When George Soros Broke the British Pound (2014)

* The mid-2000s British housing bubble, and its collapse in 2007, would have been even bigger.

* Britain would have had to ask the IMF, ECB, and EU for loans.

* The Tories would in 2010 have promised a referendum to leave the Euro and won a majority. Labour would have won fewer than 100 seats, and UKIP would have "made spectacular gains".

* The anti-Euro side would have won the referendum, and the currency would have collapsed.

* "after a deep and painful recession economic recovery began".

* "Britain would have destroyed the euro on departure, and would now be on the point of leaving the EU altogether. The idea that Farage might be the next prime minister would be quite credible."

> better trade deals with the US than Communist Cuba, I

> wouldn't discount the importance of volume in trade

> negotiations.

That's not entirely true, it also has somewhat to do with their relaxed policy on human rights and their status in the WTO. Now that the US is looking to balance the books, China's economy has taken quite a serious hit.

That said, the UK is also part of a much older and relatively large trading group - the Commonwealth.

> Very few of the UK’s potential trade partners are

> superpowers where the actors necessary to negotiate and

> ratify a trade deal have consensus around destabilizing

> the EU as a goal.

What you hear publicly and what goes on behind closed doors, are too very different things. I highly suspect that the US also has a vested interest in breaking up the EU, after all, it's the EU which is putting pressure on its booming tech industry for example.

I also suspect that there are multiple other powers poised to take advantage of destabilization of the EU. I also further suspect the EU has realized this threat, which is why the UK must help safeguard the EU-based banks for a Brexit deal.

> With a generous definition of “superpower”, you have China

> and Russia and that's it.

The term "superpower" is not easily defined at the best of times, granted.

>If a country or region has no power to devalue, and if it is not the beneficiary of a system of fiscal equalisation, then there is nothing to stop it suffering a process of cumulative and terminal decline leading, in the end, to emigration as the only alternative to poverty or starvation.

> HN.

I think we have a very different definition of propaganda.

I suggest getting into the comments early when a keyword is used in the title.

> "9 billion a year for a voting right" is like saying that

> the average software developer in London pays 20K a year

> to the government for voting rights every 5 years.

It's clearly a tongue in cheek exaggeration.

> The "divorce bill" makes it sound like it some kind of a

> fine or something but it's actually about the obligation

> that the UK committed through the years.

I used "divorce settlement" - and it is very much like a divorce settlement. Both parties are expected to settle remaining costs and you end up losing the kids.

> A good analogy would be the UK participating in a birthday

> dinner party, promising to chip in for the present,

> ordering the food and the desert but leaving before the

> desert arrives so people expect the UK to pay for its

> desert as it was already cooked and pay its part for the

> present they bought.

Maybe, but then you would expect to be able to chose what to do with the desert if you've paid for it?

> If the UK does not honour its obligations, it would be

> incorporated in the future trade agreements.

Unfortunately, yes.

> Please don't use propaganda catchwords and talking points

> here, the topic itself is divisive but this is beyond

> that. It is a dishonest portrayal of reality.

I purposely put the word "divorce" in speech marks as it's what it is commonly referred to, rightly or wrongly. I wasn't aiming to paint a picture perfect version of reality, I would need several books to describe Brexit accurately (and no doubt somebody will write them). The purpose is simply to show that £3.3 billion is really not that much compared to our ongoing projects. Hell, another one to look at is the Trident project.