Scotland is not a real country.. you are an Englishman with a dress!

[Chung Tran]

how do you think the vote will go?

I think the hearty, ruddy Scots will stay put..

[TexTushHog]

Independence wins by an unexpectedly large margin. 53/47 or so.

[Mister Tudball]

Hey, Chung!!!

As a person with Scots blood in his veins, I take umbrage at your reference to the kilt as a dress.

Everyone knows it much more like a skirt. So there!

[doug_dfw]

Originally Posted by Chung Tran

how do you think the vote will go?

I think the hearty, ruddy Scots will stay put..

Robert the Bruce was a traitor and put the Scots under British rule. The Scots have always been the best ground forces, lead by a kilt. A drape over the loins worn without underwear is a kilt; a drape over the loins is worn with underwear is a skirt. No Scotsman wears a skirt.

But I fear that the liberal Scots love government pokey more than the English, don't have military assets, will vote NO in th emajority by 2%.

[Texas Contrarian]

The Pound (U.K.'s currency) slightly strengthened late today, as it apparently began to appear to traders that the "no" vote would likely prevail.

Here's a link to some news of the latest poll results:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...ependence-vote

In my view, an independent Scotland would probably have a very rough go of it, and for a very long time. For one thing, Scots receive more in net government benefits than they pay in taxes. Some combination of benefit cuts and/or tax increases would be inevitable. For another matter, what currency would they use? A Pound controlled by the Bank of England? The Euro? Something new? There are lots of unanswered questions, and I suspect they gave pause to many Scottish voters. It's understandable that people get caught up in all the nationalistic pride, but a full-blown Scottish secession would be painful and ugly.

It's been argued that Scotland might fare reasonably well because that's where most of the U.K.'s offshore oil is. But those fields are depleting, and London would in all likelihood demand that the Scots repay them for all development costs, etc., if they tried to keep them.

I'm thankful that a fair number of my ancestors who lived in the 18th century decided to get the hell out of there!

[Roothead]

The demographics point towards staying, to keep on the public dole. Although those as young as 16 can vote, it is doubtful that they will show up to cast a vote in #s that would offset the pensioners that want to keep their monthly stipend

[pyramider]

When is the fucking vote for this?

[Guest021417]

The vote was today. Sep 18th. Results should be final by the time we go to work.

[TexTushHog]

Boy I read that one wrong!

[Lust4xxxLife]

Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

... For one thing, Scots receive more in net government benefits than they pay in taxes. Some combination of benefit cuts and/or tax increases would be inevitable. For another matter, what currency would they use? A Pound controlled by the Bank of England? The Euro? Something new? ...

At the end of the day, I think the unanswered currency questions may have won the day, after all, Scots are such tight bastards.

The British said that the Pound currency would not be available to Scotland.

Acceptance into the EU and use of the Euro as currency requires unanimous support and Spain said "no way" (they have two regions of their own that want to secede).

That left Scotland with their own currency ... or maybe bitcoin... ha ha ha ... not likely.

Regardless, the decision went the right way.

[bojulay]

Scotland keeps their finest whiskey and puts a fancy label
and a big price tag on whats left in the bottom of the barrel,
and then exports it to the US

In light of this ugly truth I therefore have nothing for them.

[Texas Contrarian]

Apparently, a lot of political observers were somewhat taken by surprise -- not so much by the fact that the "no" vote won the day (the tally was expected to be very close) -- but by the rather decisive margin.

A few people here in the U.S. got caught up in all the hoopla. At one of the Dallas-area country clubs earlier this week, I saw some foppish faux Scotsman playing golf while dressed in a fancy kilt and all the rest of it. (And I was told that he is a local resident.)

A common question is why we should give a rat's ass whether some little "wannabe country" with a smaller population than the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area wishes to secede and go its own way. I think the main concern was that potential resultant chaos would send shock waves through an already fragile global financial system. Whether the consequences would be serious is, of course, open to debate. (And the issue has, in fact, been widely debated.)

As Lust4xxxLife noted, London was not too keen on letting the Scots keep the pound as their currency. A number of financial matters were to be negotiated in the event Scotland voted to secede, but it's obvious that London would hold the whip hand in any ensuing "negotiations," and would be in a position to extract severe concessions in return for allowing the Scots to continue using their currency -- if, in fact, that wasn't a complete non-starter right from the opening bell. And the obvious failure of the Euro points up the fact that it's very difficult for countries with disparate financial sector and fiscal practices to share a currency.

Independence-minded Scottish "leaders" also tried to maintain that the new country would attain status and security by joining the EU and the Eurozone. As that, too, would obviously be a very heavy lift, large numbers of voters began to have serious concerns.

In my view, judgment and reason prevailed.

[pyramider]

It probably all for the best that it got voted down.

[doug_dfw]

Originally Posted by bojulay

Scotland keeps their finest whiskey and puts a fancy label
and a big price tag on whats left in the bottom of the barrel,
and then exports it to the US

In light of this ugly truth I therefore have nothing for them.

And we are lucky to get that- thank god there only 3 million of them

[doug_dfw]

Think of the No vote this way. The Takers beat the Makers. Look at the voting map. Oh but you need to know Scotland. no worry. Just as the same in this Nation. Except here the Takers open the borders to overtake the Makers quicker. Soon there won't be enough Makers to support the Takers; Alas, Doom. The New World just like Christopher Columbus found- a fourth nation.

I will dead. Some of you won't be. My kids and Grandchildren will not know the wonderful life I had. Unless saneness returns on the road to this Nation's destiny