Posted on 05/03/2014 10:42:08 AM PDT by PieterCasparzen
What will Scotland look like after 10 years of independence? If Alex Salmond’s vision is fulfilled, Scotland will have become a prosperous, high-income, high public expenditure, social democracy on the Nordic model, fully at ease with its position in the European Union, and possibly even a signed up member of the euro.
An equally plausible scenario, however, is that it will by then have been forced into a vicious fiscal consolidation that will have cut many public services and entitlements to the bone. Gone will be free university education and medical prescriptions. Gone too will be the triple lock on pensions and high levels of social care for the elderly. The First Minister’s promise of both lower taxes and higher spending will have been exposed as a cynical deception.
Capital flight will in turn have prompted deep tax cuts in order to compete with the rest of the UK in attracting investment and talent, which in turn would require further cuts in public spending. Scotland might, in other words, look much more like Greece than Norway.
...
Many Scots assume that they will keep the pound, even though all three main parties at Westminster have said they will not allow it. Membership of the EU, together with Scotland’s share of the UK rebate, is also taken for granted, despite the fact that the European Commission has questioned both assumptions.
...
If not allowed to retain the pound on equal terms, says Mr Salmond, then Scotland may refuse its share of the national debt. Good luck with that one.
...
And, finally, they assume that North Sea oil will cushion the Government’s expenditures, even though these revenues have been falling for years. All credible independent forecasts are that they will continue to do so.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
What could go wrong with having a huge free sh*t army and declaring your “independence” from your sugar daddy?
Is Aztlan next?
The master planners are at the European Union.
It’s their job to make sure the countries pay interest on their national debt, all the sovereign bonds they issue.
Each country’s taxpayers are on the hook for paying up.
The taxpayers, largely unarmed, and very accustomed to having big government take care of everything, are simply going to squeal like a stuck pig when the EU decides that they simply have too many people.
The sheeple aren’t “declaring independence” at all - they’re foolishly being led to slaughter.
Cutting back on medical care, etc., reducing population in other ways, etc., will “fix the problem” in the eyes of the EU, when they start falling short economically.
A Scotsman lost a penny down a Prairie Dog hole......LOL...
Lots of Americans have been skating around that fact as well.
Us people in Texas will be WATCHING CLOSELY to see how this independence push pans out.
My guess is that the socialists in Scotland have no clue
Scotland today has more autonomy than it ever had since the the Act of Union. I don’t much about Salmon’s background but I gather he is basically of the old fashioned Labour mindset with a Scottish twist. Britain is still going to have to defend them militarily. The UKIP party is the way to go if one is a Brit—Scots would be better off making some kind of alliance with UKIP and working out a better autonomy deal...if your beef is primarily about cultural issues...because forget about it—Scotland is in the economic dog house even with its oil.
Surely not true? Oh! Let me see, yep he's a Socialist. It's true.
And the other good thing about it is that if Scotland leaves the UK, they take a good chunk of Labour MPs with them!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.