Miscellaneous BREXIT Thoughts

First, polling in the U.K. has never been as scientific as it-used-to-be in this country.  With the tsunami of cell phones and the now-stylish disdain for anything remotely "establishment," the percentage of the population actually surveyed has been dropping steadily for years in both countries.  In the U.K., it was thought that the betting odds were a more reliable indicator of the pending BREXIT vote than the polls.  Both indicated that the REMAIN voters would prevail, and both were wrong.  Next time, lick your finger and hold it up in the breeze!

Second, power, influence, and money normally transition from one generation to another in a slow, quiet, predictable manner.  In the U.S., there is considerable resentment among millennials toward "the greatest generation" which has burdened the millennials with unimaginable debt to pay for entitlements like Social Security and Medicare benefiting the seniors.  That resentment also existed in the U.K., but it just got much worse.  The young voted to REMAIN, while the old voted to LEAVE.  The U.K. millennials are now almost certainly facing a recession, courtesy of the older Brits.  Will this widening generation-gap upset the normal "quiet, predictable manner" of generational transfer?

Third, the European Union must do a better job of coordinating its compartmentalized fiscal policy with its unitary monetary policy.  Just as gerrymandering is the root of all political evil in the U.S., the lack of coordination between fiscal and monetary policy is the root of all economic evil in the E.U.  Optimists pray that BREXIT will drive home that point and start fixing that problem.  Let us pray!

American know-it-all Jim Cramer calls BREXIT "the dumbest financial mistake I've ever seen."  Another American know-it-all, Jim Flinchum, calls the lack of a unitary E.U. fiscal policy "the dumbest economic mistake I've ever seen."