“Then if they’re smart, they don’t join the Euro. That simple. They retain the Scottish Pound and if they’re smart, they back it with metal. If they were to do that and have banking transparency, they’d have a flood of money washing up on their shores.”
They don’t intend to join the euro - they will keep the pound. The problem is, there is no such thing as the ‘Scottish Pound’ and the creation of one is not feasible. They will use the English pound and the bank of england will be their central bank. The BoE will set interest rates to suit England, not Scotland and the scots will have no fiscal control over the currency they use and no lender of last resort - precisely what has caused most of the problems in the eurozone.
“I examined the numbers last night on Scottish GDP with and without north sea oil. Without the oil factored in, they’re doing a bit better than the US is, financially. Now, you can look at that either one of two ways, in light of your comments....”
When you examined the numbers did you allow for the fact that 25% of scots are employed in the UK public sector? 95% of those jobs and the english money that funds them will disappear on day one of independence. Add to that the fact that many of Scotland’s iconic industries such as Whisky are owned by London based companies (ie Diageo) who pay their tax in England and things don’t look quite so rosy.
Yes, I did realize those numbers you mention.
As I mentioned above, the public employment numbers are, in part, a result of the NHS in the UK. All doctors, nurses, EMT’s, et al are considered public employees.
And, to not put too fine a point on it, there are many counties in the US where the public sector employment is north of 25%. They, like Scotland, tend to be rural areas with lots of ag producers.
The Scots can do what they will and maybe their economy takes a hit to the head. I’m all for breaking up the UK and getting rid of one of the largest makers of mischief in world history. These morons have sucked us into one war after another, not entirely to our benefit.