Re: Tramways: a comparison

In message <9cegdmF3rgU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Mike Dickson <forename.surname@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 03/09/2011 09:07, Murff wrote:

On Sat, 03 Sep 2011 04:59:49 +0100, Mike Dickson wrote:

Why is it that every naysayer out there always assumes that Scotland
will be emptied on the day we assume independence from the UK? Upon what
is any of this based?

Risk, and who you believe. The risk side is pretty obvious: a newly
independent Scotland would be very much more of a risk than the UK, or of
England, on the basis of economic and political momentum if nothing else.
And it is *personal assessment* of risk - nothing to do with what
politicians or lawyers say.

Does this not assume that the businesses made nervous by independence
are only dealing with a trade in their immediate vicinity? What are they
all? Corner shops?

Any business with enough fiscal clout to make you wish they wouldn't
leave Scotland are sure as hell not only doing trade in and with
Scotland. There is the EU on the doorstep and there is the wider world
to consider just further down the street. I can name (from personal
experience) three very small businesses indeed that do the majority of
their work with overseas clients, despite being only run from their
respective traders' homes.

The sort of situation that you describe - where people will flee
clutching their money - describes the world as it was in the 1970s and
before. We're now dealing with a global economy of which we are and will
remain a part.

When I worked for the Scottish Widows in the 1980s the management sent
out a criminally liable missive to all staff saying that whilst they
cannot influence the way we chose to vote, independence (which was a
major talking point at the time, thanks to years of Tory alienation,
taxation experiments etc) would mean that the company would up sticks
and get out of Dodge, presumably to move our darn saff.

They almost certainly did themselves and their cause a lot of harm by
doing that.


Michael Bell

--
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