Arun just read this and think whether or not you can trust the opinion of a Nobel Price winning economist or the hot air receding from Osborne's ass? Of course Osborne and the rest of them are just saying things to keep the UK together at this point, but if you don't think that BOTH England and Scotland would suffer tremendously from not sharing the sterling, you need to do more studying at your university.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-28929433Also where are you coming up with that Scotland isn't economically sound? Scotland pays more in UK taxes than it receives in budget from the UK treasury! Scotland has done this for the past 30+ years. What does that tell you? If Scotland was the elephant in the room, costing the UK money, wouldn't they also be pushing for Scottish independence so the EU would deal with it?
Money aside (says the american to the welshman wtf!, should we switch passports?) even if Scotland hit a slight decline, it still wouldn't change the fact that Scotland could choose to keep NHS, free tuition, etc. etc.
With UK and Westminster becoming more and more conservative, I can really sympathize with the Scottish situation. I'm someone is off the charts left in US politics. My ideas that we should be taxed more (especially the rich who get off with not paying their share) and we should have free health care and education, is seen as crazy back in the states. Due to the two party system in the US and how very few other socialists there are in the US, my voice isn't heard in the states. Virtually the same situation that Scotland has been in, yet now they can vote to make their voice the only voice in their nation? Why wouldn't they want that?
Maybe it is hard for you to understand as you and many in the UK are fine with the privatization of health care, tax cuts to the rich, and all that other bullshit nonsense that the states has infected the UK with. Scotland does not want any of that. You can argue all you want about money, but at the end of the day this far more than just money.