Letters - Risks must be taken.

I read with interest the two opposing views on the new quickie bankruptcy (opinion, page 12, 7 June). Philip Sykes misses the point. His arguments against the new proposed rules could be summarised as follows: consumers will abuse it and thus force honest traders out of business. The only merit in this argument is that it perhaps highlights the need for a separate system of bankruptcy to deal with consumer rather than business bankruptcy.

The bankrupt entrepreneur needs a system of bankruptcy that, if he or she is there through misfortune or others’ faults, allows him to restart generating economic wealth as soon as possible, hence the proposed new discharge period. Business makes profits by taking risks: a country that penalises the downside of business risk too much, stifles the economy by stopping entrepreneurs taking those risks, and hence stops wealth being created.

Nick Phillips FCA, Cumbria.