As a British citizen, I am oscillating between sadness and rage: Brexit is the worst of times

[davidthegnome]

13. Hard to believe...

Hard to believe that Britain voted this way. I remember being a younger American and always thinking to myself that the British had several things much better figured out than Americans. The conservative movement since that time has really grown into some kind of monster.

I'm sure various people had various reasons for voting as they did... but the simple facts of the matter are that this is going to ultimately really hurt the economy of the UK. It's going to be felt across the EU - and around the world to a certain extent as well. If the immediate, significant drop in the stock market is any indication... then the effects of this decision are already being felt, pretty much immediately after the vote.

I don't think that this event alone will send the world into another global economic crisis... but some times something like this has a rather large ripple effect. Will other Nations leave the EU? What will happen if they do? Will Britain now promote a more isolationist policy? Are they going to withdraw from various trade agreements? There's a lot of questions that could be asked here.

As someone who is unemployed, uninsured, broke and injured to boot... I can say with some authority that this kind of stuff matters. The housing and various other economic issues that led to a global economic crisis previously... was pretty devastating in terms of money lost, jobs lost, homes lost - poverty, struggling and suffering. Under current regulations however, there is little to prevent such a thing from happening again - and republicans (and sadly, even some democrats) are pushing to further de-regulate the already poorly regulated market.

Let's all have a look around. Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. We are still engaging in this global war on terror that is draining our resources. Our public education system is on very shaky ground. Our media is deceitful and controlled by the corporate world. Our infrastructure is crumbling. Citizens United gave greater power to wealthy special interests - to the extent that they can often write our legislation at this point. Then we have the immigration issues, the environmental issues. We have hunger and homelessness in many states (my own - Maine, is enduring a great deal of hardship under Governor LePage and various other assholes). There is great tension with Russia, with China, North Korea - and various other powers in the world.

What would it take to set off another economic crisis that would greatly dwarf the "great recession"? I'm no economist, I only went to college for about a year before I ran out of money and ended up in great debt instead. Still, it seems to me that our Country - and perhaps the world at large... are on shaky ground. In a time when our primary focus should be on resolving climate change and preserving our world for future generations, instead, we are all caught up in ideological warfare.

It's enough to make a sane man depressed - and I never claimed to be very sane.

My sympathies to those in Britain who are struggling with this - wish I could help out, but in spite of recent comments made here - I still think America is even dumber than Britain.