Amazing how much Boris Johnson looks like a somewhat younger version of you-know-who.
My kid is studying in Brussels this summer and said there’s shock there…with some tears early this morning…my D was surprised too because she had not met anyone (other than a taxi driver) who was voting to leave…but as we see the stats now, I guess it’s because city dwellers (and younger people overall) voted to stay so they were living in a bubble.
Who’s pulling the cart in the EU? And who’s likely to want out next?
EU-28 contributions by country (2014 budget)
Columns:
- Net winners & losers (= column2 - column3)
- Total EU expenditure in country
- Total EU contribution by country
Numbers are in millions EUR
-17,659 | 11,485 | 29,143 | Germany
-7,489 | 13,479 | 20,968 | France
-7,088 | 6,985 | 14,072 | United Kingdom
-6,358 | 2,014 | 8,373 | Netherlands
-5,193 | 10,695 | 15,889 | Italy
-2,603 | 1,691 | 4,294 | Sweden
-1,297 | 1,573 | 2,870 | Austria
-996 | 1,512 | 2,508 | Denmark
-842 | 1,062 | 1,904 | Finland
-88 | 1,563 | 1,651 | Ireland
112 | 273 | 161 | Cyprus
155 | 584 | 430 | Croatia
179 | 255 | 76 | Malta
428 | 11,539 | 11,111 | Spain
467 | 668 | 200 | Estonia
758 | 1,143 | 385 | Slovenia
792 | 1,062 | 270 | Latvia
949 | 1,669 | 720 | Slovakia
1,468 | 1,714 | 246 | Luxembourg
1,501 | 1,886 | 385 | Lithuania
1,795 | 2,255 | 461 | Bulgaria
1,812 | 7,044 | 5,233 | Belgium
2,871 | 4,377 | 1,507 | Czech Republic
3,195 | 4,943 | 1,748 | Portugal
4,485 | 5,944 | 1,459 | Romania
5,145 | 7,095 | 1,950 | Greece
5,624 | 6,620 | 996 | Hungary
13,482 | 17,436 | 3,955 | Poland
Now you see why France, Italy & NL want their own referendum.
When you’re basically giving welfare to 2/3 of the member states and getting dictated to, you get pretty angry.
I thought this piece was one of the more thoughtful ones I’ve read, in not apportioning all the responsibility to a single factor or side:
I kept seeing.a sign about ‘not wanting Dave’s pork pie’. I assume Dave is Cameron, but I don’t get the reference to a pork pie.
^^Who can ever understand what the Brits are talking about!!
I cant remember what program I was watching today, but it was of an interview with the leader of the “Leave” camp. Astonished doesnt adequately describe my emotions, as he was basically telling the interviewer all of the promises like 300m (in pounds) would not go to the NHS as promised, nor would immigration stop, etc. I know politicians lie, and break promises, but damn, the next day???
It seems the privilege to put NATO military equipment in the former Eastern Block countries closer to Russia costs EU a lot of money.
“pork pie” is cockney for lie. It comes from rhyming slang. Lie = porky pie = porkies
“I kept seeing.a sign about ‘not wanting Dave’s pork pie’. I assume Dave is Cameron, but I don’t get the reference to a pork pie.”
It’s don’t swallow dave’s pork pie.
IOW, don’t buy his arguments for remaining in EU.
That’s true, but for its size Poland has a large active army and a very large reserve. Poland also spends much more of its GDP on defense than countries like Germany, which effectively outsource their defense to the United States.
@LasMa said:
This a strong and persistent story. And yet, there is evidence that suggests exactly the opposite, as the percentage of people that are middle class or higher has increased from about half to about 2/3rds of the population from 1980 to today:
Is the WSJ article wrong, or are people just much more pessimistic?
@GMTplus7, do you know what is more costly than subsidies? War. This is why I say that people do not read enough history. The architects of the EEC tied the powers of Europe together because they had just lived through 2 horrific world wars where European powers fought each other and millions of Europeans died, so they wanted to tie Europe so close together that war would not break out among European states again. What happens when those bonds fray? A disunited Europe of nation-states has inevitably always led to war among those states. What are a few billion Euros compared to a few million lives?
BTW, NY and IL have been subsidizing AL and the rest of the South every year for well over a century now. Do you propose that the North (and now the West Coast) break away as well?
What a shocker… And I’ll bet the leave crowd is rather upbeat and optimistic. Go figure.
^ Drama alert!
An interesting read on the European Union, written in 2013
@doschicos. Yes, indeed. In grad school I was frequently referred to as “Septic,” affectionately, of course!
(Septic tank = Yank)
If I remember correctly, there is a great scene in “To Sir With Love” where the students explain rhyming slang to Sir.
In return, the people of Alabama and the south enlist at high rates in the nation’s military, providing the defense that allows the northern economies to prosper.
What is different about the USA that holds it together is a common language and a mostly common cultural experience. There is no United States of Europe, nor do I ever expect one.
^ Your link doesn’t show that the “middle class” is growing but that the upper middle class and upper class is growing while middle class is shrinking. Those who are middle class or above has gone from just under half to about 38% (eyeing the graph) but not because the middle class is expanding but rather because the rich are growing.
The gripe that people have is that the rich and otherwise well-off are getting much, much richer while the incomes of those with “middle” and lower incomes are remaining stagnant or falling. That causes grief and friction. The country was much better off when the wealth gap was much smaller.
Thanks for pointing out that reference, @MidwestDad3. I had to go find it:
https://vid.me/xrrQ/cockney-rhyming-slang-various-to-sir-with-love-1