Adding to Ian Bell's superb essay on Adam Smith, your correspondent RF Morrison rightly differentiates between money and wealth (March 19). His definition of wealth, "the production of socially useful goods and services", is spot-on.
Unfortunately, almost all our mainstream parties' politicians fail to understand that distinction. They endlessly extol the virtues of Scotland's "wealth creators" and promise them an array of incentives designed to encourage further wealth creation. In fact, many of these so-called wealth creators do nothing of the sort. Their main contribution to society is to shuffle money around, enriching themselves in the process. The latest donor to the SNP, Brian Souter, did not improve bus services in Scotland; but he did turn himself into a multi-millionaire by shrewdly exploiting Tory legislation to privatise and deregulate Scotland's bus services.
It is not necessary to have a PhD in economics to work out that wealth is created, not by merchant bankers, venture capitalists, property speculators, currency dealers, stockbrokers or shareholders, but by those who work in our factories, offices, call centres, hospitals, schools, buses, trains, farms, fishing boats, mines, oil rigs, newspapers and countless other workplaces.
These are the real wealth creators in our society - and they are increasingly taken for granted by politicians obsessed with appeasing the rich. - Alan McCombes, Scottish Socialist Party Policy Co-ordinator, 70 Stanley Street, Glasgow.
I was troubled to read the implication in your editorial that the internal democracy of the SNP could be undermined by Brian Souter's very generous donation. At its conference in 2006, the SNP affirmed its support for bus re-regulation. A resolution, put forward by Young Scots for Independence, highlighted that deregulation had caused many essential services on less profitable routes to be cut and had hindered the development of a fully integrated modern public transport system. This was passed by acclaim by the membership, and I very much doubt that party opinion would be easily swayed to the opposite extreme.
Other parties may be able to ignore the will of their members and reward wealthy donors with influence and honours, but the SNP does not. - Alison Thewliss, National Convener, Young Scots for Independence, 170 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow.
With Brian Souter donating some of his vast wealth to assist the SNP, the question arises of who will ride shotgun in this particular "stage-coach" hired to take Scotland out of the UK. Surely not Nicola Sturgeon, Nat leader at Holyrood, who described as "despicable" Mr Souter's financial backing for the campaign to prevent teachers from discussing homosexuality with their pupils. No, it has to be Wee Eck, since he will happily accept help from any quarter so long as at the end of the run his wrongly assessed bribes to the electorate will take more than £5000 a year from the pockets of every Scottish household. - Bill Wilde, 86 Montgomery Street, Eaglesham.
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