If the SNP is really comparing the conditions for future foreign direct investment (FDI) to an independent Scotland's alleged similarities with former Soviet bloc countries, we are in trouble ("Yes vote 'would lead to boom in investment'", The Herald, May 28).
The investment attracted to those countries was due in many cases to highly competitive, and often rapacious, multinationals which sought to exploit low real estate prices and low wages, encouraged by low taxation and an incentive regime.
As a result, those countries were basically ripped-off and they subsequently suffered from "dry pot plant syndrome" as profits flowed out as quickly as investment had been poured in. A prime example is Hungary, where Budapest enjoyed a property boom mainly fuelled by Irish developers and a financial services boom founded on German banks exporting risk.
Attracting FDI to Scotland has for decades been the responsibility of Scottish Development International (SDI), whose record includes making Scotland Europe's top destination for foreign investment, according to Ernst & Young's 2011 UK Attractiveness Survey.
However, if the Scottish Government feels this is not good enough, it already has direct authority to change SDI's policies or even to sack them and start again.
As with so many issues where the SNP claims to seek better for Scotland, independence is simply not necessary.
Peter A Russell,
87 Munro Road,
Glasgow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article