Indyref Part 4

[SantanaLopez]

Evening all :)

Lady Cordelia you criticised business for Scotland as being full of small businesses and said they are not as important as big business.

here are the Scottish government stats which show that 98% of the Scottish economy is small businesses. I'd rather we listened to then than the other 2%.

I can't check through all the previous posts, I need to get through work at the same time as posting, but I'll keep an eye out for any questions when I'm posting.

I particularly liked the part where Sturgeon said he would never stay at a specific hotel like Jack McConnell Did, and it turned out he had stayed in the very same hotel.

Hospitality with potential sponsors I'd imagine.

I do agree with transparency but you are clutching at straws to use this as a reason to vote no.

And once again it's conflating the yes campaign with one man. Most yes supporters I meet are not big Salmond fans. Sturgeon will be snp leader before long. Voting no because of a dislike for one yes person is terribly short sighted.

If you are going to bring expenses into the debate how do BT politicians fare?

I am not a fearful person, thanks very much. Talk about a bloody blanket statement .

I am a Scottish person who has no issue with being British too.

Simple.

weatherall you got that wrong and Cordelia was right.
That 98% refers to the number of businesses, not the proportion of the economy.

It also says:
Small (0 to 49 employees) enterprises alone accounted for 42.3% of private sector employment and 23.6% of private sector turnover as at March 2013.

The 2,270 large (250+ employees) enterprises operating in Scotland, as at March 2013, accounted for 45.3% of private sector employment and 63.3% of private sector turnover.

So, it's the large businesses that have the biggest proportion of staff and by far the biggest proportion of turnover. And those are the very businesses that are most likely to relocate.

You're right LadyC, whilst there are lots of small companies and as someone currently launching one I'd like to see better support, many of them are tiny and will actually be single person or maybe little family companies. They won't account for anything like 98% of income. Small enterprises, which is

Dislike and distrust of Salmond, sturgeon and co is one of the very many reasons I am voting no.

I dislike Salmond, never have and never will vote SNP. I like Sturgeon as she's a good speaker and she answers every question she is asked in full (as far as I've seen). I just don't agree with her party's policies enough to vote for the SNP.

Hope... is more than a match for your basic economics and depressing predictions that are only relevant within a non changing context.

What a load of absolute rubbish!

Seriously, I am flabbergasted at that.

Just because you will it, the UK won't sign up to a currency union. The countries in the EU won't dismiss their own concerns and let Scotland do whatever it wants. The world doesn't work like that.

I'm not knowledgeable enough with regard to the economy to discuss revenue/turnover in relation to small businesses, but all of the independently-owned businesses on my street have Yes posters up. It's the same where most of my friends live (it's the one area they're in).
In my case one is a franchise store, but is it common for small/independent business to back a Yes vote? I haven't looked into it yet.

but is it common for small/independent business to back a Yes vote?

I don't think so.

It's a BBC link so wildly biased etc but this report says 48% of small business owners believed independence would be a negative step for their firm.

A total of 37% said leaving the UK would be a positive move, while 10% said it would have no impact.

Gotta go. DH is coming home from Singapore tonight! So excited to see him.

And I'm flabbergasted back at you!

This is what you don't get isn't it. I despair of you as much as you despair at me. We're judging each other from totally different contexts, hold different things to be true and different things as important. With you the buck stops at your economic context that you can't see beyond. Fair enough. Vote no. That's fine. But don't insult me and suggest I lack intelligence because I don't hold the same things as important to you! Believe what you want, I'm not endlessly arguing with you! We disagree. Fine. It takes all types to build a country. Hopefully regardless of how the vote goes we'll all still need each other.

The letter that I've just signed has over a thousand signitaries from Scotland's artists, authors, musicians. I guess at least when all your predictions come true at least we'll get some great art out of it! ;-)

Lady Cordelia for the 99% who aren't as wealthy as you spending most of our income on our rent or mortgage is a fact of life.

Another reason we want change.

Yes the 'best' economies in the world are USA and China and I wouldn't want to live in either of them.

Have fun Santana! Hope he's brought you some nice pressies from the Lion City.

Talking of DH's coming home,
DP (in banking) has got home and shown me an email on his phone.
It's from a contact/friend in a-very-large-bank in Edinburgh who is asking for ideas on areas to live here in north London in the event of a Yes vote.
This is exactly what I was predicting, that Scottish independence is going to push up housing prices in the south-east even more.

And, you will get change, if you vote Yes. You will be spending an even higher proportion of an even lower income on mortgage and rent.

Interest rates will go up as the economy will not be as stable - properties in Scotland will be more risky to banks than in the UK. Landlords, many of whom have mortgages themselves, will try to pass on costs to tenants. Those with mortgages will struggle to pay them. Jobs will suffer and there will be fewer jobs around, so pay will not rise. There will be an higher tax take to pay for all the wish list.

The burden of a huge public sector, an ageing population and the long list of promises will make every one still living in Scotland in the event of a Yes vote very much poorer. That is EVERYONE not the rich (who can move) or the middle class (.who might struggle to be could move) but the poor who will find their benefits cut as, eventually, there is no money to pay for their food and increased rents.

Bloody scary.