Showing posts with label Deliberate Misinformation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deliberate Misinformation. Show all posts

Thursday, 30 July 2015

An SNP "Scottish" Currency Lie ? : Hiding the True Facts and Dangers of an Indy "Yes" vote ?


  An SNP "Scottish" Currency Lie ? Hiding the real facts and Dangers behind an Indy "Yes" Vote  ? 

The SNP's insistence on its Indy Manifesto fronted by its head illusionist Alex Salmond that the "Scottish Pound " would be the currency if Scots voted for Independence  was merely a "smoke and mirrors "untruthful  attempt to instil the idea in Scots voters minds that Voting for Independence would mean that very little would really change apart from not having a Tory Government in Scotland any more and that Scots lives  would stay much the same or even improve from what  had been beforehand.

The truth is really that it was for one reason only and that was to stop Scots thinking for themselves of what other real unmentioned situations might come to pass and to stop them from even questioning the SNP's manifesto for Independence as being in any way  whatsoever  "risky" , "reckless" or " unwanted " in their own lives.

 Salmond can claim of course he wasn't actually blatantly lying at the time because immediately after the Indy Referendum in the event of  a "YES" vote the currency would by default  still been the Pound, but thats where the story ends.

With the splitting up of  UK assets between two Sovereign  nations both parts required 2 basic things :-
1: An individual currency, and 2 : A powerful "national bank of last resort "

The reasons for this are that  any  government  with its own fiscal budget and individual political policies regarding taxation and welfare spending programmes needs to be able to control its own  fundraising (ie its own Goverment bonds issued in Financial markets), its own interest rate and the control of the supply of its own currency in circulation.

What you cannot ever  have is two completely seperate European Governments of two Independent sovereign nations with different Political viewpoints running two completely different Fiscal spending plans , different Welfare policies and differing Taxation plans  with one shared currency that only one country has responsibility for maintaining the stability of . That is only a recipe for disaster beacuse it would allow the other country to hold the other one to ransom or run the other  into ruin by introducing poor taxation , spending plans and taking on loans  in the money markets that could  destroy the value of a currency in the money markets that they themselves have absolutely no responsibility for maintaining, it simply would never work. 

Of course Alex Salmond knows  this very well too and certainly knows also that  two countries CAN share a currency but one would have to hand over sovereignty to the other that actually owns the currency to manage  overall Fiscal policy and Currency control and that the actual solution already has a name  "Devolution Max"  so when the SNP were campaigning for "Independence" was this what the SNP really had in mind throughout the whole process if the Statement  to share  the pound was really a truthful one ? 

More info on this issue here  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-miles/memo-to-alex-salmond-inde_b_5074697.html  

There were another couple of options the SNP could have adopted but of course were not discussed at all with the Nation most probably as one was unworkable and very costly even if physically possible and the other one would have been deeply unpopular with Voters and would no doubt have returned a clear NO vote on Independence.

Other than Devo Max the second option would have been a completely new currency (with its own exchange rate) and while this is a "real" option on the table it really would have been too ridiculous to contemplate, it would have meant Scots having to exchange money while crossing the border going out the country (even to England) and vice versa when anyone  came into Scotland. It would be another problem for Tourists coming to the UK having to have carry two different currencies to vist England and Scotland and probably would hit the Tourist industry in both as many Tourists may just find it simpler just to go to Europe instead (visit multiple countries and use one currency only). A new currency would also create more red tape for Industries both in Scotland and all its trading partners and reduce Competitiveness and Profits by increasing costs (due to currency conversion costs). So therefore a complete non-starter and would be quickly ruled out.

The Third and most likely the very real SNP unspoken and unwitten  plan if it truly wasn't lying to Voters that it had wanted "Devo Max" rather than true and real Independence can only have been a plan to adopt the Euro as the "new" Scottish currency, the reasons for this is that it would solve two of the SNP's biggest problems at a stroke.
 1: It would provide the large established and powerful European Central Bank as the Scottish "Bank of Last Resort".
2: An available and widely used Currency , the European Bank alreadly  owns the Euro,  an  existing currency that already is used widely in Europe, already traded on the  World  money markets and alreadly accepted all over the World for International Business transactions.

George Soros's view on a Scottish Currency http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scottish-independence/10692558/George-Soros-Scotland-sharing-the-pound-after-independence-is-impossible.html

Another Youtube Video  presentation on  options for "A Scottish Currency" is here ...while viewing this video its very important to remember clearly what has happened to interest rates in Russia and other countries that have and are dependent on Oil as large parts of their GDP , Government budgets and therefore spending plans for their  nations. World Financial commodity shocks can and do cause countries to have long periods of high interest rates to protect their currencies  which has been implications for Mortgage holders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBC0mLFz91o 

So what  "evidence" exists that the real unspoken and unpublished plan that the SNP had for Scotland's New currency all along in fact was the Euro all the time ?

1: Well the SNP has said all along that Rejoining the  EU  would be a priority for it and all other recent new membership Countries of the EU have had to adopt the Euro as a Currency as well, this is a very unpopular issue with Voters in Poland  but they wanted to join the EU and were simply not allowed to join  without signing up to adopt the Euro as part of that sign-up. (They have agreed to change to the Euro when some of the debt issues in the EU have been resolved)
see here for more info
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland_and_the_euro  

2: Is there evidence that the SNP itelf has shown as Policy willingness to adopt the Euro ?  Well yes there is , the SNP is very pro-EU and sees further integration with Europe as the future. In a past speech to the European Centre for Policy Studies  Alex Salmond speaking as leader of the SNP not only supported Scotland joining the Euro but actually attacked the pound that he tried to say Scotland would keep after an Indy "YES " vote , can this man be trusted at all to ever be telling the truth ? He described the Pound as "''a millstone round Scotland's neck'' and challenged the euro's supporters to launch a more aggressive debate against the new currency's critics.
Salmond then went on to say "''I think that being outside the euro area is already penalising the Scottish economy. In the medium-term, the longer we stay out, the more damage will accumulate. The euro is an example of why Scotland needs membership status so that it can take a decision on entry into the single currency,''  and also said "'Scotland is a trading nation and our main trading partner is the EU. At present, over 60% of our manufactured exports are to the EU and it is to Europe that we must look to secure Scottish prosperity and Scottish jobs,'' he told his audience of European officials and diplomats."
See more here: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12207577.Salmond_in_call_to_dump_millstone_of_the_pound/

The Euro has also been highlighted as a Scottish currency at other times too.
"Alex Salmond and his ministers know there are other options, not least because they used to champion one of them.Not so long ago the Scottish National Party was a fan of the European single currency.As recently as 2009, at the SNP's annual conference in Inverness, the party's former treasurer, Ian Blackford, argued that being "tied to sterling" after independence would mean Scotland having to, "pay the price in higher interest rates while being exposed to a currency that has a history of suffering from wild fluctuations".

see more here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-26168002  


So it  appears that Alex Salmond was speaking with a forked tongue with the backing of the rest of the SNP while deliberately trying to deceive Voters on what any potential Scottish  currency would ultimately be  ? The SNP has talked down the Pound in Scotland as a currency openly in Public several times now in the past while it can also be seen that it has often said it sees the benefits of the Euro over the Pound as a currency many times.  

So why was then was the SNP so afraid to put it on the Indy manifesto ? Is it simply because it knows the Scottish electorate  would  quickly reject that policy and return a massive "NO" vote and therefore the SNP set out a deliberate plan of deception to win a YES vote by presenting a  a false and untruthful manifesto to the whole nation instead ?
What does that really say about the SNP's trustworthyness and of it's need to exert "control" over the nation by deceit ?


Of course one avenue may have been to use one of the SNP's most favoured tactics,  just go ahead and offer a hugely populist but completely unrealistic plan to the  electorate to gain political power and then when the  "ridiculous proposal" is rejected by the rest of the UK government that your trying to divorce yourself from, you can then produce your "policy of greivance" Joker card ,blame Westminster for not accepting your own wonderfully credible original plan and use "your mandate" you say the Scottish electorate gave you to default the Scottish electorate into the deeply unpopular Euro against the will of a nation. Job done, the SNP and Alex Salmond get what  they have openly wanted for years and the UK government gets the blame for it.

 We know the SNP would blame the UK Government for this as everything is always the fault of Westminster and not ever the fault of the SNP.
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Tuesday, 28 July 2015

How and why the rapidly falling Oil Price could have caused Family breaking high Mortgage rates in an Indy Scotland.

  Another major issue with falling World Oil prices that hasn't been given much thought in an Independent Scotland and even less talked about by the SNP (understandably) is the effect it may have had on  "Scottish Mortgage Rates" and its devasting effect on Scottish Homeowners.

If Scotland had been already an Independent country when this Oil price fall had hit , not only would working families have had to bear the brunt of likely heavy increases in a local Income Tax to make up the shortfall in the Scottish budget, ordinary Scottish Homeowners with Mortgages in the nation may have also had to cope with additional crippling Bank Interest rate rises that the Scottish Government of the day would most likely have had to implement in order to protect  against the value of its currency falling due to steeply falling Government Oil Revenues.  Protecting the value of a Countries currency is important and essential for creating a stable exchange rate for its Industries that trade with the rest of the World. To give some idea of just how disastrous this would have been to millions of Scottish families consider how any individual in Scotland would cope with a shock 15-17% Mortgage rate as this was the Bank exchange rate Russia too had to implement to protect the value of its own currency due to its own shortfall in its own finances because of the falling Oil price last year. Russia's interest rate is still currently 12% more than six months later. Other Oil producing countries had to cope with similar problems. The UK overall escaped this because Oil is only 3-5% of UK GDP but would have been around 15-18% of an Independent Scotlands GDP , this is one of the realities and huge risks of being an Independent Scotland having to cope with World commodity shocks..would it really have been worth the risk of tens of thousands of Scots losing their Homes and family lives when they couldn't keep up mortgage payments due to punitive levels of interest rates in an Independent Scotland ? This could have brought  hardship and utter misery to a whole nation but the SNP do not want you to consider the consequencies of this scenario in the slightest. There have been many Oil shocks in past fairly recent History and there will be more Oil shocks in the future as surely eggs are eggs and the Scottish Government has no means whatsoever of protecting Homeowners from these if it were Independent whenever they happen, as they are outwith Government control. The only way to try to cope with shocks like these is to stay part of a much wider and broader Industrial economy where individual commodity shocks have an overall smaller effect on the economy  and preferably as part of a  Country that actually can control its own interest rates , its own stable currency and therefore its own long term financial destiny.
This is a  real scenario not a theoretical one but have  Scottish Voters really understood the risks or have they merely been blindly misled and ill advised by the SNP for their own agenda. It's not the SNP MP's that could lose the roofs over their heads with £75 salaries and expense accounts but the families of ordinary working Scots. SNP MP's will have nothing to lose in this siuation but ordinary working families have everything to lose. With high interest rates and people rushing to sell to get out of ever rising debts House prices would also likely be hit hard , good for buyers , not good for forced sellers at all.

How would Scots really cope with a substantially higher Mortgage Interest Rate in Scotland than England  because this  is a very real potential result of breaking away from the UK's larger, more stable economy and broader Industrial base , my guess is that they would be less than happy ? Understatement ?  So why aren't Scots taking this whole issue seriously yet ?

Russian Interest rates http://www.global-rates.com/interest-rates/central-banks/central-bank-russia/cbr-interest-rate.aspx

Venezuela Interest rate (also has a large part of its Economy based on Oil )
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/venezuela/interest-rate

 Winners and Losers from falling Oil prices
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29643612

Why do Governments have to control the Interest Rate anyway ? :
Interest rates are one lever used to control the economy. The MPC's remit is to keep inflation near the official target of 2%. Raising the base rate should bring down inflation by encouraging saving and deterring people from borrowing - thus lowering demand for goods in the shops. Lowering rates should stimulate economic demand and push up prices, as consumers would be left with more disposable income after paying mortgage costs.
This base rate is used to calculate repayments for tracker and variable-rate mortgages. The interest rates paid on savings accounts should also move in line with the base rate, although retail banks are not obliged to pass on changes in full.

Another Youtube Video presentation on options for "A Scottish Currency" is here ...while viewing this video its very important to remember clearly what has happened to interest rates in Russia and other countries that have and are dependent on Oil as large parts of their GDP , Government budgets and therefore spending plans for their nations. World Financial Commodity shocks like for the price of Oil can and do cause countries to have long periods of high interest rates to protect their currencies which has been implictations for Mortgage holders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBC0mLFz91o 


While younger Homeowners probably only remember lower levels of interests rates in recent times, they have been as high as 14% in the 1990's after ERM exit and over 12% in the 1970's, these were periods when many people struggled to keep up morgage payments and many of course evntually often lost their Homes.  Small countries generally have unstable and unpredictable economies, larger ones with a broader selection and number of Industries generally always fare better than smaller ones when economic winds blow hard.

Full Historic Interest Data here http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/jan/13/interest-rates-uk-since-1694
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What happened in Russia could easily have happened in an Independent Scotland too because in Scotland "Oil is not just a bonus" no matter what the SNP say.

"On Russia’s “Black Tuesday” this week (16 December 2014), the Central Bank tried to stop the rouble’s value falling by hiking interest rates to 17%. It didn’t work. The bankers and corporations panicked; the rouble kept falling. It has now lost half its value in six months. The main cause is the falling price of oil, on which the Russian economy is heavily dependent.
Now Russian people are likely to pay the price, with inflation, unemployment and falling living standards. More than at any time since president Vladimir Putin became the Moscow elite’s dominant figure 15 years ago, he is likely to face a population troubled by serious economic hardship.Q. So what were the triggers for this week’s collapse of the rouble?
A. Low oil prices, which always threatened to undermine the Putin set-up, have arrived.
See more here http://rs21.org.uk/2014/12/18/the-spectre-of-social-unrest-is-haunting-putins-russia/
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Irina Fedulova and her husband have repaid more than one-third of their $150,000 housing loan, but they owe more than when they started, thanks to the collapse of the Russian ruble.
The loan was in dollars but “our salaries are in rubles, and we realize we can't pay it the way things are,” the 42-year-old chemist said by phone from Nizhny Novgorod. “We are so desperate we might have to sell our three-room apartment and move into a smaller one, if we can afford it now.”
Millions of middle-class Russians are facing unexpected hardship this winter amid a 40% decline in global oil prices   http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-82305345/
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Russian energy executives expect that the current slump will correct itself by mid-2015, as demand picks up and the existing glut of supplies disappears. Yet, what happens if these expectations do not come to pass? If significantly lower global energy prices represent a “new normal” that is likely to persist for years to come, however, what then? 
See more http://nationalinterest.org/feature/russias-double-trouble-dilemma-crashing-oil-prices-tough-11939  
( Editor: It's now September 2014 and  Interest rates in Russia ie Morgages are still at 12% having been at 17%  and 15% in the last year since the Oil price fall...how would you lives in Scotland be affected by similar Interest rates induced by a Currency Crisis caused by the same Oil price drop affecting Scotland ?  This is one of the Dangers of ever being a small country with a large part of its national spending budget depending on the Oil price, despite what the SNP say "Oil is NOT just a bonus" to the Scottish budget, its essential to its financial stability as long as Scotland carries the £9 billion "onshore" budget deficit shortfall, a shortfall that could take anywhere from 50-100 years to attempt to rectify with no guaranteee of success )
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  Whats a currency crisis ?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_crisis



Update 17 Jan 2016   How a small Oil rich country is not coping with the fall in the Oil price and how its facing disastrous economic issues http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-35329617