The United Kingdom Should Leave the European Union

Oh god, I was so high on amphetamines yesterday, I don't know why I accepted all these god damn debates - ok, without further ado: 1. The British economy would "feel" the negative effects of leaving the EU the same way an overworked prostitute in Liverpool "feels" her clientele. Maybe for show they could fake it, just to make the EU feel better, but the data seems to suggest the UK would be left boredly wondering if it had pulled out yet. Prior to the crisis of '08, the UK witnesses the annual creation of 4 million new jobs / the loss of 3.7 million jobs per year.(1) These numbers absolutely dwarf those of the United States per capita, (2) and prove the UK to possess a wholly more dynamic and adaptive economy (to be expected, frankly, of a country that tossed away the prolific business of chimney sweeping with the indifference of a mall goth spitting out gum). This information's relevancy, however, is entirely contingent on the idea that one million jobs would be lost should the UK sever ties to the EU. The great majority of the aforementioned jobs are in trade, this continuance of which is not contingent on the UK's place in the EU. Even if trade is completely severed with the EU, many of these jobs would simply migrate to import substitution in lieu of substantial imports, as the UK developed its own ISI. But that won't even happen, because the "most favoured nation" clause in the WTO would prevent the UK from incurring punitive tariffs from the other nations of the EU. (3) Should the EU somehow do an old school reach-around and bypass the WTO (highly unlikely), the 8.5 billion pounds the UK is currently contributing surplus to the EU (4) could most definitely be used to create new jobs. Should ALL OF THIS fail, then yeah, strap in, run to the Scottish Highlands, and saw the barrels of all your antique mantel-bound British game shotguns, because it's time for an old-timey British economic apocalypse, complete with rabid Cockney orphans nibbling away at your pristinely high-socked English shins. (I do acknowledge, however, that a number of my references come hand of the IEA, historically noted neoliberal lapdogs) 2. Workers would be less endangered than here implied, and even then, the situation could not possibly be seen to remain. I agree that I am worried about worker's rights in a post-EU Britain under David Cameron. But in wake of the Panama Papers? That sucker is dust. The vaporous scent of a no confidence motion is stronger than the smell of sh*t and fish in the streets of Manchester. All that said, reports of the effect of leaving the EU on British workers are somewhat overstated. The Equal Pay Act, for one, was implemented in 1970, prior to the UK's admission into the EU. To say nothing of that, even if Cameron isn't shooed out of office, there is absolutely no conceivable scenario in which the UK doesn't reimplement its own rules regarding minimum wage, paid leave, etc., even under a Conservative government, otherwise Labour's oppositional power would just completely reinvigorate and explode all over the Conservative party like it's Guy Fawkes Night in 1980's Northern Ireland. 3. In order the change Europe, the EU must disintegrate. What right does the UK have to change Europe? What right, for that matter, does any nation in the EU have to change Europe? Leave it to the participant countries to determine their own futures, rather than a national oligarchy to hold the reigns of less developed nations (particularly the EEA). Apologies for all the saucy language, obviously not trying to actually belittle your arguments, etc. (1) http://www.iea.org.uk... (2) http://www.forbes.com... (3) https://www.wto.org... (4) http://www.theweek.co.uk...