Quote Originally Posted by Taintedice View Post
You'd never think that Scotland is the ONLY sovereign country in the world that sends all its revenues to another country and then receives a fraction of it back (Barnett formula) and then be told it should be grateful. How on earth do all these other countries survive without Barnett, that's the puzzling thing. It's easy enough for the older generations to say they want to make sure their pensions are safe, but when you're in your t e e n s and early 20s and faced with an English tory government further to the right than Thatcher for the next 40-50 years, no wonder the younger people want another option.
That sounds good but it is a total corruption of the facts. I suppose if Scotland were able to walk away without taking on its proportional share of the UK national debt then they would be able to borrow enough to run the country. What is sure in my mind is that without raising taxes to ridiculous levels there is no way they could balance the books. You and I just know that the high earners and companies will find ways of avoiding such taxes leaving the burden on the ordinary working person. Also if we spent nil on defence that I suppose would help. If we get independence, god forbid, then bookmark this for 5 to 10 years down the line when we will be ruled by whichever international bank that had lent to us, dictating interest rates, tax levels and forcing the 'savings haircut' a la Cyprus where the state levied/stole a hefty percentage of folks savings. Independence would bankrupt us I am convinced. I have many close SNP friends a number of whom admit this in private but the holy grail of Independence trumps all. One of the aforementioned is an SNP councillor and well up in the party.