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. Their problem wouldn’t be a lack of money, it would be the same problem the Swiss are having - the Swiss Franc has to be deliberately devalued so as to maintain some level of export pricing viability.
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....
“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.