DAVID J Crawford ( Letters, March 28) appears to consider there is a relationship between the National Debt and the amount of cash minted by the Government.
There is no correlation between the the two as cash is not the only means of exchange. As an example, over a period of 61 years receiving salary/pension I have never been paid in cash by my private sector employer.
On the other side of the coin, since 1961 I have paid rates/ community charge/council tax by cheque or standing order/direct debit, again never once in cash.
On the question of National Debt, he considers it to be “invented money”. A look at the business pages of The Herald shows that the prices quoted are for Government bonds. These bonds will, in the main, probably be held by insurance companies on behalf of policy holders or pension funds.
The monies to make these investments are not “invented “ but sourced from premiums by “real people” and “real employers”. On the matter of “hard cash”, unless the rules have changed, the Scottish note-issuing banks are required to have deposits or other collateral with the Bank of England to cover their note issue in excess of their authorised issue and, when they acquire cash from the Bank of England, they do not pay for it with “invented money”.
Jim McIntyre, 8 Chestnut Crescent, Hamilton.
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