[pjc50]

In the UK we mostly invest in property. You can get an easy 15% annually out of leveraged BTL. Every one year out of seven things slump but values don't generally go down in nominal terms. Compared to that, why bother with buying a technology lottery ticket?

UK has a very poor history of management culture as well. This is what sunk a lot of the old national companies and hangs around the privatised sector like a bad smell.

After all, it's the birthplace of true capitalism

I can't tell whether you're referring to UK or SF here, although surely that descriptor could only apply to the UK or Italy.

[madaxe_again]

This is basically the old Tory and Whig argument, unresolved. Whigs put faith in commerce and the growth of wealth borne from innovation - and founded the Bank of England. The Tories insisted that the true value of the country was in its land, and founded the Land Bank at about the same time as the BoE ~ 1690.

While the BoE appears to have won, as it still exists and the Land Bank does not, the mindset of the nation has been, and is still, Tory to the heart.

Oh, and land/property is a bubble, unless you're hedging on infinite growth of a fixed asset based on demand growth - which is daft, particularly if you're in the same breath opposing immigration and social mobility.