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Preparations companies are making for Brexit

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Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#61

Post by ahmedalsudani »

jonathanstrange wrote: post #30

It's sad that the discussion of Brexit and EU-related matters in general always revolve around perceived economic issues. Sure, a healthy economy is important for everyone, but the long-term goals of EU have always been to create a unity of countries with largely shared values to prevent future wars (incl. trade wars and cold wars) and to increase collaboration in all cultural, scientific and social matters. To grow…

The European Economic Community was meant to prevent wars by tying the economies of European states together. Economic integration brings people closer and makes a break between them costly for all parties.

At the end of the day, the economy is our life, and it has a massive impact both on our day-to-day and on state affairs.

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#62

Post by Jaruzel »

jerven wrote: post #27
dijit wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the primary reason, but it's a factor. Low interest mortgages push up what people can afford, which contributes too. But the housing crisis is fuelled almost entirely by investors, and seemingly many of those are foreign. They buy property in London because it's a relatively safe investment, recently it's been very high yield as the supply is nowhere near reaching the demand.

And as well as just not building enough! If you add more people to a city, but don't add more housing or fast commute then prices will go up. Basic lack of supply and rising demand...

The home counties are stuffed to the gills with housing already. The right answer is better high-speed commuting services (not HS2 though; that route doesn't help anyone).

We need fast train services to places in the UK where the population is quite low. Then incentives to get business to set up shop there. Once the jobs are there, the people will follow. There is 20 times the amount of people in London, than there is in the northern counties (per sq mile) - we need to stop cramming everyone into the South East.

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#63

Post by jeddf »

diazon wrote: post #38
jonathanstrange wrote: post #30

It's sad that the discussion of Brexit and EU-related matters in general always revolve around perceived economic issues. Sure, a healthy economy is important for everyone, but the long-term goals of EU have always been to create a unity of countries with largely shared values to prevent future wars (incl. trade wars and cold wars) and to increase collaboration in all cultural, scientific and social matters. To grow…

Money is very important to people who don't have much money. If you are a plumber whose wages are going down and down because the market is being flooded with cheaper Eastern Europeans, you know who to blame. Of course I don't expect HN users who are sitting on a pile of money in SF or London to ever understand this.

Had a little look around for empirical data and came across this, looks like trade wages are about stagnant but this is only over a few years. https://infogram.com/2018-trades-salary-survey-electricians-...

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#64

Post by sgt101 »

dijit wrote: post #23
keiferski wrote: post #16

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the financial industry the primary reason London has become extremely unaffordable for normal people? Is it possible that the negative economic effects of Brexit will have positive cultural ones, by lowering prices and allowing for more non-financial workers to live there?

It's not the primary reason, but it's a factor. Low interest mortgages push up what people can afford, which contributes too. But the housing crisis is fuelled almost entirely by investors, and seemingly many of those are foreign. They buy property in London because it's a relatively safe investment, recently it's been very high yield as the supply is nowhere near reaching the demand.

Also planning laws; if ~8 story blocks of 3 bed flats were built the dynamics of London's market would be completely different. These would be ideal for families and the density & low construction cost per unity would mean that the supply of family homes in the market would seriously improve. As it is apartments in London are almost exclusively 2 bedroom where one of the bedrooms is small. This is ok for a family with a baby, but untenable (by law) for a family with two kids over 8/9 (can't remember) who have a biologically different gender (no judgements from me - I just believe that this is UK law as currently written). This creates pressure in the housing market for single dwelling footprints - which are mostly used and poor by modern standards (but mind-blowingly expensive).

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#66

Post by dazc »

bnt wrote: post #43
diazon wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money is very important to people who don't have much money. If you are a plumber whose wages are going down and down because the market is being flooded with cheaper Eastern Europeans, you know who to blame. Of course I don't expect HN users who are sitting on a pile of money in SF or London to ever understand this.

Or are Brit plumbers simply overvalued and Eastern Europeans represent the true value of plumbing? I’m not sure if I should put a /s here or if I actually believe this.

Depends if you value plumbing as a skill or something anyone with a few basic tools can accomplish well enough?

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#67

Post by johnchristopher »

tinco wrote: post #50
bnt wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or are Brit plumbers simply overvalued and Eastern Europeans represent the true value of plumbing? I’m not sure if I should put a /s here or if I actually believe this.

That Brit plumbers are more expensive does not mean they are overvalued. It means they are not cost effective, and that means they'll get less jobs. You can only be overvalued if anyone is actually paying you for your job. The reason that they're expensive is that cost of living is too high. So the real question to ask is, do British plumbers expect a too high quality of life?

Anything has to be overvalued because there wouldn't be benefits then.

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#68

Post by Lio »

guitarbill wrote: post #12
ckastner wrote: post #2

I believe that the title sounds more dramatic than the story actually is. A shifting regulatory environment is unpleasant, but not unusual for companies of certain scale, or certain industries. Ask any internationally operating bank.

On the other hand, good to hear about. Our team had 8 Europeans (including me), and while 6 of them left after Brexit (including me), I know a few people who are still on the fence. Life has largely gone on as normal, and the lack of talent has driven compensation up * . But unless you're a contractor making hay while the sun shines, it's good to keep things like this in mind. * also helps that a lot of business expe…

> ....and while 6 of them left after Brexit (including me), I know a few people who are still on the fence. Life has largely gone on as normal,

Brexit hasn't happened yet, so it's too early to say if life will go on as normal or not.

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#69

Post by pjc50 »

chongli wrote: post #58
jonathanstrange wrote: post #30

It's sad that the discussion of Brexit and EU-related matters in general always revolve around perceived economic issues. Sure, a healthy economy is important for everyone, but the long-term goals of EU have always been to create a unity of countries with largely shared values to prevent future wars (incl. trade wars and cold wars) and to increase collaboration in all cultural, scientific and social matters. To grow…

The problem with the EU is that it's a half measure which turns out to be worse than all or nothing. The original idea of creating a "United States of Europe" is a laudable one but it may now be further away than it was before the EU was formed. The gap between wealthy Northern countries such as Germany and less-well-off southern countries such as Greece, Portugal, or Spain has grown substantially. And now it's all a…

> The gap between wealthy Northern countries such as Germany and less-well-off southern countries such as Greece, Portugal, or Spain has grown substantially.

Has it? Over what time period and by what measure?

At the time when the UK joined the EU in 1973, all three of those countries were military dictatorships!

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#70

Post by coldtea »

nmeofthestate wrote: post #39
nmeofthestate wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Utter rubbish.

Why bother countering a baseless (and bitter and resentful) assertion with an argument? It reminds me of the brexiter voices in England who are furious with Ireland for having the temerity to stand up for what the UK has already agreed on - the NI backstop. It's a chauvinist sense of entitlement and over-confidence that has to some degree led to the brexit mess.

>Why bother countering a baseless (and bitter and resentful) assertion with an argument?

What exactly is "baseless"?

That Scotland has a long-term rivalry with England? Last time I checked, 45% voted in favor to break up with England in the Scottish referendum -- does the 55/45 result point to some friendly buddies?

Or that Germany has disproportionate control of EU policy to its population/economy? That's a lively matter of scholar and political debate in the Eurozone, not some "baseless" opinion.

(By the way, do you know that EU project (with its ECSC predecessors) was started with the explicit -- and openly stated -- goal of constraining Germany, from people that have actually lived the damage its national ambitions have done twice in the continent e.g. [1])

[1] https://carleton.ca/ces/eulearning/history/moving-to-integra...

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