The Sun Still Doesn’t Set on the British Empire

The thought was inspired by an awesome documentary on Britain’s second empire. The somewhat hidden empire build on financial services, specifically all the offshore tax haven $$. 

I’m not going to do the documentary justice here so I’d recommend you just watch it. But the feeling I came out with, aside from a bunch of learning, is just awe at how Britain found a new way to hold onto the strength of their old empire. 

Apparently, ~44% of the world’s money is deposited in British nations (the homeland and colonies) and/or areas under British protection. This British protection breeds trust from all kinds of folks (criminals and government agencies) to put offshore accounts in various island nations and other small countries. 

It’s impressive how despite losing their hold on the colonial empire that they’ve managed to control one of the key resources of the modern world: money. It’s an evolution from owning trade routes and labour from the colonial days.

The documentary also left me with an impression of how London (it’s really focused on London.. not so much the U.K. as a whole) has still maintained an element of the old aristocracy. This reminds me of Paul Graham’s essay on cities. 

If my memory serves me correctly, Graham notes how cities have distinct voices and how London has one of hip-ness, culture, and aristocracy. This was quite accurate from what I felt in a week in London. Comparatively, Berlin would be one of pure hipness and culture with 0 feelings of aristocracy. 

It could be this aristocratic voice that keeps London (and the U.K.) relevant even after Brexit. Sure, companies will leave…. But the documentary had he start asking the question of… does that even matter? If London is really just a financial center that services all kinds of ultra-wealthy people/companies…. Does Brexit even matter when what people wanted was just British financial legislation (or lack thereof)? 

Sure, Brexit might be bad for those in the local economy….but in regards to London’s relevance…. It might not matter. This might be the case where the main street concern really doesn’t matter in the long run. 

Then again, what I’ve learned from the recent stock market crash of 2020 is that the financial markets don’t have to reflect Main Street concerns. Not symmetrically anyways.