We waited all year ’round for Thanksgiving. It’s become America’s favorite holiday, eclipsing even Christmas. This is the day that we all sit down together and give thanks for the good things that happened that year. Did junior got accepted into a top tier school? Has your new business venture taken off? Did your investments fatten your retirement fund? Lots of things to give thanks for this year. Unless you’re the Turkey… or if you live in the UK!

Instead of savoring a juicy Thanksgiving Turkey, in 2018 all the UK had to look forward to was the arrival of the nastiest of all holiday creatures, the BREXIT! No one knows exactly what the Brexit is or what it wants, but everyone agrees that this most improbable of beasts is the UK’s greatest nightmare.

Yes, it’s true, the Brexit is a horrifying creature, and it gets worse every day. Especially, if you’re a Prime Minister by the name of Theresa Mary May. 

Strange. I didn’t feel a rhyme coming on. 

Anyway, back in 1993, the UK complained that the US was getting everything it wanted. America was too big to compete with, and their new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), would linking the economies of the US, Mexico, and Canada into a super competitor. The UK wanted Europe to do the same and create a single trading region. Germany, France, and Italy agreed. And the EU was launched.

The EU had several immediate objectives. First, Europe needed a common currency, Without constantly trying to figure out translations between currencies, tourists would spend more and business across the border would be easier. Done: The Euro was created. Less developed areas (Grece, Portugal) could be developed by turning them into “outsourcing” centers. Done: the economies of poorer nations more than doubled. And of course, it was supposed to create prosperity across the EU. The UK grew even faster than most EU nations. What was the result? 

The UK complained that the EU was getting everything it wanted. They said that EU bureaucrats were too big and powerful. The EU headquarters in Brussels was telling them how to run their economy!

The UK is intimidated by Brussels? The former ruler of most of the world is getting beat up by Brussels? The second largest financial capital in the world (maybe the first… all that hidden offshore banking you hear about flows from former UK territories and through London banks) is afraid of Brussels? The only time Brussels brings fear and intimidation to MY Thanksgiving is when the Brussel Sprout souffle lands on the table.   

Conservative, like Boris Johnson, wanted to make the UK great again. They wanted “UK First”. But it’s a lot harder to put together a plan than to complain about someone else’s plan. The process would be complicated and SOMEONE will be unhappy no matter what you do. And it could fail! That’s not good if you want to be re-elected! 

Boris and his gang of bargain basement Grinches got together and gave this a good thinking out. They puzzled and puzzled till their puzzlers were sore. Then they thought of something they hadn’t before… let’s have a public referendum. Let everyone choose! If the country is ruined, let some other blokes lose! But if it does pass, and the transition goes well… then BREXIT baby BREXIT, uhhh even if it does slightly smell.

More rhymes… must be the time of year.

So, there you have it. The Brexit was born in 2016, without a plan or even the understanding of the financial consequences if it should fail. Rather than being carefully thought out, the Brexit has become a beast of its own making. THose who created the Brexit sold it as a fuzzy bunny or a soft cuddly kitten, but it has quickly mutated into Godzilla’s uglier cousin. Well, it’s not Turkey, but look at those drumsticks!

Still, all may not be lost. There could be a bright side to all of this. The world could learn a lesson from the Brexit. Mostly about what you should not do. You should never believe any “movement” that promises all benefits and no problems.  Never accept the “everyone is unfair” argument, without supporting evidence. Never assume that you must get the most out of every deal.  

The list goes on and on. Basically, be reasonable, listen to arguments from the opposition, and when you complain about the deals that you started… expect that not everyone is going to roll up and do what you want. So, maybe, give thanks and don’t be a giant Brexit!