My humble opinion on how this disaster happened: I need to vent the anger I feel before I focus properly on moving forward. I cant express myself fully or articulately in person because the gut-wrenching anguish I am feeling is still too overwhelming. I believe Scotland has just been duped on a truly monumental scale. For me, the No voter falls into 4 specific categories: 1. Intelligent No: I respect this group the most. They voted No because they thought about it deeply and honestly and came to the conclusion that Scotland would suffer economically without the support of the UK. They offer a rationale for this view. For example, one argument is that Scotland and rUK would have become involved in a race to the bottom whereby each side would lower corporation tax to ridiculously low levels in order to encourage big business to invest here rather than there. This would then mean there was less tax revenue to invest in public services. People would scramble to work for these businesses and there would be a brain and labour drain from the side with higher corporation tax. Due to the corporations holding all the cards, they would offer the lowest wages possible resulting in decreased income tax revenues too. An independent Scotland would be a land run by unscrupulous corporations with low-paid, miserable workers and a bankrupt government that cant afford public services and needs to put everything into private hands. I confess to having limited knowledge of economics. But you dont need to be a doctor to know that cancer is bad. Why would the government of an independent Scotland with all its amazing resources and business opportunities have had to kowtow to big business? Businesses would be desperate to set up shop in a country with such amazing investment potential. Regardless of what currency an independent Scotland was using, the VALUE of these resources would surely have remained incredible. The oil, the tourism, the food and drink AND the truly massive business potential in the renewable energy sector. A socially progressive government could have said, Ok big business - you can set up shop here but youre going to have to pay workers a living wage, pay a fair level of corporation tax, and respect our environment. Companies might say they would go somewhere with a more appealing tax regime but other companies would take the attitude, We might only make £100bn over the next 20 years in Scotland as opposed to £200bn with all these socially progressive rules and regulations, but its still an amazing business opportunity, and well have a much happier and more productive workforce. Lets set up shop in Scotland! Im looking forward to having my uneducated, simplistic view attacked by economics graduates, and Im prepared to be proved wrong. If anyone is still reading and disagrees, please help me understand why. 2. Scared No: this is the group who were victimised by the mainstream media. I feel more pity for this group than anything else. Much of this group blindly believed the news on BBC and in virtually ALL the newspapers. They believe people are experts because the media says they are. They dont stop and think about the fact that you can find/pay an expert to say pretty much anything. Sadly, the group most exploited by this were older people whose only source of information is the mainstream media. I have more empathy with them because the propaganda campaign is so well-orchestrated and highly funded that it would be very easy to be duped by it. 3. Selfish No: I despise this group. They dont care about the common good and think only about themselves, They didnt care to inform themselves about the arguments. They just thought, Im alright Jack. If you asked anybody why they were voting No and they replied, I just dont think Scotland could survive on its own or something equally vague and shallow, then this is the kind of insipid, self-serving fool Im talking about. 4. Bigoted No: this is a MINORITY group of idiots that make a lot of noise. They have no place in a civil society. An independent Scotland with improved education, public health and greater economic prospects would not provide the breeding ground for such vile, misguided individuals. Thanks for reading to the end. If you agree with me, please share. If you disagree, please explain why.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 16:12:00 +0000