Three centuries apart, the same question keeps haunting Scotland: is it pride and vision that shape a nation’s future, or is it cold arithmetic?This 6-minute video takes you on a journey from the 1690s Darien Scheme, Scotland’s doomed attempt to carve out a colony in Panama, to today’s fiscal debates laid bare in the Scottish Government’s own GERS numbers.The story starts with huge ambition. Ordinary Scots staked 40% of the country’s wealth on Darien, only to see it vanish within two years. That financial collapse helped drive the 1707 Act of Union with England.Fast forward 300 years, and the pattern feels uncomfortably familiar. Scotland’s spending outstrips its revenue by £26.5 billion — nearly 12% of GDP. The Barnett Formula currently fills that gap, delivering around £2,700 of extra spending per person compared to the UK average. Without it, independence would mean starting life with one of the highest deficits in the developed world and no savings.The parallels run deep:Bold visions of independence and prosperity.Stark warnings from traders then, and fiscal watchdogs now.National pride colliding with harsh economic reality.We explore demographic pressures, like an ageing population pushing health and social care costs up by as much as £16 billion a year, and weigh that against aspirations of becoming the next Norway. But Norway’s wealth fund came from surpluses, not deficits.This isn’t about taking sides, it’s about laying out the numbers, the history, and the lessons. From Darien to Deficit, the same echo runs through Scottish history: when vision and pride clash with hard maths, arithmetic usually wins.If you’re interested in Scottish history, independence, economics, or just how old mistakes keep echoing into the present, this video is for you.📌 Watch to the end for Robert Burns’ haunting words on betrayal, still resonating more than 200 years later.