Here’s a nice clear article by Iain Macwhirter about currency options for an independent Scotland. He looks at the experience of Slovakia which entered a brief currency union with the Czech Republic before being forced to go its own way, eventually joining the euro in 2009. He’s careful not to make direct comparisons with Scotland’s…
Money, Morality, And The Value Of A Clean Pan
I’m not sure how we got here, but we live in a world where money has become the unit that we use to measure value. When we ask how much something is worth, we’re asking how much money someone would be prepared to pay for it. But how much we pay for something – how much…
Scottish Independence: False Arguments About Wealth And Poverty Don’t Help Anyone
This article by Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp at Business For Scotland annoys me on so many levels. Firstly, he buries the only substantial fact in a short paragraph in the middle of the piece. According to GERS (Government Expenditure & Revenue in Scotland) in 2012 Scotland contributed 9.9% of UK tax revenue but received only 9.3% of…
Here’s an excellent article by Frances Coppola on a late 18th century version of basic income in the parish of Speen in Berkshire, and more general history of poor relief in English parishes at the time. Sadly the perverted “morality” of the wealthy demanding work-for-welfare from the poor is still alive and well today. Consider…