Be careful what you wish for: Lessons in dealing with the UK referendum result

Be careful what you wish for.

The result of the U.K.'s referendum on its part in Europe came as a massive shock to the markets and was no fun for a large number of people.

Unlike those in the remain camp who pointed to the market turmoil yelling "I told you so," it gives me no sense of schadenfreude thinking of people seeing their pension savings dropping like stones and I pity the bankers, who keep an important part of London running, being slapped around with 10-15 percent drops the space of minutes.

Now we've had a weekend of resignations, coups and plotting let's take a few minutes to reflect on some of the main points of the whole sorry saga.

House of cards

Photographer | Collection | Getty Images

It is so, so, so much easier to tear things apart than it is to build something. Whether that be a relationship, a garden shed, a house of cards or the European Union. When I buy my Ikea flat-pack bookshelf, I curse, spend days building it…and then I enjoy it. If it wobbles in the years to come, I stabilize it. But I love having my books on bookshelves.

The migrant crisis

The EU managed to get through the worst financial crisis ever, but it couldn't withstand pictures of desperate people escaping war. The immigration crisis was one of the most muddled - and poisonous - parts of the Brexit debate.

Here's something to think about: Hundreds of thousands of people, like you and I (teachers, engineers, people who tell bad jokes and like James Bond movies) don't want to leave their homes and flee by foot, to a place where they aren't wanted, where they have no friends, no job, and live in tiny rooms because they think the UK benefit system is so amazing. If bombs destroyed everything you have here, would you want to move, by foot, to Finland?

The fact still remains that the UK has taken in a small amount of refugees compared to other countries. In a post-Brexit U.K., businesses will probably have to outsource more jobs to, for example. Turkey, than the amount of jobs taken by immigrants moving to the UK from Turkey.

Who said this?

I'll give you a (devalued) pound if you guess who said the following: "People want to see borders, they don't necessarily want people pouring into their country where they don't know who they are and where they come from."

No, it wasn't the Leave campaign as you might have thought, it was Donald Trump arriving last Friday at the Trump Turnberry in Scotland for the reopening of the refurbished golf resort. (..as one tweet read, 'Bloody immigrants. Coming over here, building golf courses..')

Brexit before Grexit

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would see a Brexit before a Grexit. The difference being that this "crisis" is entirely self-inflicted. Did people forget all the volatility and uncertainty felt over the last almost 10 years?

This vote will come back to hit people for years to come: in the size of your pension, where you can retire to, your access to public services healthcare, funding for university research, even those ridiculously high roaming charges when travelling.

China and the EU

Those of you who know me know I am a big fan of putting myself in other people's shoes. I am also a big fan of simple questions.

Here's one: If I am in China, who is the most appealing to trade with: The EU (single market with half a billion people) or the UK (60 million people)?

Where to get your information

have trawled through hundreds of small-type, often quite dry and boring, reports over the last year on all kinds of things related to the vote. And I have learned a ton of stuff, from both sides.

Would I have read the WTO report had I not been in this job? No.

Would I have spoken to hundreds of people about their expert opinions on the economic impact of a Brexit had I not been in this job? No.

Have the majority of people who voted, genuinely understood what it was they were voting for? The issue quickly becomes how you get your information. That includes the tone of what you're reading as well as the detail.

Makes you think...

Oh, and just to put things in perspective: In last Friday's reaction trade, the UK lost $350 billion over 8 hours. This, according to Flemish Belgian politician Guy Verhofstadt, is more than what the UK contributed to the EU budget over the last 15 years…and that includes the rebate

Louisa Bojesen is the presenter of CNBC's European Street Signs. Follow her on Twitterand Facebook.

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