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Bless, I'm too young. Thank you. I think we're also both too young to remember a real Labour government, so I could argue the same about anyone who voted for Corbyn. Blari and Brown were certainly not real Labour.
Serious question though, how can I suffer as a result of Brexit? Economically, I'm as low hanging fruit as it gets in this country. The only way I can be worse off is if I'm homeless and have no benefits. Worst case scenario is I have to give up smoking, I smoke half my disposable income. Best case scenario is I might get a job that was previously occupied by a European.
Society never left me behind. I left society behind. I withdrew from the workforce willingly. I was sick of giving up so much of my time to do something I hated, it made me depressed. I'd rather be poor and happy than well off and unhappy. That was a choice I made. I might be looking for a job now, but I won't take just any job. I'm not applying for Tesco jobs. I want a job that I will enjoy, such as helping to run a charity shop.
I voted to leave because of sovereignty, which some people think is a dirty word. Those same people think I should be ashamed of my national identity. But it's ok for the Scottish to be proud of being Scottish, and to want to run their own affairs without the interference of others. There's a lot of xenophobia directed at the English, which is plain to see when people refer to the English as xenophobic. The irony of branding an entire nation as xenophobic is stunning.
I'm glad we've left the EU. Now all we need is a competent government. I expect a very long wait.
We’re both too young to remember any real hardship. Why do you think Eastern Europeans come here fore work? Even the poorest among us live like kings relative to say 80 years ago, and we all live much more comfortable lives than many hard working eastern Europeans or, say Indians etc. We have no real idea how bad it can get.
Your comment on you leaving society behind is exactly the same thing as it leaving you behind, the point is the divergence. Due to circumstance you’ve found yourself in a position where your life is better when you aren’t a productive member of society, and you’re a reasonably intelligent guy. I’m sure with a different path through life you could have found a high paying job that you enjoyed and found stimulating and rewarding, and likewise with a left turn here and a right turn there, I could easily find myself bumming around with no purpose, no direction, little income, spending my time getting drunk and high – Jesus! I did for a long time. It wasn’t hard work and ability that got me to the mediocre level I’ve reached, although they played a part, but it was mostly dumb luck.
As for the concept of sovereignty and national pride, I have no idea what they really mean. What exactly am I supposed to be proud of? Why should I share a sense of pride in the accomplishments of an individual or group simply because they happened to be born on this island as opposed to a hundred miles East? It make’s no sense to me at all. I think it’s mostly a tool used by the power hungry to divide and rule. But that’s no real criticism aimed at those that feel it, I’m just as susceptible to other forms of manipulation as those are to this form.
As for how you can be worse off than you are now, I refer you back to my opening paragraph. We have no real idea how bad things can be because we’ve never experienced it. We may have read about it in a book, or seen a movie or documentary, but that’s not the same thing as living it.
Someone needs to do the low level manual jobs such as fruit picking. It’s very hard for a UK based individual, with our cost of living and standards we require, to have a year long income come from those low paying seasonal jobs, where as an economic migrant can come over for a period of time, earn what is to them a relatively good wage, and then return home and live off that income, or stay here and live with a much lower standard of living than most of us would find acceptable. If we remove that pool of labour, either the fruit doesn’t get picked (reduced supply) or we pay higher wages to locals to do the job (higher costs) both of which lead to a more expensive product in the shops. So your tiny income doesn’t stretch as far.
We will likely experience an increase in production costs due to the removal of barrier free trade. Again, this will lead to a more expensive product in the shops. So your tiny income doesn’t stretch as far.
To attract inward external investment now that we don’t have the European market as part of our sales pitch, we need to make adjustments in other ways, which will likely be lower corporate taxes (either directly or indirectly) and/or relaxed employment regulation. One reduces tax revenue which pays for your benefits, and the other has a negative impact on workers rights. Both of those have the potential to impact you, as when the money dries up, it isn’t the rich who will feel the pinch and you can bet your ass we won’t see an increase on unemployment benefits off the back of it in spite of the inflation we will likely experience, and if you find yourself forced to work you can expect worse conditions.
I see very little benefit in leaving the EU. I’ve heard plenty of arguments and was really keen to understand why people voted that way, but my conclusion is that it’s a combination of the following:
- Failure to appreciate how good we actually have it and feeling left behind with a void where opportunity once stood
- Being easily manipulated
I’ve yet to see a single argument that doesn’t eventually fall into that group.
As for your comment that you might get a job previously done by a European, you won't. Any of the well paying decent jobs won't take you as you either aren't qualified, comeptant or capable of getting through an interview process with what must be a very poor CV and what must look like a lazy attitude. And you won't accept the shit jobs that the unskilled Europeans are willing to take as they're too much hard work and don't pay you enough. It baffles my mind that people think a supply of cheap labour is a bad thing for us.
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