A new research document completed by Dick Smith Fair Go

Many of our supporters appreciated the document that we produced on housing affordability. Following this document, we’ve now completed a new publication headed ‘Australia’s Debt: an Honest Debate’ – it points out that at the time of the John Howard Debt Truck, claiming that we owe the rest of the world $180 billion, that our debt has gone up about 5.5 times. That’s roughly a trillion dollars, yet no-one appears to be complaining.

If you’re like me and you don’t really understand this whole debt issue, I suggest you have a look at following 31 page, easy-read document.

If I’ve got it right, it looks as though we shouldn’t be worrying so much about government debt, but more about private and household debt – it appears we are the world leaders!

Australia’s Debt: An Honest Debate

Comments

  1. IMO our plight is a direct result of what services and safety nets we expect our governments to implement on our behalf, and is exacerbated by the ever present requirement for someone to pay for it.

    Just thinking back to when all government departments were listed in the first half dozen pages of the phone book, now it takes a book in itself.

    Not knocking aspirations for a perfect world, but all the nanny state legislation implemented by state and federal governments past and present, has only served to put heavier pressure on an already strained public purse.

    We have sought and coveted an ideal life style, at the same time this very life style has meant we have priced ourselves out of many avenues for export, not to mention jobs, and after all is said and done, export dollars is what drives our economy. The country is receiving less for our mineral and primary industry exports than ever before and our governments as well as big business, as if drunk on consumerism, both think the answer is to sell more toilet rolls by artificially increasing the population.

    While all this is going on, of course the country’s borrowings escalate to dangerously unmanageable levels of which our grandkids will eventually need to deal with, while we dream up more ways to suck the lemon dry.

    During the GFC I have this vivid image welded in there of a Greek lady bemoaning her countries position and her governments plans to address it, when she hysterically said “what happened to my beautiful life”.

    I do fear for my Grand Children.

  2. Totally correct, Dick, the LNP’s constant chiding Labor about govt debt is a red herring. Look at he debt Turnbull has clocked up! Govts are in a unique position to release more currency dollars, we aren’t, so we must borrow from banks (who are allowed to create credit as well). Govt debt is OK if it is an investment for the future benefit of us, provided it’s kept to a minimum of course.

    With slowing wages growth, stagnating retail growth and a sideways share market (off the back of the mining slump), growing personal debt will choke the life out of us, except the very rich who are (as always) set to benefit from it. It reminds of the conditions leading up to the recession we ‘had to have’ in the early 1990s. All we need is a few interest rate hikes and many will be hurt, again.

    The LNP would like us to think they are masters of the economy, when in truth they’re much the same as Labor, in fact Labor has at times grown the economy far better than the LNP, with lower debt levels.

    As we know, much of the reported growth is only due to population growth. Any figure under 4% is going backwards! The Ponzi scheme is coming closer to imploding! The slow apocalypse awaits!

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