That didn't stop people rushing out to get Irish/scottish passports, it didn't stop the UK's credit rating from dropping 2 levels. The mere fact that it's now a real possibility requires an economy to react to it, because if you don't react to it, someone else will beat you to it. Speculation is a *huge* part of an economy. Stability and reliability can temper that, and that's what the UK just lost because of the Brexit vote.

True, but that is an extremely destructive defect. Speculation and investment are worlds apart.

Business takes governement decisions seriously. Much as we like to believe $$$ runs the show, the men with the monopoly on violence always end up on top when things really get bad.

That said your basic point is very true - financial forecasters stopped trying to actually predict and analyze what is likely. It's a herd mentality of overreaction after overreaction.

First it was sure thing BRexit would lose.

Now it's sure thing Brexit will be horrible, terrible, catastrophic for the UK.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle...

No, it's to keep government debt from ballooning unnecessarily. Osborne, like Thatcher, has always been a stickler for excessively emphasising low government debt to the detriment of social stability. The way sterling has collapsed is unprecedented, given that such a decline usually only happens in response to actual economic indicators, but because economists are fairly unanimous about the negative outcome of Brexit, the pound dropped just on the expectation that jobs will be cut, unemployment will rise and market growth is endangered. Rarely is opinion in the market so consistent, but then, politicians in economically influential countries rarely make such catastrophic misjudgements against unanimous advice. Investors will usually be a lot more cautious about selling off if predictions are not so clear cut.

I suspect he's trying to keep tax revenue up while he still can before lowering taxes when the inevitable downturn actually manifests. It's rare that the actual economic outcome can be predicted so reliably. Also, because the value of sterling has dropped so sharply against the dollar and euro, the Treasury's holdings in sterling have also dropped significantly relative to other currencies.

And this volatility is primarily caused by speculation and psychological reaction.

It's not so much that, but rather that nobody knows what the fuck is going to happen, and that is singularly the worst thing for the market. It's a well-established principle that the market can deal with good news, the market can deal with bad news, but the market can't deal with uncertainty.

The problem is that people are holding back on investments to see what will happen and how Britain is likely to deal with the EU regarding freedom of movement and free trade. If talks fail - or look to fail - investment will tank even further. Any signal, like the appointment of a strongly Eurosceptic PM or unemployment figures increasing, will send investment plummeting.
And I would agree that it is not a nice thing but unfortunately this is how the market works. And unless you want to brainwash the entire human race into only acting in the interests of collective humanity, there's no way around this. Until then, someone will always be around to exploit someone else's ignorance. All you can do is work within this system to create a humane and fair society as best you can.

People do business based on what they think will happen, not what does happen. If people could tell the future with absolute ease and certainty then there would be no need for a market: no risk, no fun.

That's just life - it's all about probabilities. The greater the risk, the greater the potential reward, but enormous risks are not viable.

I don't think the markets want to punish anyone. It's all about money. Why do you think morality is at play here?

The response is over the uncertainty of what happens now which is bad and the risk of breakup which is quite high already. Markets like to anticipate future changes. That's why they went to free fall mode on 24th of June exactly at 2 am when Newcastle was only 51% for remain. They didn't even wait for the result because it was already highly likely.

Hysterical? I wouldn't say that much. Markets are usually really good at anticipating future changes because there is real money at stake. If you make wrong decisions for a longer time you end up without any money. That's some kind of selection process.

But then there is also speculation and a bit of volatility that is not really explained by fundamental data. So yes, the markets may be exaggerating. I expect at least a partial rebounce at some point. But I also think markets are somewhat right. When if not now is the time to worry about the future economic course of Britain?

The way out is stability. Decide which exit they want or if at all. The sooner the better for the British economy. Not because EU leaders say so but because time is money.
That's one possibility but I do not believe in it. I think the major cause is a less fortunate environment for the British economy. The problem is, we will never know the truth, because there are even self-fullfilling prophecies.

I used to think that politicians get their act together and compromise when the stakes are high (as they are now). They would find someone who can lead from the center and get a larger majority than 52% of the country behind him. It would mean compromises for both sides: More control on immigration but still quite some immigration and less free trade, less money sent to Brussels but also less say about the single market entry conditions - to put it simply: being a member of the EU light - that's what Britain always wanted. And yes, I'm a hopeless optimist, always.

What you say is that Britains seeing that their radical dreams cannot be fullfilled might become even more radical.

I would expect that British voters would they realize that "Britain alone in the world" under Tory right wing leadership doesn't increase their wealth, would simply rethink their decision and back up a party that is more pro European and more social. But I may be very naive there.

You may be right and all they do is radicalizing themselves even more. It would basically mean that Britain becomes a failed state. It's possible.

How to cure xenophobia? Surely only by understanding each other and bridging the gap and worthing together (maybe something like the EU) and controling immigration to some extent, but that also sounds quite naive. I think there is no easy remedy. People say multi-cultural approaches have failed lately. Well nationalistic approaches already failed last century. But we may need to refresh the lesson.

According to some people it's always Germanies fault whatever happens (and regardless of the 20+X other EU countries still being there). I stopped listening a long time ago. Maybe some people think they can expect more money from Germany if they tell more shit about it. It won't work (hopefully).

In a way it's really good all these nationalistic, right-wing movements surface now, because it may be better to have that battle now than later when we paid even more money towards people who don't really like us or anyone who is not them anyway.

Maybe when immigrants go to a country, they should try and intergrate, instead of sitting in a corner [like bradford] and also try and learn the langauge of the kind country that took them in.

I live in Dover, it's full of romanians living in bed and breakfast, walking around all day doing nothing, while young white male and females sleep in doorways in the high street.

I'm white, male, and hetro, and I feel as if everyone has it in for me [the jew man and his cross breeding project]
white genocide.

nowonder we [white people] stand up for ourselfs, the only white people who don't are rich little kids who have no experience of life [except attending glastonbury]

Charity begins at Home

That's actually quite rich coming from a Brit.

Of the 2.2 million British immigrants in the EU - sorry, "expats", wouldn't want to lower yourself to the standard of those "brown savages" now, would you? - very few bother to learn the local language (the "oh, everyone speaks English so why I should learn?" mentality) and very few bother to integrate. I personally know two Brits here, both of whom have been here for over 15 years, and neither speak German particularly competently. And I've lived in Paderborn, which, if you're familiar with the city, is a poster boy for poor British integration.

And Dover was a shithole well before EU immigration became an issue. Yes, Calais and Dunkirk were as well.

Speaking of Calais: Just out of curiosity, do you really think that those illegal migrants that try to sneak onto HGVs and threaten HGV drivers in Calais are really going to give a shit about Britain no longer being in the EU? Because the actual problem with immigration was always with them. And Britain has just isolated the one partner that was doing anything about it. Bravo.

The brits who leave the UK, I don't care for, I'm sick they even get to vote on issues that affect the UK.

if I was going to live in another country 1) I'd make sure I had a job to go to 2) I'd learn the langaue, how else would I be able to comunicate. 3) I would'nt leave the UK anyway. I don't have a passport and never will.

stop trying to make me out to be a racist, I'm sure you clap when white woman and girls get raped in germany by jihads [that's if you even live there]

The whole issue in the UK is about economic migrants [welfare benifits], there are lots of hard working migrants, and I salute them

Face...meet palm.

Yes, I do.

"Jihads"...right.

Anyway, no, I don't clap and celebrate. I personally want those fuckers caught, beaten and on the next plane out, regardless of whether to some tinpot dictatorship or otherwise. But I refuse to condemn the overwhelming majority of decent immigrants and refugees for the actions of a few antisocial scrotes who see potential to abuse the refugee system.

Erm, you do realise that those Poles and Romanians coming to the UK to work are "economic migrants"?

On another note, I'm strangely reminded of this classic audio sketch by Thomas Freitag about the differences between German and Polish workmen [German only I'm afraid, I'll see if I can dig an English translation on the quick]

Don't bother, I said what I had to.

John Kerry has stated that Brexit can be rendered *invalid* or *reversed/undone*, but when asked further, refused to "reveal all diplomatic possibilities that can be sought in that specific context, before the time to use one comes".

Somehow, chills aside, I now really started seriously doubting whether democracy and referendums in present, can actually invalidate predetermined events and Bildeberg decisions, dating back more than one decade...