What do you think about the proposed Government raid on the Post Office Pension Fund ?
We are already being told that Public Service Pension payments are at an unsustainable level for the future; which is what all the recent fuss has been about
Now the Government wants to have the state take over the Royal Mail Pension Fund, which will give them an almost instant £28 billion windfall and add the liability to the existing currently unsustainable state pension burden - windfall today ... problems tomorrow!
How will this relieve the existing burden by placing a further 300,000 people on the state
However, the crucial aspect is that the Royal Mail Pension is currently a funded system. Yes it's not in great shape (especially if you want to flog the Royal Mail) but they hold REAL assets
All this means is the Government is going to swap REAL ASSETS for a future IOU - The term 'asset stripping' comes to mind
Furthermore, one final nice little wrinkle is that in the national accounts, pension liablites taken on are not shown - magic accounting !
So Dosh today Promissory Notes tomorrow - could one get away with a stunt like this in the private sector?