Scottish "Independence" manifesto

[kentonio]

I mean, for ****'s sake, China invests in the US more than any other country.

The UK is your largest foreign direct investor, not China.

With over $441 billion invested in the United States, the United Kingdom is the largest foreign direct investor. Japan is the second-largest foreign direct investor in the U.S. economy with about $289 billion in investments. Following the Japanese are the Dutch ($240 billion), the Germans ($215 billion), the Swiss ($212), the Canadians ($211 billion), the French ($199 billion) and Luxembourg ($190)

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21857.pdf

[Dr Strangelove]

Perhaps HC was thinking about buyers of US bonds?

[Dauphin]

Ken, he could've meant that China invests more in the U.S. than it (China) does in any other country.

[Hauldren Collider]

Perhaps HC was thinking about buyers of US bonds?

Yes. More specifically, US bonds + direct investment. Though I actually didn't realize UK direct investment was so high, and China's was so low. UK may actually still win. I don't feel like looking up the exact numbers.

[Hauldren Collider]

To be honest, the foreign investment from China may not actually be entirely for diplomatic/strategic reasons. Investing in the third world is extremely risky. There's a significant chance any capital you develop there will simply be seized by the government if it is ever politically convenient. This is also true in China. So it may simply be that wealthy Chinese looking for a good place to invest see the risk as not too much higher than investing in their own country.

[regexcellent]

Are you taking a dig at the South, or just being wistful?

The South, at present, does not have a large fraction of the population that can't read. Even the people who can't read English generally can read in Spanish, so they have a baseline level of education.

If the US had allowed everyone to vote in 1790 I doubt that it would have survived.

[Aeson]

If the US had allowed everyone to vote in 1790 I doubt that it would have survived.

Praise be to God it was only wealthy white males who could vote. Everyone else would be tainted by their own self-interests. Blacks might have voted against slavery ... Women might have voted to not be second class citizens ... Heaven Forbid! And as clearly shown by the complete and utter destruction of the US by the time the poor (white males) could vote ... the poor definitely shouldn't have been allowed suffrage!

[Dauphin]

The South, at present, does not have a large fraction of the population that can't read. Even the people who can't read English generally can read in Spanish, so they have a baseline level of education.

If the US had allowed everyone to vote in 1790 I doubt that it would have survived.

Are you deliberately ignorant of literacy test voter laws in the last century?

[pchang]

Ignorant? He's an advocate!

[molly bloom]

Not having ****ty tinpot dictator governments would help too but that's probably too much to ask for with the United States of America having supported so many of the murdering bast@rds.

Well, absolutely.

places where literacy is sub-60% and education is generally minimal.

Arkansas ?

You can't have working democracy in places where large swathes of the population can't read

So that helps explain Bush-v-Gore in Florida too.

[molly bloom]

Are you deliberately ignorant of literacy test voter laws in the last century?

Remember, Major Gung Ho and Silly The Kid think American & world history are academic disciplines akin to creative writing.

[Dauphin]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/12/uk-parties-bully-rejecting-scottish-independence-snp-currency-union

Britain's main political parties are seeking to gang up and bully the people of Scotland to remain in the UK by threatening to reject a currency union in the event of independence, the SNP deputy first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has warned.

In a strong reaction to the Guardian's disclosure that George Osborne, Ed Balls and Danny Alexander are planning to say that an independent Scotland could not keep the pound, the SNP said the three were guilty of "cack-handed panicky" tactics.

Sturgeon warned that a failure by the remainder of the UK to agree to a currency union with an independent Scotland would prompt Edinburgh to refuse to assume its share of the UK's debts.

The deputy first minister told Good Morning Scotland on BBC Radio Scotland: "It will backfire spectacularly on the no campaign [because] they are treating people like fools. People are not fools. People can see the sense of the position we are putting forward for Scotland and the rest of the UK. They know this is a rather cack-handed panicky campaign manoeuvre. I am not going to be bullied out of the right position for Scotland and for the rest of the UK."

Just bizarre logic.

Next time some refuses to let me use their money to buy lunch I will accuse them of bullying and walk away from paying my share.

[Ben Kenobi]

South, at present, does not have a large fraction of the population that can't read. Even the people who can't read English generally can read in Spanish, so they have a baseline level of education.

This is Dauphin, you're talking to. You expect him to actually know something about the South?

[Hauldren Collider]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...currency-union

Britain's main political parties are seeking to gang up and bully the people of Scotland to remain in the UK by threatening to reject a currency union in the event of independence, the SNP deputy first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has warned.

In a strong reaction to the Guardian's disclosure that George Osborne, Ed Balls and Danny Alexander are planning to say that an independent Scotland could not keep the pound, the SNP said the three were guilty of "cack-handed panicky" tactics.

Sturgeon warned that a failure by the remainder of the UK to agree to a currency union with an independent Scotland would prompt Edinburgh to refuse to assume its share of the UK's debts.

The deputy first minister told Good Morning Scotland on BBC Radio Scotland: "It will backfire spectacularly on the no campaign [because] they are treating people like fools. People are not fools. People can see the sense of the position we are putting forward for Scotland and the rest of the UK. They know this is a rather cack-handed panicky campaign manoeuvre. I am not going to be bullied out of the right position for Scotland and for the rest of the UK."

Just bizarre logic.

Next time some refuses to let me use their money to buy lunch I will accuse them of bullying and walk away from paying my share.

[pchang]

If Scotland goes independent, I would do the following if I were Britain:
1) Allow Scotland to use the Pound if they want, but not allow them any say in fiscal policy.
2) Assign Scotland a portion of the UK's national debt in proportion to their population.
3) If Scotland abrogates their portion of the debt, I would sue in International court and impose sanctions until I got repayment (this would include seizing North Sea oil).