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The 1930s had been a time of tremendous economic distress. And the unemployment rate was enormously high by any historic standard.

In 1981, I borrowed 2,000 pounds - a lot of money back then - paid 50 quid for a seat, packed my own sandwich, and hopped on a plane to America. It was a mighty leap, but one that paid off. A week later, I got a job called 'Remington Steele.'

If you've got unemployment, low pay, that was just too bad. But that was the system. That was the sort of economy and philosophy against which I was fighting in the 1930s.

You might say those who can't repay their student debts shouldn't have borrowed in the first place. But they had no way of knowing just how bad the jobs market would become.

I'm old enough to remember in the 1930s and the 1940s when thrift, frugality, was considered an important virtue.

Before the arrival of the Credit Union, people who were from the poor background or a working class background couldn't borrow from banks.

Bill Hewlett and I were brought up in the Depression. We weren't interested in the idea of making any money. Our idea was if you couldn't find a job, you'd make one for yourself.

As a young man, I lived through the Great Depression, when banks failed and so many lost their jobs and homes and went hungry. I was fortunate to have a job at a canning factory that paid 25 cents an hour.