Hotscot

Dunrovin:"Apparently, though, he"

He what?

Are you ok?

dunroving

Daily Mail story here. The DM page says scroll down for video, but I couldn't find it.

dunroving

"... was booed at the 2012 Ryder Cup".

For some reason the Web embed function did something weird with the text (added it to the top of the video graphic).

neilcumming

I know there is no empire although some people in the south of England still believe there is!Im just making a point that I think the UK has underacheived big time.Another instance,Germany a country that had its industries almost completely destroyed 70yrs ago has an economy ,industry and exports that is miles better than the UK and didnt have the luxury of an empire!

Hotscot

Valid economic points none of which would be solved by Independence in my opinion.
But certainly worsened.

scrubbedexpat099

Empire's cost, as the US is finding out.

Germany had a small one. Obviously tried for a much bigger one.

neilcumming

Im just making a point ,in my opinion that Britain isnt that great and hasnt been for a long time.I know you will disagree with me but I believe Scotland needed to break from this failing union to be able to prosper.
In the news today at the tory conference Osbourne announced the budget cuts of 25 billion,4 billion of that to hit Scotland,to cheers from the tory delegates.
I wonder if they have food banks in Germany!

Pulaski

To provide one possible answer to my question from last Saturday, had Alex Salmond discovered a money tree? You can't spend what you don't have, and I would have thought as a Scotsman you would understand that?

Hotscot

We're going round in circles...

There have been many substantial reasons give as to why this would be a bad idea economically.

And no substantial answers on how Scotland would prosper.

Although it was a while ago you may remember some organizations were making plans to leave if Independence had passed.

Fortunately the majority of Scots were sensible in that regard although the minority do not seem to respect that decision as they had promised.
Sore losers that they are.

Pulaski

OK. Can we close this thread now? Please.

neilcumming

Im not going to go over the stats as it has been done to the death on here BUT Scotland IS a wealthly country.Salmond is gone so its a moot point now but yes maybe an iScotland would have made cuts in spending to cut the debt,who knows but would those cuts be targeted against the poorest and most vulnerable in society? The tories are so predictable,as I said its just the same old same,no vision at all.

RoadWarriorFromLP

There are functioning, successful governments that disprove that thesis, year after year after year.

A country that controls its own currency can operate with deficit spending if it has sufficient GDP to support the debt. That leaves more money in the hands of the public, which can then spend and invest it to create more GDP that supports future deficits.

The Scots run a deficit, but so does the UK as a whole. Independence may not be a great idea, but that isn't a good argument against it.

neilcumming

I could not of have said it better ,thanks.
Ok close the thread down if you want but what that means I have to speak spanish to the wife for 6 months.Roll on the next referendum oops there will be soon, the in out EU one!?

dunroving

What does this mean in plain English? (not kidding; I don't get it).

RoadWarriorFromLP

For a country to control its monetary policy, it has to control its money.

In other words, a country has to have its own currency for this work. Not all of them do, with Euroland being the world's largest example of this. (The Greeks suffer because the Germans control the euro that the Greeks have to use, for example.)

Scotland would need to have its own currency in order for this to work. Joining the euro or keeping the sterling would limit its ability to operate with deficits, since it would not have much or any control over its ability to print money; the central bank has to be able to respond to local conditions.