How ever did we manage in the olden days before we traded with other countries ! We call that time the middle ages . That was literally the last time we didn ' t trade internationally . You want to go back to that ? Genuine question . Because doing so will mean there is literally no money for luxuries like an NHS or the police or anything like that . Being self sufficient is good . It ' s prudent . It ' s achievable , and desirable . So you want a NKstyle Juche idea ? Because that ' s literally what you ' re asking for here . Selfsufficiency is not possible . Sorry , the world doesn ' t work like that . You may think we need to trade with other countries , but I do not . I think that . As does pretty much every economist . And pretty much all economic theories even the loony fringe ones with the exception of Juche , which is clearly a resounding success in NK , where they have been on food aid for the last two decades following a mass starvation . Yay middle ages ! . And then there ' s you . Well , you and Kim Il Sung , who think you know better . I know calling Leave voters stupid isn ' t productive as it ' s unlikely to change their opinions , but frankly if you think that surviving as an economy is possible with zero trade and complete selfsufficiency is possible , let alone achievable , then there ' s honestly no other word for it . That level of wilful economic illiteracy is astounding . Not only that , but you ' re willing to double down on that by pushing for it . Fingers crossed Parliament guide us to at least access to the EEA . After all , we live in a Representative Democracy , not an Ochlogracy that ' s mob rule .