have no idea what struck them. And yet, profiting on such a massive scale — imagine millions of people being charged such amounts, and you're talking trillions of dollars — raking it in for decades to come by transforming Britain into America — that is Brexit's true eschatology, the one planned by the high priests of capital and invoked to convert the average dumb Nigel or Boris into an acolyte of the True Faith of Money, Inc.
Let's return to some statistics to see where Britain stands in this now-certain and unavoidable cycle of ruin. According to a poll conducted by the Federation of Small SMEs, 25% of businesses had stopped trading with Europe after just three months. Please allow me to translate that for you. Around a quarter of small enterprises in the United Kingdom do not trade with their largest export market. How long before they declare bankruptcy? Bang! And that's only in the next three months. What occurs in a year, say?
These aren't "teething difficulties." It will not improve; rather, it will deteriorate. A big chunk of the remaining 75% is depleting their savings and reserves in order to keep afloat. In a desperate attempt to create some cash, they are shipping special cargoes to Europe or making special agreements with brokers. But the truth is that doing business with Europe has, for the most part, become unprofitable. The paperwork, the expenses to have it all resolved, the red tape, the customs procedures - here's a picture to show you how knotted this issue is. Any firm' profit margins are wiped out as a result, and most operate on razor-thin margins.
As a result, a tidal wave of bankruptcy will sweep the economy - that's what "25% of businesses have quit trade with Europe" or "fishing and cheese exports have collapsed by 90%" are inevitably pointing to. What is the result of bankruptcy? Unemployment. What are the effects of unemployment? Austerity.
The vicious circle that started this dreadful chapter in Britain's history — austerity, poverty, and disaster — will only become worse. Brexit was always just a fancy way of saying "austerity." That has always been the case in American capital. The British left, which shamelessly, pitifully, and hopefully stupidly embraced Brexit, never did — and as a result, there was no meaningful political, cultural, or social opposition to it, at least not at any level of power. Where does the tragic spiral of austerity-fueled nationalism come to a halt? One place that comes to mind is Nazi Germany. Another example is the former Soviet Union. Another example is Trump's America. None of them are especially pleasant environments.
All hope is lost for those who enter here. Those words, according to Dante, are engraved on the gates of hell. He may have been referring about the United Kingdom today. It's a culture whose self-inflicted demise has only just begun – and will continue for decades. Dante, the great explorer of despair, was beautiful and smart enough to believe that hell was governed by a principle he called "contra basso," which stated that a sinner's punishment in hell would be the reversal of their guilt. The punishments would get more severe as they progressed through the nine rounds. You'd choke on gold and starve as a result. It was karma in the Western sense.
Do you want to know what Britain's future holds? That is the future of the United Kingdom. A journey through Dante's inferno using the contrabass law. But Britain isn't Virgil, the terrified traveler in hell, in this story. It's the sinner, and the world is Virgil, who is being taught the sad, awful lessons of how a country self-destructs in dramatic, graphic detail. Contrabass.
Britain aspired to be the world's most powerful empire. It's now a laughingstock around the world, a pariah, and an idiot. Britain desired to be wealthy. It is going to be a disaster. Britain wanted to rule, but now it will be ruled by America's worst predators, hedge funds, and suit-clad crooks who kill children at a young age. Britain was lured by dreams of hatred and power, and now it's choked to death on them, stumbling into the darkness. Britain used to be the doorway to Europe; today it's a portal to self-destruction. And it all happened because Britain tried to blame everyone else for its own foolish blunders, leaving it with the stupidest of all, at the very top, in ascending order of stupidity, repeating the same mistakes into oblivion.
Give up all hope. In hell, contrabass reigns supreme, especially for empires that have grown old and decrepit, but are still inebriated and dreaming of power and violence. Another great chronicler of greed, vanity, brutality, and devastation, Mario Puzo, stated it even better. Fools are doomed.
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