The EU is in part a trading agreement, in part a protectionist club. To some extent all trading agreements have an element of mutual protectionism, but the EU has taken this to an extreme. Fortress Europe tries to perpetuate soft socialism - high labour costs and cheap goods kept out. Its failure is inevitable, but it will take a while to get there.
You do say the oddest things Jason.
Free trade is no guarantee of benefit. What society needs is a system whereby everyone carries out a share of the jobs which need to be done for the nation to prosper, and each receives a share of the national income. Whatever that system is, it must guarante everyone a part. We live in a time when society could organise itself to minimise the amount of work which needs to be done by individuals, yet manufacturing would still function. Yet somehow money must pass to workers so they can buy goods (always assuming we continue to use money and dont simply give people goods)
There is no reason why a fortress europe cannot function. Keynes argued quite some time ago that international trade must balance. There can never be a permanent imbalance to or from anyone, no country can make an eternal profit. That being so, there is really no benefit to international trade, beyond a minimum degree of unique supply from one area or another, but it is very rare that something can only come from one place. There has to be a mechanism to limit flow of trade one way anywhere, and therefore a fortress approach is both inevitable and desireable.
Soft socialism, as you put it, is obviously desireable. Try to take it away form the Uk population, and see how quickly you would be voted out of office. All tory governments have been socialists for quite some time, however much they try to minimise this. High labour costs are highly desireable in that they allow money to recycle into the hands of the work force, who need that money to buy goods. If they cant buy goods, then nor can anyone sell any goods.
The EU is unusual in that it is seeking to develop a trading agreement into a sovereign state.
The EU isnt seeking to do anything. It is a civil service which operates a set of rules agreed by members states in international treaties between them. The power to change those treaties lies with the members, vested in their governments, with all having vetos. What anyone working for the EU might believe is quite beside the point. All members control the future of the EU, which currently includes us, though you wish the UK to give up the power it currently has to control the EU. Daft. The EU is our closest neighbour and shares a viwpoint and history with us. We will continue with it as our most important trading partner, and we will continue to obey its rules, But you wish us to throw away the power to control it which we currently have.
indeed such a concept would lead ultimately to the creation of a single global state.
We already live in a world which is very largely one single global state. It is not possible for someone to espouse free trade (which you seem to do), but simultaneously oppose the creation of a world state. interational trade requires international cooperation and agreements how this trade will be conducted. The term 'state' becomes meaningless, because it is more a world federation, where all the member states have input and vetos on what happens.
The EU is unique in the degree of power it gives to every member to control its future. Most international organisations give nowhere near as much power to every member. Indeed, the EU is remarkable that it does this. There is no better organisation we could belong to, and our membership gives us massive world clout. It would be a very good idea for every person alive if the EU model was extended to the entire world, instead of the terrible economic arrangements most of them have to put up with. Thatcher thought so. So did heath. Or Major, or Cameron. But people have to come to this realisation for themselves.
Brexit is a self serving organisation which aims to destroy the wealth of the UK. I dont know who its backers realy are, but they do not have the best interests of the UK or Uk voters in mind.
