I have good friends in the UK, people I’ve actually met, stayed with, had dinner with. Good people, kind and intelligent. One voted to stay in the EU, one voted to leave. Both had done their research, both had valid, thoughtful reasons for their decision.

Neither is right, neither is wrong… yet the consequences of the vote have already affected a broad swath of world markets. One report declared the world’s banks in PANIC MODE.

US markets reacted to the so-called ‘earthquake’ with a 500 point nosedive (still going down). The global market is following suit. The reason? The market guessed wrong. The big money was on a ‘remain’ vote, so today’s referendum result was a surprise. The market doesn’t like being wrong. So it adjusts.

It adjusts in ways that impact your 401Ks, your ability to borrow money, your access to goods and possibly services. It’s a web of economic intrigue and inter-relationships that almost defies analysis, but the bottom line, the reason why all this is happening?

It’s simple and boils down to one word: NERVOUS. The world’s markets are twitchy and those quivers in the force are taking potshots at your nest egg.

Aside from the economic distress, it’s interesting to note that many of those who voted for BREXIT are now having voter remorse. They voted to opt out because… scratches head… they didn’t think their vote would matter. And further examination yielded the unsettling indication that far too many voters didn’t understand what the hell they were voting on!

Such is the power of hyperbole, misdirection, obfuscation and outright lies.

Sound familiar?

Meantime, back on Scottish links, Donald Trump is making serious political book out of this situation, avering Scotland has taken their country back!  Um, sorry, no. 62% of the Scottish vote went to ‘remain.’ The man is an idiot.

Want to know what scares the bejeebers out of me? It’s this…

A populace either unable or unwilling to educate themselves on the facts, a populace prone to acceptance of fiery rhetoric designed to inflame emotions, a populace with a predilection toward misogyny, bigotry, fear mongering, populism and isolationism… that is the kind of populace that reaps what it sows.

Trump appeals to that segment of the voting public, the ones who will go to the polls while the rest sit back and assume that it’s not possible to have a worst case scenario. This is how a demagogue comes into power, it’s how a sociopolitical system like ours falls.

Make no mistake—we are facing, all of us, our worst nightmare. Right here, right now.

I fear too many in the UK voted against David Cameron rather than for or against a policy/economic system they do not fully understand. Now that the results are in, the consequences and the long road ahead have been revealed, and it’s not a pretty sight.

If that’s the case, that it was more about Cameron than anything else… well done. He’s leaving. But so is sanity in the world markets.

I wonder what the hell will happen if Trump manages to bully his way into the White House.

Heaven help us all.

I really don’t think Canada is big enough to hold all of us wanting to emigrate there.

FYI: I wondered if the referendum was legally binding. Apparently not, though Cameron, if he wishes to be pissy about losing, could immediately invoke Article 50, but there appear to be several layers to the process. It’s not yet a done deal. Read more HERE.

And since it’s my blog and I can do what I want…