It would be wise for Scotland to become an independent nation

Round 3: RebuttalsUnfortunately, my opponent plagiarized his entire argument. I understand that this is his first debate, however it is important to note that plagiarizing in any form is strictly forbidden on this website. However, I will allow the debate to continue and will allow the voters to decide on how to grade us. I. Scotland has a rich and diverse economyThis argument is true that Scotland does have a diverse economy as of such. However, should Scotland become independent their thriving economy is bound to suffer. This is due to the fact that they will no longer have both the support of the UK and of the UK's many allies. Also, in about half of a century Scotland's economy is going to take another blow when the North Sea Oil runs dry [1]. The real question here is whether or not Scotland will be able to sustain itself in both the short term and the long term following a seperation from the UK. Due to the fact that Scotland is primarily a one resource nation (Oil) the economy is bound to fail at some point, similarly to the countries in the Middle-East. II. Scotland generates far more tax than the average UK personThe reason that Scotland produces higher tax is solely because the UK has placed higher taxes on the people of Scotland. On average, every Scottish person pays £1,350 per year higher than the average person in the UK [2]. While this may be cause for independence (taxation without representation!) the reality of the matter is that once Scotland becomes independent taxes are going to raise even higher than the amount that they are currently at. This is due to the fact that Scotland does not have a high enough population to sustain the state pension. This means that unless Scotland's population magically increases from 5.2 million to 7 million in about half a century, every Scottish person will be forced to pay £700 more tax annually [3].III. Scotland has strong exportsWhile this is currently true, that Scotland has many strong nations to trade with, following independence many of these bonds will be broken. This is due to the fact that it is not Scotland that has alliances with these nations but the UK. While it is not likley that Scotland will never develop new trading alliances with these countries in the future, it is certain that Scotland's economy will suffer greatly following independence and will take some time to regain its footing. IV. No more building Nuclear WeaponsThis argument confused me, are you saying that Scotland should become independent because the UK is evil? Also, who is to say that Scotland is going to stop building Nukes following independence. There is also my argument from round two about how are these British weapons within Scotland going to be dealt with if Scotland becomes independent. V. Believing in the creation of more jobsScotland has one major energy resource: Oil. While this may prove to be helpful in the short term, basing a countries entire economy on Oil (and apparently Whisky) is a very bad idea due to the fact that this oil resource is not going to last another fifty years. What will happen to all these new jobs once the oil drys up?VI. Belief in a more equal wageThe reason that Scotland and London have different wages is because Scotland is a country while London is a city. If you compare the wages of Scotland and England then you see a much more equal balance. Graph A displays this: In fact Graph A does not show that Scotland actually overtook the UK in average GDP in the past couple of years. Now the average GDP per capita in Scotland is $45,904 while the UK's is $43,830 [4,5].VII. Scotland has the resources and financesThis argument has appeared several times throughout this rebuttal, and I will give the same responce. Scotland has only one legitimate resource, which is Oil. Given the fact that the North Sea Oil is eventually going to dry up, Scotland is basing its entire future on a resource that will not even last. ConclusionI have shown that there is no good reason for Scotland to become independent and that if they do they are destined to fail due to the fact that their one good resource is bound to run out within the next fifty years. Sources[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk...[2] http://scotreferendum.com...[3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk...[4] http://en.wikipedia.org...[5] http://en.wikipedia.org...