What the hell are Scottish people waiting?

[Tweener]

...to become independent?
Do you really like to be part of this broken artificial state called "United Kingdom" that

1 - Is involved in super-expensive and unilateral wars with Uncle Sam, that put the country at risk of terrorists attacks...
2 - Has one of the highest drugs use, alcohol use, teenage pregancies rates in the Western world
3 - Has one of the most rotten welfare system in the world: insufficient for people who really need it, but also full of suckers and parasites that get benefits that they shouldn't get

Look at your free independent neighbor, Ireland...At the end of the 80s, it was one of the poorest states in Western Europe...at the end of the 90s, it was one of the richest.
Sure, now they are having problems (maybe the difference between Ireland and Iceland is really just a letter), but I still think the standard of living there is higher than in Scotland
1 - People are friendlier and happier, also because they don't have to share their destiny with the English
2 - Ireland is a neutral nation, so it's not forced to take part in the beforementioned wars
3 - Although English is the primary language spoken by Irish people, their Gaelic heritage is better preserved than in Scotland, that instead has let itself being Anglicized
4 - A small country (5 million people, like Scotland) is easier to manage than a +50 million one like the UK
5 - There are problems even in Ireland (knackers, for example), but I still think less than in Scotland and in the UK...

Do you want to become like England, or like Ireland? Do you want to continue being robbed from your North Sea oil revenues?

[ANDY-J3]

I support independence regardless of economic factors because I believe it is right that Scotland should be determining its own future but I understand why a lot of Scots are reluctant to support it. It's a big step and it wouldn't result in the creation of an economic utopia - our social problems wouldn't disappear overnight. It would also mean adoption of the Euro as our currency and closer ties with Brussels and I'm not sure a lot of Scots are keen on that.

[Saorsa1]

I don't know if it would be necessary to adopt the Euro but it seems to be helpful to Europeans rather than a hindrance as far as I can see.

The pound is a weak currency at the moment but I think the idiot debt Brown allowed the taxpayer to accrue is more damaging.

Ultimately, China is a source of cheap as dirt slave labour and the only way to protect European jobs is via the European parliament enacting trade tariffs. The free market is alive and well and kicking the world economies outside of China to death.

Slavery works when you produce the producrs and sell them to foreign buyers. Now, we are the foreign countries buying but exporting less and less.

Simple arithmetic seems to confuse people...

[wullie m]

Bruce, there is a giant container ship (Maersk?) which sails from China to the US and returns empty. Some day, a Sino,Indian cartel will fix the price of their exports to the west. We shall have to pay what's asked or do without. America is at present hugely in debt to China.
wullie m.

[ANDY-J3]

Bruce
I don't see how we could avoid adopting the Euro as a Scottish pound isn't a viable option. European banks are currently exposed to the extent of one and a half trillion Dollars as they prop up third world east European economies- that is the debt that Scottish banks will have to buy into. The weaker the Euro the bigger the liability so lets not pretend that joining the single currency is without risk - it might get better or it might all go horribly pear shaped.

[Saorsa1]

Andy, you're point seems right to me; I would say though that a sovereign nation does whatever is in its best interests and that a Scottish government would to.

Pear shaped?

[aNonnyMoose]

Pear-shaped. Exactly what's happening right now. Greece first. Then Portugal, Spain and Italy, though I'm not placing bets on which order.

The day of the euro is nearly over.