Neutralise the impact of Project Fear by educating voters on economics

Stewart should know that the Unionists created “Project Fear”, they named it, and they are still working on it. They never stopped, or even paused, in exploiting Project Fear and there is no sign that they are likely to do so.

Project Fear works by exploiting general ignorance about issues like currency, banking and pensions; so the very best way to expose Project Fear is the spread of knowledge and enlightenment in the Scottish public about these issues, not to pretend that the present situation is fine and that it need not be addressed.

READ MORE: 'Boring banker' Stewart Hosie defends SNP currency plans

If Stewart believes that the present status of the pound sterling as an international exchange currency is stable and secure, then he must have been in a coma when the Liz Truss government was brought down by international money markets. If Stewart didn’t notice that, most Scottish people did, and they are not as naive as he thinks they are. Using an international exchange currency like sterling is much more risky that having our own domestic currency. Surely Stewart must know that if he knows anything about economics, and he should know that having massive reserves is more relevant to an international exchange currency than it is to a domestic currency with a strong balance-of-trade position.

So come off it, Stewart – an independent Scotland moving quickly to establish its own currency is by far less risky than telling people there is no problem with sterling and that this will be true for the foreseeable future. To do this is not based on any reasonable economic grounds, it is just an attempt at misleading the electorate and Scottish people will see it for the nonsense it is.

Andy Anderson
Ardrossan

RICHARD Murphy’s partial rebuttal of Mark Blyth’s remarks regarding the viability of an independent Scotland is not particularly convincing if you don’t already have faith in the country’s ability to balance its trade (Was Mark Blyth wrong about an independent Scotland’s economy?, thenational.scot, Mar 28). For the record, I do!

More concerning for me was Blyth’s highlighting of the foreign ownership of nearly all of our strategic industries, from salmon farming through whisky and hydrocarbons to renewables. All of the profits from these enterprises flow out of the country, and many of the procurement chains lead back to the country of ownership.

READ  MORE: Mark Blyth: Unionists 'taking my words on independence out of context'

This a huge problem for an independent Scotland and it has been growing for more than a century – think Robertson’s jam, Coats threads and McVitie’s biscuits as examples. It is also a factor of differentiation between Scotland and the Nordic countries we aspire to emulate.

There’s little we can do about the wrongs of the past in this regard, but surly we can stop it continuing in the way we develop renewables. If our government is prepared to adopt a new approach to this sector’s ownership through mandated state and/or community participation, together with strict local content rules, we can begin to move back towards a more indigenous industrial base.

Inward investment has a role in any economy, but it must be managed properly, and is not the universal panacea many in the media and in the Unionist community would have us believe.

Cameron Crawford
Rothesay

WELL said, Richard Murphy. The SNP in government has had years to find out the truth about Scotland’s economy but has refused to even bother. Instead it breathlessly rushes to publish the latest GERS figures. Is it any wonder people are questioning the SNP’s desire for independence? Is it any wonder Mr Vow, Murray Foote, is the SNP’s chief executive?

Sanny Martin
via the national.scot

WHEN Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves say government spending is constrained by tax revenues, what drives them to promote this lie – ignorance or malice? The government creates money all the time. How else could it have bailed out the banks, supported the economy during Covid, or continued to fund its endless wars?

Because it owns a central bank, the UK Government can create the money it needs to do what it wants – it can’t go bust.

Former US Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan explained: “There’s nothing to prevent the federal government from creating as much money as it wants. The question is, how do you set up a system which assures that real assets are created?”

READ  MORE: Labour's oil and gas plans could make UK 'uninvestable', top energy body warns

Creating real assets – wealth – is the key. Money by itself has no value. It derives its value from the goods and services in the economy, so it’s government’s job to ensure that real assets are produced from the money it creates. If it fails to do this, growth stalls and people suffer. That’s what’s happening in the UK.

One area where the UK Government has failed the people is the NHS. A nation’s health is its most vital asset. Unhealthy people can’t work or lead productive lives. Every pound spent on healthcare generates £4 of economic growth, a far more productive endeavour than tax cuts for the wealthy.

The NHS is collapsing because the Tories have deliberately underfunded it. Their goal all along was privatisation. Starmer’s Labour, generously bankrolled by private healthcare companies, is poised to finish the job.

If Scotland is to be a healthy, wealthy and economically literate nation, it must end the failing Union.

Leah Gunn Barrett
Edinburgh