by Robert Whitcomb | Aug 31, 2016 | News
British Prime Minister Theresa May made it clear on Aug. 31 that her Conservative government would not hold a referendum or otherwise back off on the plan, approved by the electorate for the United Kingdom, for her country to leave the European Union.
The Guardian paraphrased her as saying that much as Britain may want access to the single European market but with no free movement of labor, that is not, and never will be, on offer from Brussels.
By promising to push ahead so firmly with no second referendum and no early general election, May has given comfort to the hardline cabinet Brexiteers, the news service said.
To read The Guardian’s article, please this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Aug 26, 2016 | News
A U.N. body called the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination asserts that politicians helped fuel a surge in racist hate crimes during and after Britain’s referendum campaign on whether to leave the European Union.
The panel said many prominent politicians share the blame for the outbreak of xenophobia and intimidation against ethnic minorities.
“Many politicians and prominent political figures not only failed to condemn it but also created and entrenched prejudices, thereby emboldening individuals to carry out acts of intimidation and hate towards ethnic or ethno-religious minority communities and people who are visibly different,” it said.
More than 3,000 allegations of hate crimes were made to British police – mainly regarding harassment and threats – in the week before and the week after the June 23 vote, up 42 percent from the rate in 2015.
To read the piece on this in The Guardian, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jul 15, 2016 | News
Container ships in world trade.
Despite Brexit and rising pressure for protectionism across the West, ”anyone who thinks globalization is dead misreads what’s really happening,” writes Michael Schuman in Bloomberg News.
“While there are pockets of resistance, much of the world is still forging tighter links between countries, companies, and communities. Rather than retrenching, globalization is deepening and expanding—whether angry Trump supporters or British Leave voters like it or not.”
“As working classes {in the West}—suffering from stagnant incomes and joblessness—lash out at the free movement of money, goods, and people, their elected politicians face pressure to detach from an increasingly interconnected world. In doing so, though, they may cede to non-Western competitors the potential benefits these fresh linkages will create. The fate of nations may depend on whether they continue to embrace globalization.”
Read Mr. Schuman’s essay by hitting this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jul 6, 2016 | News
The United Kingdom’s apparent decision to leave the European Union could be very bad news for China. The U.K. has been its biggest economic ally in the E.U. Further, Chinese investments in the U.K. itself may suffer. The British have long pushed within the E.U. for freer trade with China while other members have feared being economically overwhelmed by cheap imports from China.
“The U.K. leadership always said they would be the guys pushing for China’s interests in the West and the European Union,” a Western diplomat in Beijing not authorized to be quoted by name in foreign media told The Washington Post. “This is quite bad news for China.”
To read The Post story, please hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 3, 2016 | AI World Society Summit
(June 6th, 2016) Suggesting growing anxiety about the United Kingdom’s possible exit from the European Union, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned Britain that nations “at the bargaining table” negotiate better deals than those “outside the room”.
Mrs. Merkel emphasized that it was up to the British people, but she hoped that Britain would vote to stay in the E.U. in the referendum on June 23.
She said that Britain was “part and parcel” of the E.U. and was of “benefit to all of us”.
“Brexit’’ campaigners said staying in the E.U. might be in Germany’s interest but that “does not mean it’s in the U.K.’s interest”.
German sources were saying privately just a few weeks ago that Mrs. Merkel wasn’t planning to say anything about the referendum.
by Robert Whitcomb | May 26, 2016 | News
In this podcast, Saker Nusseibeh, chief executive of Hermes Investment Management, said any benefits from a British exit from the European Union (“Brexit’’) would be limited while market anxiety from it could escalate into a wider economic contagion. He also discussed the Fed and the G7 meeting in Japan.
