by Doug Casey
International Man
On June 23, the UK had a referendum in which 52% of voters opted to leave the European Union. I applaud Britain for leaving the corrupt, costly, and dysfunctional EU. It may be the best thing that’s happened to Europe since the end of World War 2. And, I think, it signals the start of some major new trends.
In principle, the idea of the European Union sounded good. All the signatory countries joined a customs union so goods and people could flow freely.
The idea was to both increase general prosperity and decrease the chances of another war. It sounds very libertarian—in principle. But in practice it turned out very differently. And may wind up doing the opposite of its intended purpose.
Europeans could have had all the benefits of free trade simply by eliminating all import duties and quotas—a very simple and costless solution.