The boom and bust economy may have gone but it seems to have been replaced by personal insolvency

article here (http://money.guardian.co.uk/creditanddebt/debt/story/0,1456,1635018,00.html)

This was bound to happen.

Whilst the Government may state that they relaxed the rules around Bankruptcy to make it easier for entrepreneurs, they didn't put enough conditions in and they've basically made it too easy for people to run up large debts (with teh active connivance of the debt industry) and the apply for Bankruptcy as a 'get out of jail free' card.

People who truggle hard to pay their debts off fullyover several years are effectively treated worse than soemone who goes barmy on credit with no intention of paying the debt off. They can apply for Bankruptcy and within a relatively short time be debt free and have relatively few conditions applied to tehm getting credit.

I know from personal experience that 7 years after getting in to debt, and working to pay stuff off, I STILL can't even get an overdraft. Apart from personal pride and a sense of honour, why should I have bothered?

An entrepreneur that fails and goes bust should be helped to get back on their feet as soon as posisble, provided that the business was reasonably well run. Every business failure is a learning experience. Someone who went bust because they simply had to have a new pair of shoes or blow a grand in one night in Stringfellows (see the Ruardinag article) should have the book thrown at them.

God, I'm so unsympathetic and judgemental on occasion. :)

Joe