Posted on 09/12/2014 9:58:34 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
OIL GIANT BP has been threatened with nationalisation in an independent Scotland.
Jim Sillars, the former SNP deputy leader, also warned that bankers’ “casino days” would be over.
The prominent Yes campaigner yesterday attacked “scaremongering” business leaders, claiming they will face a “day of reckoning” if Scotland votes to break away from the UK.
Mr Sillars accused large companies and banks of “subverting Scotland’s democratic process” by making high-profile interventions in the independence referendum debate.
He said: “This referendum is about power, and when we get a Yes majority we will use that power for a day of reckoning with BP and the banks.
“The heads of these companies are rich men, in cahoots with a rich English Tory Prime Minister, to keep Scotland’s poor poorer through lies and distortions.
“The power they have now to subvert our democracy will come to an end with a Yes.
“BP, in an independent Scotland, will need to learn the meaning of nationalisation, in part or in whole, as it has in other countries who have not been as soft as we have been forced to be.
“As for the bankers: your casino days, rescued by socialisation of your liabilities while you waltz off with the profits, will be over.”
Mr Sillars added: “What kind of people do these companies think we are? They will find out.”
His comments were seized on as “threats” by campaigners for a No vote.
Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Gavin Brown said: “It seems the Yes campaign are completely losing the plot.
“To even suggest BP would need to learn the ‘meaning of nationalisation’ and there will be a ‘day of reckoning’ for big businesses is not only threatening but also utterly unnecessary.
“The Yes side are playing a dangerous game by attacking global companies just because they have dared to question the SNP’s fantasy economics.”
Alex Russell, professor of petroleum accounting at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, has backed a Yes vote in next week’s referendum.
Professor Russell said: “Though the quantities of oil and gas left are lower than what has so far been removed, the prices are higher, so the value of the second half of Scotland’s oil opportunity may be even greater than the first 40 years.
“We need to grasp that opportunity for Scotland through a Yes vote.”
Meanwhile, Niall Ferguson, the Glasgow-born Harvard professor and financial historian, said independence would cause a recession and a fall in population and claimed he would apply for a US passport in the event of a Yes vote.
Disgusting, absolutely disgusting!
If SNP goes through with its threats, Scotland’s future is Venezuela, not Norway.
BP catching heck lately. Much more blamed for disaster in Caribbean than Halliburton and Transocean. Don’t understand why since the cementing that failed was not theirs.
You might find this one interesting...
Deeper pockets. It's a money grab. Wouldn't surprise me if the judge was paid off by plaintiffs. Tens of billions at stake here.
He sounds like Hugo Chavez
Let's see, what's the best thing I could say to scotch our chances?
Already going commie?
They should see Venezuela which might be importing oil soon
The SNP are a bunch of Marxists. Glad they aren’t silent about their intentions.
Jim Sillars, the former SNP deputy leader, also warned that bankers’ “casino days” would be over.
The prominent Yes campaigner yesterday attacked “scaremongering” business leaders, claiming they will face a “day of reckoning” if Scotland votes to break away from the UK.
In other news......
Venezuela starts to import oil.......and supermarket shoppers will be fingerprinted to stop them buying extra goods for sale on the black market (no racism implied)
Just another reason to show, if any more were needed, of just how insane voting yes to independence is. There is a difference between patriotism and natyionalism . The former is about loving your country and wanting the best for it, the latter is about hating other countries even if it means damaging yours. The bats hate England, sorry ‘Westminster’ so much that they are prepared to destroy their own country by giving these morons free reign over it.
Quite right. The rest of the kingdom holds its breath to see if Scotland wishes to finally withdraw from the world stage, to descend into the deathly, suffocating grip of a socialism made all the more dangerous by the nasty taint of anti-English bigotry.
Make no mistake, an ‘independent’ Scotland would be a far less reliable friend to the United States than the United Kingdom has consistently been.
My hope is that there is a ‘Silent Majority’ of sensible Scots who, afraid to proclaim their ‘no’ preference outside of the secrecy of the polling booth, for fear of Nationalist reprisals, will keep the union together.
Let them secede, if that’s what they want. I watched an hour of debate on the issue on YouTube, and it seemed the majority of Scots have dollar signs in their eyes, hatred in their hearts, and are not listening to reason.
When the North Sea oil peters out (in a century or less, say) DO NOT ALLOW SCOTLAND TO COME CRAWLING BACK IN TO UNION WITH THE U.K.
They’re riding a single-market economy, they’re willingly going to become a “banana economy” and need to be taught a valuable historic lesson.
Kick ‘em to the curb, I say.
And yes, I AM PART SCOTTISH. It hurts to admit it. After watching that debate (one side reasonable and measured, warning of the downsides to dissolution of the union, the other side mouthing off vague promises and pie-in-the-sky economic statistics promising prosperity for everyone) I was struck by how exactly 60% of the audience were behaving—even looking (in facial expression) like the “hope and change” Obama voters we saw back in 2008, and what direction that led the USA into.
No, I say: Kick ‘em to the curb. They are only capable, if even then, of learning through hard experience. Let them become overly dependent on North Sea oil. Oil prices fluctuate. Let them become a single market economy.
Sad thing is, socialist demagogues like these rely heavily on short-memoried voters who can’t connect historical dots, don’t invest time into learning and pondering facts, and will probably blame Big Business “banksters” for their new woes once the SNP’s promises fail to deliver. Sad thing.
The Scots have become SENSELESS.
How is a nation of 5.3 million, of only 30,000 sq. miles — smaller than Maine — going to make a go of it economically?
THEY CAN’T.
When they fail, they’ll blame London, I’ll bet.
Oh, and the oddity: They clamor to be “independent,” but just watch them conform to every EU rule from Brussels. They’re simply substituting one master for another. They’re not becoming any more independent by doing this.
This is merely an exercise in “feel good” demagoguery by opportunistic SNP politicians. Nothing more.
When the whole thing collapses, the SNP will avoid the blame, that’s the sad thing.
Scotland can go it alone, smaller nations do successfully, without our resources. The question is are we better to do so.
IMO no, better to be a strong part of the UK.
Singapore does quite well.
Singapore is a financial hub with its own currency. Right now, Scotland is part of a prosperous and stable union and already has a lot of local autonomy as well as full parliamentary representation. If it leaves, it will have no central bank, use a foreign currency over which it has no say and capital and companies are already starting to move south at the possiblity of independence, all because Salmond is promising a socialist welfare state using market liberal tax policies, and the insane thing is, a worrying proportion of Scots are believing him. They basically want to destroy what has been overall, a very successful union just because they don’t like the current Tory government.
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