Comments by "Henry Law" (@henrybn14ar) on "euronews" channel.

  1. What a shame. There will be less money for corrupt officials and contractors in the poor countries to line their pockets with. 'Rich' Sweden has run out of money. The great influx of immigrants since 2015 has resulted in the Swedish central and local government having huge liabilities and no resources to meet them with. Good for the UK. It now looks as if, all along, it had been the cornerstone of the whole babel tower. Now it has gone, the edifice will collapse. Here are the policies that would have been needed for a viable and sustainable EU, based on the ideas of the once famous, but now forgotten economist, Henry George. * No agricultural subsidies or guaranteed prices permitted * No taxes to be levied on goods, services, individuals or companies.(with possible exception of alcohol, tobacco and other harmful substances, and gambling) * No tariffs to be charged on imports from outside the EU. * A minimum percentage of public revenue to be raised by a tax on the rental value of land (at least, say 60% on entry, 80% after five years). * A small carbon tax, on the basis that the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is the use of a "common" - though not too much as it hits people in remote and colder regions. * Contributions to the central fund to be in proportion to:the aggregate land rental value of each country, plus revenues from all other taxes (all taxes come out of land rental value - it follows from Ricardo's Law of Rent) Such a scheme would have allowed free movement of people as immigrants could easily have found means of supporting themselves. A common currency would have been possible if desired. The only trouble is that the privileged classes would not have bought the idea, and as they are in charge, the EU will go through an acrimonious break-up.
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  2. How much of the money disappears into the pockets of corrupt officials and contractors? Cornwall was the recipient of EU money, which was spent on road improvements and renovation of buildings in some of the run-down towns. Then people from London and the South East moved in, rents and property prices went up, and the locals got nothing out of it. Good for landowners though, such as the Duchy of Cornwall. Take from the poor and give to the rich. That's the EU all the time.
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  3. GNI based on VAT is wide open to fraudulent returns. Agricultural policies and cohesion fund policies largely go to benefit the landowning classes in the poor countries. There is no trickle down. Tenant farmers get nothing out of these schemes. Owners of large landholdings get the most. It is a transfer from the poor in the rich countries to the rich in the poor countries. Sweden is broke, anyway. GNI says nothing about a country's liabilities, for example, to support immigrants who cannot join the productive economy.
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