Looking back, one really has to wonder why the UK subjected itself to all the inane EU nannycrat rules and regulations in the first place.
I can explain. Many readers sent me this explanation, but I also used it before on my blog long ago.
Please consider this clip from the British TV show “Yes Minister”.
The clip is amazingly funny. Play it.
Email Comments
From Pater Tenebrarum at the Acting Man blog.
I recently wrote this to my totally Europhile European email group, which has hedge fund managers, economists, journalists, insurance and pension fund asset managers, and even a few politicians from across Europe (every country from the UK to Latvia has a few people in the group, and a few fund managers from the US, Australia and Israel are also members).
A few days before the Brexit, they had all written paeans on the EU, and expressed both their expectation and hope that the UK would remain, while chiding the “leave” campaign for its intellectual inferiority. I was incredibly busy (still am) and didn’t find the time to properly join the debate. But one day before the referendum I felt I simply had to say SOMETHING to disrupt this love-fest.
So I wrote this (I was very polite, but it was met with speechlessness for a little moment. I did get several very friendly and well thought out replies after a while though. You must understand, these people are my friends, and I like them and they like me, generally. They know of course that my opinions on these things are very different from those of most of the European elite):
Leaving aside the “we’re doing it for peace” argument, which wily EU politicians tacked on out of the blue 40 or 50 years after the EEC was founded in order to cartelize the then state-owned coal and steel industries, what exactly are the advantages of being in the EU? If we want to have free trade, do we really need a bureaucratic Leviathan in Brussels regulating every nook and cranny of our lives? NO. We need the back of a napkin, on which we could write: “Henceforth, there will be no more tariffs between us”.
Today the EU primarily serves a tone-deaf bureaucratic and political class, which lives a high life on the back of people it nothing but aggravates. But surely not everything is bad? Indeed, the EU is looking after us….one might well ask, what would we do without it? I give you a few random examples of the great things the EU does for us citizens:
1. We sleep like babies:
There are 109 EU regulations concerning pillows, 5 EU regulations concerning pillow cases, and 50 EU laws regulating duvets and sheets.
2. You shall have shiny teeth, citizen!
Our toothbrushes are regulated by 31 EU laws.
3. Best apples in the world, man – the Class 1 EU regulated apple – no-one will ever manage to deceive you again about the color of the apple he’s trying to sell you:
In order to class a “Red Variety” apple as “class 1”, 50% of its surface must be red. To class a “Mixed red coloring variety” of apple as a “class 1” apple, 33% of its surface must be red, and so it goes for the 3 quality classes and 287 individually named apple varieties. The only slight drawback: due to the protectionist agricultural policies of the “free market supporting” EU, that class 1 apple costs at least 40% more than it otherwise would. The same goes for every other fruit and vegetable you buy.
4. The fight against culinary WMDs
Will you please stop looking for that jug of olive oil at the dinner table? That dangerous culinary WMD has been regulated away.
5. The planet is finally saved!
The EU is saving the planet! One emasculated vacuum cleaner and toaster, dead incandescent light bulb, muzzled shower-head, and shrunken flush tank at a time! Enjoy your modern morgue lighting citizen, and work that plunger a bit – it’s for a good cause!
6. Conquering the digital realm!
In exchange for paying EU bureaucrats a small fortune (an MEP can earn up to 10 times the average EU citizen’s salary, commissioners earn a whole lot more still), citizens can at least be sure that Europe will conquer the digital realm! The indomitable digital commissar Oettinger is on the case! Admittedly, he looks suspiciously like Beavis (of Beavis & Butthead fame), but a more qualified person couldn’t have been found to lead the EU into modernity. He’s practically the second coming of Steve Jobs!
His very first proposal upon getting the job immediately showed how much he cares….he wants to protect us from unfair competition! According to him, economically illiterate and hence dangerous normal citizens should be forced by law to stick with their internet service providers for seven years, come hell or high water. This is going to give these poor companies more “security for their investment planning”. That would be to the benefit of all of us! You’ll see, if you live long enough!
Also, Oetti wisely supports introducing an EU-wide surcharge for hard disk drives – as a pre-crime fine for all that illegal downloading citizens are apt to do on the intertubes.
Anyway, Oetti is the man! He knows what he’s doing….as he himself once said, he’s “going online every day”! Apple, Google, Facebook, etc. should cower in fear….with Oetti as our mastermind, the age of EU digital domination has begun!!!
And we’re getting all this at the every-day low base salary of approx. €250,000 per year (nearly tax-free…for Oetti, anyway), plus an annual “residence allowance” of €37,500, an “entertainment allowance” of approx. €10,000, a family allowance of €7000 plus €7,500 in “education and child support” for every child, free haircuts, 240 liters of free petrol per month, a €4300 allowance for traveling abroad (there is an extra allowance for “traveling at home” too), a daily “I’m actually here today” allowance of €304 for signing in, and a “general allowance” of € 4300 p.a. for secretarial expenses…and a bit of free health, theft and casualty insurance. Much cheaper than, say, the CEO of Google!
I could go on and on and on, but I don’t have the time at the moment…hence this somewhat random list with its strange focus on Beavis the digital wonder at the end (I’ve picked him as an especially bizarre example of the EU nomenklatura).
Absurd regulations? If I made a complete list, this mail would be longer than the distance from the earth to the moon.
In closing I just want to say: obviously, THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE for Britain! It must remain!
Unfree Trade
As I have frequently stated, we do not need an EU to have free trade. EU Membership is the very epitome of unfree trade.
If the EU wanted to do something that made sense, it would scrap 100% of its rules and regulations, to be replaced with three sentences:
- “Effective immediately all tariffs and subsidies are forever revoked”.
- “There is freedom of movement within the EU, not into the EU by non-EU countries”.
- “Each country is free to set its own tax policies and social benefits as it sees fit, subject to rule number 1 on tariffs.”
There needs to be some rules on what it takes to get into the EU, or be kicked out of the EU, but those are the three key rules that apply once in.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
How realistic is it to expect the EU to allow a free trade agreement with the UK? My understanding is that the whole point of the EU is to force anyone who wants completely tarriff free trade with it to conform to all it’s silly rules and regulations.
Sure, many countries trade with the EU who do not conform to all EU regulations, but it is not under terms of complete “free” trade.
Yes, why would they wish to simplify the trade and forget the politics.
At least 10,000 selfish reasons, but their are ways to negotiate.
Mish, your three rules are similar to this excellent post which you may wish to read in whole. I will quote just a bit here…
=================
“If all you want to is trade there are a few simple paths;
1) Unilaterally state your trade terms. This was common when I was a kid. A country just posts their tariffs, if any, and is done. Things like “10% on manufactures in the FOO industry” and “5% on all other goods” were common (especially where the FOO industry had connections in government). The EU members can accept them and trade, or not sell any Mercedes in the UK.
2) Negotiate a simple direct deal. Don’t make it a Christmas Tree for every loony pathological idea your Staff has, or your political class wants. It doesn’t take long at all to negotiate “We have a zero tariff between the EU and UK, and any goods legal in the EU can be traded”, for example.
Then, my favorite, as it doesn’t need the EUrocrats to do anything:
3) Set in law a “symmetrical tariff scheme”. The UK passes a law that states: For any nation or collection of nations with which no other trade agreement exits, the tariffs on goods imported shall be set to match their tariffs on our exports to them. Any goods forbidden by them for import to them are forbidden for import from them.
Your part is done. They can now choose to pay tariffs, or not.
All up, I’d figure about a week to get #3 passed.
The R.O.W. row
The Rest Of World is just waiting for you to join it. This will cause a row inside the E.U. as you sign up partners and shift focus elsewhere. So what. What are they going to do, kick you out?…
===========================================
Here is the link which supports and ties it all together…
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/brexit-the-night-after-the-morning-after/
WHY they entered probably related to the belief it was a trade treaty dedicated to living well with the rest of Europe.
This, unfortunately, was the sales pitch, or the demo in sales-speak. Reality was and is a creeping bureaucracy running over with crazy Utopians who believe government is the solution and democracy is the enemy.
Now, the Brits have all the negotiating power and their vote very likely has shattered the dreams of the crazy Utopians. The Brits will probably insist on exit provisions that put them in the exact same place they would have been in had the EU been truthful about their intentions and stayed on point since inception. The rest of the EU will demand similar a similar trade agreement. The nannycrats and enemies of democracy are taking the first steps of their departure.
The net longish term result will be a stronger EU, not one that is gone. The nannycrats will be negotiating for their survival in the end. Any fixes and sure things the oligarchs and one-worlders who controlled the EU expected are vaporizing as I write this.
The EU will eventually become what it was initially sold to all as.
The ECB is another story since it is supporting the original EU agenda, which corresponds to another reality now. That is where the real action will occur. I have no idea where this will end up, other than it will probably have to accept monetized debt for the purpose of supporting consumption is a prayer, not a plan. Then things will get really exciting.
The Brits leaving the EU is like the green goop in the puddles and barrels under the castle where the nutty zealots lived and worked on Game of Thrones. Only slow motion. The result will be the same if you take the ECB into consideration as the drama unfolds.
The problem in a nutshell – One country decides to leave the EU. The entire world quakes and wonders if a world wide financial collapse is imminent. Logical arguments appear as to why big problems are ahead and how best to game the situation. The entire ECB house of cards might fail.
Only one country leaving the EU does all this! Only one. It should be no more complicated than filling out a few forms.
Kick the can no longer works.
What a fragile scam the EU must be. Much like Kuroda’s Peter Pan analogy – it all falls apart forever if you stop believing. The panic is the proof.
Sorry for the minor hijack but, wow, what a day.
I’m watching Bloomberg and the EU reps are on TV telling the Brits to hurry up and leave NOW. All I see is EU panic and desperation.They want to treat the Brits like Greece. Will England go Neville Chamberlain and cave in to all the great ideas coming from the EU or will they put Britain first? The EU leaders are trying to contain the crisis.
Crisis!
One little country deciding to go it alone with respect to international trade is a crisis that may upend the entire financial system world wide.
Just Amazing!
To a little observer like me, it looks like growing panic at the real possibility that the scam is unraveling. Lots of people bet on the success of the scam and radiating panic ensues now from them. One little uncontrollable even and the ENTIRE house of cards is at risk, or so it is perceived. As I said, a few forms should have been enough, much like closing an account at the bank.
What’s right below the surface ready to be exposed? Anything? My curiosity now is what’s the definition and parameters of the scam. At first I thought England going alone was a non-issue and just a fake issue. Now, I believe it’s the crack in the dam and there is a big fear of it growing to the point of a major washout, followed by lots of scurrying for cover.
Mish; to answer your question: Britain joined the EEC because it had run out of all other options. Britain was essentially ungovernable in the 70s, the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) had not worked out. The products that Britain manufactured were shoddy, unreliable garbage, the British workforce was poorly educated and resistant to change to the point of nihilism. The world did not want the obsolete, unreliable crap that Britain made. We were broke. The political class was out of ideas, except to join the EEC and hope that by some magical symbiotic process some semblance of common sense would seep from Europe into the British psyche.
“If the EU wanted to do something that made sense…”
Why would those bureaucrats ever want to do something as nonsensical as that? Absolutely no incentive. Lifetime employment dealing with nonsense makes more sense than the insecurity of a free market world. Nonsense makes good sense.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/britain-may-never-trigger-eu-divorce-diplomats-222751444.html?ref=gs
It is certainly a possible scenario, but I think more wishful thinking on the part of the anonymous EU diplomatic source. Perhaps a way of floating the idea and hoping UK will adopt it. EU authoritarian nannycrats no doubt feel their lifetime tax-free incomes/jobs are a little less secure after Brexit and would like to reverse the tide by urging UK government to be more like EU or old USSR in simply rolling in the tanks or otherwise vetoing the popular will.
Certainly adds a bit more drama. Or as Yogi Berra would say: It ain’t over until it’s over. Meanwhile, EU only gets less attractive: Debt problems in Greece, French gov petty revenge planning, Merkel, Erdogan, immigrant costs. At least the article answers the question of what “fast” means to the EU: 2 years.
It really should not be that big a deal, as Norway and Switzerland have survived well outside the EU.
The EU formed as a manifestation of positive social mood. Since social mood reverses over time, it is not surprising that a country has decided to leave. MISH has pointed out several times of the changes toward negative social mood in Spain (basque separatists), France (marine LePin), Italy (5 start), and more recently in Austria (anti-immigration platform). These are neither isolated nor coordinated events. Subconscious herd mentality synchronized these feelings. Brussels and Germany will claim the problem is keeping the EU together; however, the root cause is they fail to understand the psychological dynamics of large social groups. Bureaucracies are notoriously slow to respond to strong changes in public opinion. What makes matters worse is the belief by the leadership that it is superior to those it governs. Their time on center stage is up, and they will not go peacefully.
excellent comments on social attitudes
This is an easy one….AND YES I READ YOUR COMMENTS TOO so thanks for contributing.
OPERATION OVERLORD is why.
Just look at the Geography if the United States…let alone North America in general. This place is Wealth Incarnate. So unlike Europa which has “valuables” beyond comprehension North America has economics…it just never runs out of cash.
Contrary to popular opinion the secret to the American Victory in WW2 was in “economy of force.” The amount of firepower in a single soldiers hands as an American in WW 2 was truly awesome…and since no other society would ever trust their citizenry with a gun that made the USA in particular highly lethal.
Killing Americans in a conventional sense is never a good idea…hence “electron war.” By use of the media and who knows what else you get all the Americans to kill each other while the Resident Pschyos scream “gun control” when what this is really about is “mind control” (what the Nazis were working on as their truest Super Weapon if you look at the research carried out in the death camps.) My personal view is that they were trying to discover a particular resonance frequency which when applied would render the enemy in effect “a dud.” They had a lot of other research of course into bioweapons, etc…all designed to incapacitate entire Civilizations. That’s why you never “go there” imho. The USA seized all their Foreign Ministry files dating back to Bismark. Talk about a Mighty Shop of Horrors. So in my opinion Europe … and Russia … feel threatened by this. In short “the Americans might return” and then look upon Europa in much the same way they looked upon the Native Populations of their own land.
So far the USA has been quite busy slaughtering it’s own instead for some time now though…so someone is in on this threat and acting accordingly.
I disagree with this part of the quote,
==================================
“These are neither isolated nor coordinated events. Subconscious herd mentality synchronized these feelings”
=====================================
which I think cheapens the “leave ” voters. Tyranny and destructive, even deadly immigration policy from unelected aristocracy of the EU synchronized rational rejection of destructive elitist arrogance.
Oh Ee Oo Where Art Thee
……..
Oh ee oo where art thee
I’ve been searching everywhere
Looked in the toilet after I pee
In the comb after brushing my hair
Oh ee oo where art thee
Other’s seem quite as lost
Their out praying in the street
Where all the rubbish is tossed
Oh ee oo where art thee
The TV says you’re there
But you keep on talking blindly
When two fingers greet your stare
Oh ee oo where art thee
I’m tired now of your game
I think to have never met thee
Carries not a single shame .
This Week In Stupid:
Excellent – must see TV.
Thanks Greg
“As I have frequently stated, we do not need an EU to have free trade.”
The US doesn’t need NATO to keep itself secure.
Hi from Oz. There is a remarkable similarity between the actions of the EU bureaucrats and the ‘Looters’ described by Ayn Rand in her book ‘Atlas Shrugged’, written in the 1950’s with great prescience (IMO). A very long read, but I thought it worthwhile. Maybe the EU bureaucrats read it about 30 years ago as a textbook, except that they appear to have stopped about halfway through, when the Looters thought the proles were dumb and passive, and their gravy train appeared endless. Personally, I thought Ms Rand was too kind with them at the end – no rope and lamp posts!
I have relatives in several EU countries.
The only reason they wanted to join.
Lots and lots of free EU money.
In reality what happened:
Prices for every thing doubled and tripled to EU prices.
Salaries remained the same.
Taxes went way up.
Real Estate prices went way up.
Waves union waves of immigrants all on the dole living as good as they are (or better)
Not a whole lot different than Americans really – they voted for welfare and they got it good and hard. And the harder they get it, the more they want. Given enough welfare, Americans will eventually vote for slavery – only instead of bondage to an individual they will vote for bondage to a bureaucracy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRPmXbksPgQ
I hope France will follow soon. What a manipulative dictatorship. The so-called EU army is probably directed at its own people.
“The so-called EU army is probably directed at its own people.”
Zero Hedge: “The number of non-Defense Department federal officers authorized to make arrests and carry firearms (200,000) now exceeds the number of U.S. Marines (182,000).” http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-24/if-public-shouldnt-have-them-why-does-irs-need-ar-15s
The gap between what the political clique thinks and what the public thinks is stunning.
Any good leader (CEO, military general, or politician) goes out and mingles with the troops / crowds. The ones that lock themselves in their office or palace, staring at official reports end up in problems.
The US military won every single major battle in Vietnam; enemy kill rates were something like 8-1. Officially, the US was “winning” and the statistical reports from the battle field proved it. Of course, decades later we are still not sure what it was that we “won”. And there was that photo of being chased off the embassy roof top. No matter! Statistically we won, and it doesn’t mater how many lives were destroyed for this victory over we still don’t know what.
GM (when it was still a private company) didn’t bother to ask what cars customers wanted to buy — they decreed from Detroit that wood paneled gas guzzling lemons was what they were selling. If GM wanted customers opinions, they would tell them what to think.
Louis Gerstner wrote about his initial observations at IBM — a giant bureaucracy where employees jockeyed to get into the central planning commitee. You will all buy expensive mainframes, and IBM will tell you which ones! Obey peons!
Princess (Lady?) Diana walked into crowds, hugged kids with strange deformities, and put on that absurd looking vest while she walked into live mine fields to draw attention to maimed children (that she also hugged). Drove the political class nuts. Guess who had the most leadership and influence, Diana or Charles? Hint: its not the one who is still alive.
MEP’s collect (they do NOT earn) multiples in salary over the people they lord over. They are exempt from all the stupid rules they insist are necessary for the little people. They travel around in armored cars with six inch thick bullet proof glass and special ops teams in escort vehicles. IMF loser Laguarde likes to complain that the Greeks were “spying on her team” that was negotiating “AGAINST” the Greeks.
Hello? What do you mean negotiate ***AGAINST*** the people you work for?
William and Kate, products of Diana (not Charles), drove around after their wedding in an open top convertible. Sure they had guards all over the place, and more we couldn’t see. But they had at least some connection to the crowds.
William flies helicopters alongside mud covered normal soldiers. Harry apparently fights alongside them, but they are all (Harry and commoners) too mud covered to say for sure.
This is why the pompous asses in Brussels have no future. They cannot improve the EU economic situation, because they have no idea what it is and never experience it first hand.
This is how the G8 think they can experience the real world: from inside armored cars, with massive security fencing, driving (quickly) past fake shops that closed down under onerous taxes
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/05/28/northern_ireland_town_turns_into_virtual_potemkin_village_ahead_of_g8.html
Same arrogance, same failed leadership, same out of control debt. You have to be insane to keep doing the same things over and over, and expect a different result
There are now 8 countries with major political parties and/or ruling coalition partners calling for EU exit referendums. A clear majority of voters in France and Italy want referendums (even if it is not clear how they might vote).
Merkel is in bigger problems in Germany, and may be forced out as chancellor this week — most would give it very low odds, but after this weekend the odds changed from “almost zero” to “slim but maybe”. The direction is not in her favor.
Merkel’s argument for going slow in pushing the UK out was this: the longer the UK stays, the more membership money the EU gets to collect / keep… and the EU desperately needs the revenue. That subtle point is what quieted her establishment critics…
.
And in Asian markets, there was laughter all around at the irony of colonialist England having to fight for their freedom against an uncaring far away government…
Britain has an incentive to delay an agreement. Decline of the Pound gives Britain a significant trade advantage with Europe. Before two years another exit is likely to soften the German position. The world is entering a business cycle recession that hurts employment for life French more than most. France may be the one to leave.
“Merkel’s argument for going slow in pushing the UK out was this: the longer the UK stays, the more membership money the EU gets to collect / keep… and the EU desperately needs the revenue. That subtle point is what quieted her establishment critics…”
This tells the most about the situation of the €.
The problem in the West in general is that the monetary system is about to fail.
We should have a new system, designed by people with competence in mathematics and statistics. And the system should work also in the event of a downturn.
The world is about fully developed!
We have the resources, so there should not be a need for war.
Of course a lot of people would have their “money”/debt haircut. But no reason to complain if you can get food. If you don´t starve to death then shut tf up. Maybe with a reset, we could even afford housing? Or be able to build our own house without supervision of 144 government agencies over our backs?
The video is funny and also has a ring of truth about long-term British foreign policy – which has been to prevent any Eurasian power from controlling the supercontinent from the Atlantic coast of France to the interior of Russia as such a state would pose a threat to Britain.
The Atlantic coast of France is important as Britain’s Navy can easily control the English Channel and North Sea (and Baltic Sea by extension) as well as the strait of Gibralter (which Britain naturally owns). The Iberian peninsula is effectively blocked from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees.
I am an avid fan of Yes Minister and I find this episode the be more prescient and apt. The first 5 minutes are all you need and pay attention to the sharp observation at 2:30
It is beginning to look like the British and EU powers that be will just ignore this non-binding referendum result from of the unwashed and resume business as usual.
Why did they enter? Ever hear of World War I and World War II?
“There are 109 EU regulations concerning pillows, 5 EU regulations concerning pillow cases, and 50 EU laws regulating duvets and sheets.”
Hugh Hewitt said this morning that there are 24,000 words regulating cabbage.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk4asqZ46dk
Pillows and cabbage as objects of tyranny.
LOL…
Many a true word is spoken in jest.
RE: “109 EU regulations concerning pillows, 5 EU regulations concerning pillow cases, and 50 EU laws regulating duvets and sheets.”
No wonder the Brits told the EU tyrants to “STUFF IT!”
I’m have trouble understanding why anything needs to change with UK exit. The UK govt can still require pillows to meet EU regs. They can still have a massive tax increase to pay for housing Syrian immigrants. Financial transactions could still be in euros if agreed in contracts. Remain proponents could have everything in the EU system just by implementation by the UK govt. Only difference maybe with travel visas perhaps and no EU membership costs. Brexit seems like a win for both sides.
Did you mean “deport” EU’s illegal moslem Syrians?
Whatever EU’s Syrian policy is, with Brexit then UK politicians can either go along or oppose. Except the politicians will need to be accountable now to the public rather than just pointing to EU membership requirements preventing them from doing the right thing.
WHY DID THE UK ENTER THE EU IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Drinks late at night, one thing led to another, and, ….
….the next thing you know, you’re PREGGERS!!!!!!!!
FYI – a Brexit Breakfast
https://youtu.be/UV8EDWi9GxU
Meh,,,https://www.yahoo.com/news/britain-may-never-trigger-eu-divorce-diplomats-222751444.html
Why did Britain enter?
Who knows what blackmail the notorious kiddy fiddler Ted Heath was subject to?
Hi Mish Let me thank you for your contribution to our understanding of many important and complex economic issues. Regarding the question in this e mail, I’d like to chip in. I assume the authorities in question fully understood that a currency union without fiscal integration is clearly unworkable. It is also reasonable to assume the financial community in the UK couldn’t pass up the opportunity of enormous financial profits from the expected uncontrolled credit expansion.that would result from such a union of highly diverse economies. I logically deduce that they convinced/co-opted the typically corrupt politicians to enter the game. UK did well by not adopting the currency that allowed it significant financial independence. Now that the end is in sight and UK like all other members will have to share in bailing out the marginal members ( growing in time to include Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy and several Eastern European members), the intelligent UK citizens did themselves a favor to minimize bail out and other costs. This is no different than what happened in the US in removing laws such as Glass-Steagal, so called liberalization of the commodity markets, allowing the uncontrolled expansion of derivatives, so on so forth. This all required required collaboration of the financial elites and corrupt politicians for decades to the detriment of the public. And it continues! Have a great day!
Just a brief remark on the silliness of regulations. The examples given by Pater are misleading to say the least.
Just do a word-check. EU laws concerning pillows 110 US laws concerning pillows 40 but I noticed that most of the EU laws were anti-dumping laws. So I did the word check anti-dumping. 2995 EU laws and 6006 US laws.
Is this really a check to rely on?
You can play here
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/search.html?qid=1467088213533&text=anti%20dumping&scope=EURLEX&type=quick&lang=en&DTS_SUBDOM=LEGISLATION
https://www.congress.gov/search?q=%7B%22source%22%3A%22legislation%22%2C%22search%22%3A%22anti%20dumping%22%7D
Of course no mention of how the EU eliminated a lot of laws.
What laws did the EU eliminate
How many did it pass
Of the laws that it eliminated, how many of them were stupid laws that it passed in the first place.
Questions go on and on.
Meanwhile please tell me what about the EU promotes free trade.
Mish
Briefly because it would lead me to far.
Try to reason within the concept of the EU and you’ll get a grasp of the challenges and benefits.
We have 28 different legislations and one of the aims of the EU is to streamline these laws. The EU started from scratch and for he who understood this, it must have been clear that there were going follow an awfull lot of EU laws.
By standardizing as much national laws as possible and as good as possible, the EU eliminates laws. Imagine for a moment that you can rely on an EU law that is or must be applied in all 28 countries than it has succeeded in eliminating 27 laws.
Are there stupid laws? Of course and too many. And in the US? Also. I once intended to read ACA legislation till I noticed it was 906 pages. Not only the number of laws count also the volume needs to be taken in account.
Free trade? Legislation that is intended to protect the well being of EU citizens should not be considered a barrier against free trade. In comparison with the US we give far less subsidies to our enterprises (a big part of your military spending are subsidies). So I cannot see what you’re aiming at. And I refer to my previous reply: 2995 anti-dumping laws imposed by the EU and 6006 by the US. Tell me if you believed the 109 laws concerning pillows, why don’t you believe that the US acts far more protective than the EU?
A bit belated, but just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed the clip, and yes the UK has always felt a bit awkward within the EU. Nevertheless, a true intermediary between the US and Europe, which will change a bit depending on the personalities taking over in the UK. Time will tell. Anyway, thanks for this post: I reposted this post on my blog http://tinyurl.com/gwsseq3