Gordon Brown has decided to sell off government assets in order to balance the books. The first items to go under the hammer are the Tote, the Dartford crossing and the student loan book.
It is the sale of the student loan book which I find most worrying. Presently rates are set at a fair level and payments are collected by HMRC, but once this student debt moves into private hands the rates will possibly increase, along with payment schedules. This will affect students who don't find work above average national earnings and in the future may put young people off studying at university or college once the 'bully boy' tactics of debt collectors become known to them.
Some of us may have already experienced the behaviour of a debt agency, I did a couple of years ago. BT told me I owed them money (which I didn't), but the refused to listen even when I sent proof of payment. This resulted in at least one phone call a day from their debt collection agency, plus several lawyer's letters threatening to take me to court. A young person would feel very intimidated by such tactics. In case anyone's interested I wrote a letter to BT, with copies to the various agencies which wrote to me, saying 'See you in court'. I've never heard another word.
Back to the topic - is it sensible to be selling off parts of government at this time? I've always been told never sell when prices are low and they're possibly at their lowest for many years right now. Gordon Brown should know this, after all he gave away our gold reserves for peanuts.
The government has been selling off pieces of Britain for years - some military properties were sold to a Japanese company years ago is just one example, but to sell of the Channel Tunnel to the highest bidder seems bad practice.
More and more I'm convinced this £16bn sale is part of Gordon Brown's contribution to the New World Order. It's sounding more like reality than conspiracy day by day.
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