Brexit - and what it may mean for America

Nobody really believed it would happen.  But the "Brexit" vote proved eveyone on Wall Street wrong. Once the vote count was announced, the stock market dropped over 600 points.  Wall Street hates uncertainty, and the "Brexit" creates great uncertainty for all of us.

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The initial analysis of Britain's vote found that older people tended to vote to leave the EU, while the younger set voted to stay in the EU.  The old folks will not have to live with the results of their decision as long as their children and grandchildren.  But this is the last gasp of a generation who has been betrayed by its political elites, and who doesn't much care what happens after they cast their vote of "No Confidence" in the system.

Will Brexit really happen?  Although it looks like it will, this was a non-binding referendum. Once the costs for leaving the EU are known, I'm not sure if the Brits won't be given a second chance to vote on this issue - as a way of asking: "Do you really want this divorce? Your husband may have had an outside lover, but he has always been there for you when you needed him - and you needed him a lot."

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The same forces that have affected Britain are affecting the United States (and many other Western countries).  Old folk are feeling betrayed by their elites, and no one is addressing structural unemployment.  The West is being tasked to absorb millions of immigrants from failed countries, and are facing serious challenges in preserving its cultures in the face of poorly educated people who have different cultural values, and who are not easily absorbed into the work force.

Donald Trump is using this issue as a springboard to gain power.  However, he is not a trustworthy person.  When the Brexit vote result was announced, Trump took this to be an opportunity to promote one of his golf courses there.  Do you think he wouldn't use the presidency to line his pickets?  I wouldn't trust him to give me the correct time!

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To beat Trump, Hillary has to play to her strengths.  But she has to pay attention to Bernie Sanders' platform.  Why?  She needs the votes of America's youth.  She may have to lie to them (as she has done to many people in the past), but she has to get their votes, lest they get totally screwed by a Trump presidency.

There is one problem with the above approach - No one trusts Hillary. So she will need to pick someone who can be believed.  But she can't pick Bernie - it would destroy his reputation and not help hers.  But Elizabeth Warren may be a good choice, if she feels she should risk Wall Street's wrath to get elected.

Is Hillary able to work with Bernie for the greater good?  Can Bernie accept that his base must be lied to convincingly to get them to choose the lesser of evils and vote for Hillary? Does Bernie have enough smarts to be a smart loser, and extract as much from Hillary as possible for him to be a leader in one of the opposition wings against Trump? One thing I know.  I don't want my dad's generation making decisions that will harm my children's generation - and a vote for Trump will harm my children and grandchildren's generations, and maybe more after that....