If you want to surrender to corporate State media lies and the globalist neoliberals, vote to remain in the EU
But if you want independent media and an accountable political class, vote Leave: because clearly, that’s what the greedy gargoyles around the world don’t want you to do.
The rate at which BoombustTV invents new euphemisms for ‘correction’ renders me in awe of its speed out of the blocks. The peeps over there are faster than Barney Quinn’s newsflash-speak. The markets have been selling off again (because the data are at best equivocal) so this morning Bloomberg calls it “subdued vallativverdie”. We ain’t at vallativverdie yet. When we get there, it’ll be called something like “subprime panic” or maybe “mild anxiety”, and just before we enter Valhalla, it’ll finally be called vallativverdie. But no way is anyone going to say ‘recession’ until the handcart reaches Hell.
So determined are the US business media to keep the show on the road, the how and why of where we are now – QE, Zirp, Nirp and Direct Intervention – never gets a mention. But the minute a potential fall guy heaves into view, boy are they on it: for we got trouble right here in Boombust City, with a Capital T that rhymes with B and it stands for Brexit.
The balloon floated out there by the Treasury leakers yesterday has been eagerly grabbed by most of the US channels not showing I Love Lucy of a weekday morning. “Would you say that Brexit is the number-one danger out there?” Bb asked FruFru Lagarde yesterday. “Well, nerr, ah werdent,” she replied disappointingly. During the entire run-in to June 23rd, I have so far spotted one – just the one – studio visitor who said “I really don’t think it matters” before being ignored in favour of every other talking head keen to make it sound as if the British electorate has lost its mind for wanting a referendum in the first place.
However, last UK Budget day, the CNBC coverage of the event was, um…zero. Boombust mentioned it once during the day, and in an evening bulletin said that Osborne “felt confident enough to cut taxes”. CNN gave it two minutes, 30 seconds of which showed Little Squeaky pointing his box at the cameramen. So clearly, the British economy and multivariate political splits are of massive interest to business TV viewers.
There was a smashing bit around 6pm CET on Bloomberg when some arrogant visiting twerp said that the eurozone situation was so bad, “Yerp’s just for vacations nowadays, not for stock investments”, followed three minutes later by another ‘expert’ laying out categorically that to leave the EU “would result in catastrophe for Britain”. The obvious illogic of holding both those views at the same time went unpunished. Truth is, there are even more reasons to get TFO of the ‘Special Relationship’ than there are to leave the EU.
The really sad news is that the awful UK deficit figures are obviously being laid at Brexit’s door by some of Britain’s more cryogenic voters, if the EU Observer site is to be believed. It’s referring to the latest ORB survey, which found that 51% of voters now support Remain – while Leave’s support has decreased five points to 44%, with 5% undecided.
However, taking only those absolutely certain to vote, the Remain lead is only 1% – 49 to 48, with 3% undecided. Each side therefore has two tasks:
- To look into what would change the minds of the undecided certain voters, and
- To see what (if anything) would drag the Remain voters to the polling booth, or avoid anything that would make Remaindeers turn up…depending which side you’re on.
But other surveys disagree with this finding, reversing the lead.
The overall insight really is that, whatever the result, the country is split down the middle: and so the issue will rumble on forever and a day.
So far, while Iceland’s PM resigning has made headlines around the world, no US or French paper I’ve seen has pointed out that EU lackey David Cameron’s flagrant hypocrisy on the subject of offshore evasion of tax is infinitely greater than that attaching to Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson.
In short, the propaganda that is desperate for Britain not to Brexit is deafening, daft and diabolical. Whole the business media are doing everything in their power to avoid making the pro-EU mob look corrupt.
The Slog 