Yabby,

"If Britain triggers Article 50, they would essentially be stuffed...."

Which makes this announcement interesting:

"The leaders of Germany, France and Italy have vowed there will be no informal talks or deals made with Britain before it formally tells Brussels it is leaving the European Union."

"British Finance Minister George Osborne had said earlier that his country should only activate Article 50 when it has a "clear view" of how its future relations with the bloc would look"

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-28/brexit-germany-france-italy-vow-no-informal-talks/7548940

And....

"UK's AAA rating slashed

European shares continued to be pummelled on Monday, with banks making their biggest two-day loss on record.

Europe's bank stocks index fell 7.7 per cent, wiping out more than one-fifth of its value in two days and ending just a handful of points above lows reached at the height of a eurozone debt crisis at the end of 2011.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's added to the pain, stripping Britain of its last remaining top-notch credit rating.

The UK's rating was slashed by two notches from AAA and Standard & Poor's warned more downgrades could follow.

Mr Osborne said the British economy was strong enough to cope with the volatility caused by the referendum, the biggest blow since World War II to the European goal of forging greater unity.

But his words failed to halt the fall of sterling, which later sank to its lowest level against the US currency for 31 years, continuing the slide that began last week."

There are some great buying opportunities there Poirot, and I continue to be amazed that you think the people who were responsible for the GFC should be a reasonable way of determining what a people should do. When Bill shorten is elected and the Australian sharemarket and the housing market dive I expect you to be equally vociferous in your condemnation of the Australian people who will have voted him in by an even smaller margin than Brexit was passed. Democracy always was a messy business, and we should just let the 1% decide on our behalf via large financial houses appears to be your new mantra.

I'd welcome you to the liberal side of the debate, except part and parcel of being a disciple of Adam Smith and Edmund Burke is a healthy skepticism of the big end of town.

I'm also amazed that you think there ought to be some sort of comprehensive plan in place to cover all eventualities of the Brexit. No other part of life or governance is like that, and it is not as though there was a comprehensive plan for what happened if they stayed in the EU. Don't forget a lot of countries want to negotiate changes to that. Life is contingent. That's just the way it is.

Graham,

Are you seriously trying to defend the "leavers" who mined the fears of the general public on immigration and NHS in order to garner votes, who we now discover lied and mislead the public on those fundamental issues, who had "no" plan at all for the vote to actually succeed?

"...I continue to be amazed that you think the people who were responsible for the GFC should be a reasonable way of determining what a people should do..."

I think you'll find that it was a "lack" of financial regulation that contributed greatly to the GFC - not the opposite.

Regarding Bill Shorten - he'd have to do pretty poorly to match the woeful record of the last three years. Unemployment up, spending up, company profits down 11%, business investment down a whopping 27%, net govt debt up $113b, capital expenditure down....you get the picture.

"I'm also amazed that you think there ought to be some sort of comprehensive plan in place to cover all eventualities of the Brexit..."

I didn't expect all "i"s to be dotted and the "t"s to be crossed...but surely there should have been something more comprehensive in the wings for the eventuality - apart from the knowledge that the general population in places like Britain tends to accept quite readily being conned on such a scale.

Poirot, you made my point for me, it is essentially a game of chicken. So we shall see who blinks first.

The Eurocrats have made it clear that they are worried that millions of other European voters would like to break the controls of Brussels and vote to leave them and we can't have democracy and the opinions of millions go and ruin their agenda of power and control from Brussels, so best to keep blackmailing them with financial ruin if they don't dance to the Brussels tune.

The French peasants actually invented the guillotine for people like that, when they had had enough and people power eventually took control.

Oh yes, notwithstanding that the central banks of the major nations are now having prop up the market - as they did over any many months during the GFC.

I used to sit up late at night and watch the markets during the lead up to the GFC. They would start to freefall - and then miraculously they would start the climb back up as the central banks stepped in and the buyers followed....but eventually...well that's history now.

"Global central banks have rushed to deal with financial markets fallout from Britain's shock referendum decision to quit the European Union."

"In reaction to chaotic trade, the Bank of England (BoE) announced it was ready to pump $460 billion to aid the smooth running of markets, declaring it will take "all necessary steps" to ensure financial and monetary stability.

"As a backstop, and to support the functioning of markets, the Bank of England stands ready to provide more than £250 billion [$460 billion] of additional funds through its normal facilities," BoE governor Mark Carney said in a televised statement following the Brexit vote.

"The BoE is also able to provide substantial liquidity in foreign currency, if required," he added.

The European Central Bank (ECB) also threw its concerns into the mix, adding it was on stand-by to open the liquidity floodgates if needed."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-25/world-central-banks-ready-plans-after-brexit-vote/7542798

And you brush that off by commenting, ""There are some great buying opportunities there Poirot..."

I'm sure there are....but it's not really an optimal position for the thriving of the market.

I don't accept they were "lied to" apart from the usual way that politicians gild the lily. Hope you are going to start a thread criticising our own Labor Party for the outrageous lie they are telling about Medicare. And their claims that the federal government has cut funding to health and education.

But it seems to me your horror is situational and depends on your politics, not the facts.

The GFC was caused by the ratings agencies not rating financial instruments correctly. So here we go again. If they had rated the instruments properly then people wouldn't have bought them, or at least would have been ready for them to blow up. There were other underlying causes as well, but none of them were the result of too little regulation.

Interesting stats about Australia Poirot but I can't find any support for your contention that company profits are down 11%. Here is a graph might help others to understand the situation. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/australia/corporate-profits

There has been a decline in business investment, but you could hardly blame the government for the ending of the mining boom http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/7d12b0f6763c78caca257061001cc588/78b08abe5e6f2df1ca2570d6001366dc!OpenDocument

When it comes to unemployment it seems we are in the early stages of recovery after unemployment accelerated quickly when John Howard lost government and in the wake of the mining boom http://www.tradingeconomics.com/australia/unemployment-rate

I get the picture. You are taking facts and presenting them in a misleading way that makes your argument look better. Are you accusing the Brexiteers of doing anything worse? And did Bremain never exaggerate?