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Scotland bails out the UK

I cannot believe the words I am about to type tonight. I have walked away from writing this several times. I have considered the implications over and over. I am shook.

So have many of you been, given our twitter retweets on the subject.

https://twitter.com/ViveEcosse/status/1593216777860763648

Today Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, has decided to follow the plan for an independent Scotland.

For years the independence movement has claimed if we stewarded our resources in a manner similar to Norway, we would have a ridiculously large oil fund.

The Norwegian Oil Fund Market Value today is $1,180,000,000,000.

https://www.nbim.no/en/

Well… the UK in an effort to avoid being written off as a financial basket case, decided to copy the Yes movement homework and claims in todays Energy Taxes Factsheet:

Today [17th November] we are announcing that from the start of 2023 the Energy Profits Levy will increase by 10% points to 35%. This will bring the headline tax rate for the sector to 75% which is comparable to other North Sea tax regimes, including Norway.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-statement-2022-energy-taxes-factsheet/energy-taxes-factsheet

What does this mean? Well again from the same factsheet

This is expected to raise over £14 billion between 2023 and 2028 and will help pay for the more than £55 billion of support being provided for household and business energy bills.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-statement-2022-energy-taxes-factsheet/energy-taxes-factsheet

Did the Scottish Government write the factsheet?

The North Sea will continue to remain the foundation of the UK’s energy security during the transition to net zero and maintaining investment is key.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-statement-2022-energy-taxes-factsheet/energy-taxes-factsheet

Oh by the way, those resources in the North Sea that just raised £14 billion on demand for the UK Government, do you suppose they could bridge the gap that is the claimed Scottish deficit in the event of independence, how much was that again?

£14 billion black hole: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2755850/The-14billion-financial-black-hole-Alex-Salmond-s-finance-plan-Prominent-think-tank-issues-stark-warning-huge-risks-oil-pensions-tax-independent-Scotland.html

The UK Government using only Scotland’s current resources, just made the economic case for independence. They even made a factsheet. Literally called it the ‘Energy Taxes Factsheet’. They’ve demonstrated how we’d fill the deficit gap, using the Norwegian model.

It is now beyond any doubt that Scotland could handle its own economic affairs – given that the vast resources of Scotland’s North Sea just bailed out the entire UK (again).

This factsheet is so damn good for the independence cause, I’ve made it into a pdf for download incase the UK Government decide to pull it down, after realising how solid they have made the independence case.

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Be annoyed, but don’t miss.

I’ve lived in my home for seven years now, when I purchased the property I had to sign two major long term deals with it. 

The first was the mortgage, I got quite a good rate, submit all my papers online and 10 days later, it was approved. I managed this without a mortgage broker and a little searching. It wasn’t hard but it was made to be complex. 

The second deal I had to secure was my energy contract. Lots of companies, tariffs, plans and payment schedules. It made very little sense but I went with the cheapest. 

I’ve renewed both of these deals over the seven years. However I’ve never had to think much about it or plan to do anything else. 

I’m going to focus on my energy contract – because of a war, a pandemic and some market disfunction – little old me is responsible for bailing out states, utility companies, energy producers and providers. It’s incredible to imagine with that much corporate juggernauting they’d all end up so reliant on my budgeting ability. 

I’m surrounded by wind farms that are still producing energy. I live next to an oil and gas equipment supplier that powers half the world. My country has the largest proven oil and gas reserves. We have the infrastructure to mine it, process it and use it. We can even sell it. We produce solar panels in this country, we even have a climate that will provide most houses the ability to self power with enough panels. 

So I remain baffled and annoyed – that apparently the energy is here, as an asset of the state, and yet I am bailing out ten layers of companies. Who apparently would all fail without me, and you. 

Why is energy not provided direct to the citizens of Scotland with the least amount of layers possible? 

We do it with water and it’s pretty cheap, it works well, the billing is simple and in general everyone is happy. Let the companies sell the excess. 

Our energy mix ensures that our wind, solar, hydro all is prioritised for local usage, it can’t really be exported anywhere yet. It’s always cheap because it can’t really be turned off and it wasn’t effected in price by war or pandemic. Instead it’s being bumped up in price artificially because the energy producers failed to have enough product – while making bumper profits anyway – with no incentive to fix this particular problem. 

Following the energy producers making more than ever before, the money had to come from literally everywhere else. This triggered a global financial madness which somehow became rapid inflation. 

In the end, my house, which hasn’t changed at all, now has to cost more per month to buy. Simply because these massive global companies can’t handle themselves. So I get to double/triple/quadruple my out goings to ensure these massive corporations who won’t ever help me, should I suffer a great financial situation – survive. 

It would be easy to be annoyed at them, however they’re very publicly and blatantly opportunistic at every moment, and the politicians hope you are distracted, rather than blaming politicians. 

Our annoyance and our demands must be aimed at politicians though as they can end it tomorrow. They can nationalise these failed industries, they can seize ill deserved profits, they can take back the resources and assets. They could do it tomorrow. They won’t though because they’re happier to join you in being annoyed at companies. 

Our society needs to consider though, how did this happen? What happened to those who are supposed to stand up for us? The government and the opposition – where are they? Or better yet – where are the policies that should ensure only our prosperity?