Brexit, the now famous linguistic blend of words — Britain and Exit — coined to mark the intent of the United Kingdom to depart from the European Union, is not completely understood. Why would the Brits want to leave the happy and cozy conglomerate of European allies with whom trade flows freely both ways? Isn’t it about sovereignty? Doesn’t the UK have its own currency? Well, yes and yes, but there’s more there than meets the eye.

Margaret Thatcher gladly went into the European Union while keeping one foot across the channel by not adopting the common currency, which in due time will be proven to be the monumental disaster that it is. The Euro was fresh and sexy, and purportedly paved the way for a United States of Europe to compete with the good old USA, trying to heal a 200 year old pride wound. But the novel currency was nothing more than a product of political nonsense that overlooked Economics 101 at the core, and cultural discrepancies on the fringes.

But to shed a bright economic light on a worrying side-effect of the UK-EU divorce, the United Kingdom is the 2nd largest economy in Europe, about even with France, and has thus far contributed happily to the EU’s budget. The main reason why the EU strongly opposed Brexit — Remainers are clueless to say the least— is because the UK leaves a big hole in the EU’s happy, progressive spending purse.

To illustrate, “Germany, with a net contribution of €12.8bn, was the largest contributor, followed by the UK, with €7.43bn (£6.55bn)” in 2017. Only 10 European Union members were net contributors — received less than they contributed — while the others were literally on the take, mostly through “smart and inclusive growth,” a pretentious tag invented by the clueless bureaucracy.

Germany not only exports massively to its European partners and ran the world’s largest current account surplus in 2019, but also finances their needs and will not agree to a budget shortfall. Therefore either the European Union breaks up, or taxes will rise among the remaining members. As any politician will eventually and reluctantly confess, taxing up is always the addictive fix, and like many relationships… well, it’s complicated.

The concern caused by Brexit to net recipients of EU funds was quickly pointed out by the Portuguese government, because somebody, somewhere, must balance the books.

A day after the European Union waved goodbye to Britain, some of Europe’s poorest nations urged the bloc’s leaders not to implement a “sharp and disproportional” cut to their aid money in the next long-term budget. The European Union provides aid known as cohesion funds to member states in the south and east to help them invest in development and catch up with richer peers to the north and west.

Way south of the fish and chips border, a topic that never makes it to primetime was best captured by the headline “Why does Catalonia want independence from Spain?“, and the region’s quest for independence is an undying testament to inborn human self-interest which will continue to increasingly manifest itself around the globe.

The economic crisis in Spain has only served to magnify calls for Catalan independence – as the wealthy Barcelona region is seen as propping up the poorer rest of Spain.

Ah, show me the money. Please note that although Catalonia’s issue is regional and not about racial/ethnic segregation, the core economic disruptor is the same brought upon Western Civilization by the unresolved migration of poor and inept groups of people. To Europe’s East, Angela Merkel’s affinity for anyone and anything that migrates her way will deliver extremely uncomfortable heartburn in due time, because cheap and unskilled labor has a long list of unmitigated costs!

So what do Brexit and Catalonia have in common? It’s quite simple: Human self-interest and the refusal to participate in an expanding welfare state. The sentiment is manifesting itself through populism and nationalism to the detriment of progressivism, with the wealthier segments of humanity no longer willing to finance the shortcomings of the multitudes.

The otherwise silent, accommodating, creative and productive masses, which are a minority of world population, are rising to protect their economic interests, and to prevent the sharing of their wealth with poorer regions, be it next door or around the world. Not certain what will happen in Barcelona although Spexit will become the future talk of the town, but in 10 years the British people will feel relief when they read the headlines coming out of their neighbors. Frexit? Eventually. Eurexit? You bet.

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