Letter: Home ownership blamed for our failing economy

HAS IT occured to anyone that the source of many of our economic ills can be found on the altar of that most sacred of principles, the property-owning democracy?

For most of our working lives many of us put all our spare cash into building societies to obtain a deposit for a house or to repay a loan on one. The building societies are required by law to restrict their investment to the purchase of property, thus acting as an economic black hole sucking in the nation's investment capital. This produces elegant homes but leaves little for industry, education, welfare, and so on.

Now, as we approach the bottom of the industrial league, we hear cries for the housing market to be 'kick-started' as the only way out of the recession. Surely this is like asking the captain of a storm-lashed ship to open the sea-cocks to escape the turbulence of the waves? If we were to adjust our priorities to ensure greater investment in exportable assets it would do far more for us and our children than piles of bricks, no matter how elegant.

A M Smith

Cheadle, Cheshire