Gross debt FY08 was $58 bill; surplus was $19.8 bill.
Gross debt estimate FY14 $324 bill deficit $30.1
This was the year the Gillard/Swan government promised over 500 times the budget would be in surplus.
When you as part of the Labor government have racked up this much debt in seven years it defies belief that you can start lecturing other people about incurring debt.
As to leading did not I see pictures of students rioting against Joe Hockey on television recently?

this is what you get with change of govts
the public service 'briefing'..and things like the fed saying give me an extra 9 billion..[ps your not getting any of it]..thus the bankers get ever more bonus..and main street..gets ever more bailed out by the suburbs

joe..you want/money..stop giving it to the fed
stop giving tax-free*..fuel to..miners..they have to..pay something
and GIFTING them 12 billion of fuel subsidy..is crazy

ditto..all/this tax payer money..going to auto industry
subsidization..of..new car leases[3 billion]..its nuts..the por cant afford public service largess

sack all the heads..stop gifting free leasehold minerals..etc etc..to..the greedy..re install death DUTIES./.upon trusts and other non0living ENTITIES

govt must only help..the little guy[full stop]
small govt controlling ITS own..money supply..NOT BAILING OUT BANKS*

thing is..the fed cant save the us dollar
either stopgiving our wealth..to the fed..or take BACK..the commonwealth bank[soldf for 8 billion..now paying more thanthat out to iyts shareholders..when we ALL are the shareholder/ditto the theft..of telstra etc etc

treason joe..your mate and you do high treason
now you want more..GO TO..HELL PAL*
[you resisted it..before..now RESIST EVEN HARDER
stop selling-off our assets[ps the common-WEALTH/bank..[alp-sold]..is now worth over 120..billion..today

sold for pennies on..the pound
by acts of TREASON*

just like the fed..stole our silver gold copper from..our coin
and the fed..is bailing out big money..in wall street...

tell imf to go to hell
we want our money back..as well

So, what else would you expect from a party that is already setting itself up to win the nest election?
And, should we be surprised that most politicians seem inherently dishonest or "extremely flexible"?
That the national interest is invariably subverted, or made a virtual hostage at the political altar of the party's interest?
Joe Hockey and or the coalition could fix the budget deficit, I believe, with the stroke of a few keys and quantitative easing? [This would also have the added benefit of putting downward pressure on a quite grossly overvalued AUD.]
Or even better, with extremely long overdue real reform!
Real reform that simply makes tax avoidance impossible; tax reform the finally restores true equality; (garners as much as an extra 100 billion more annually) and, without tanking the economy; in fact, just the very opposite.
Unfortunately, Joe Hockey seems not very bright, (a clever act?) or chooses to concentrate and focus such intellectual acumen/native cunning as he has, on simply setting Labor up as his personal patsy, or fall guy?
Rhrosty.

stay-out of the ponzie bailout sceme..[scam]..joe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnu-dKyry9w

Five cents per person per day is a small price to pay to be rid of Labor; and ending the carbon tax should return considerably more than that to taxpayers' pockets. But really, Andrew -- Labor accusing the Liberals of financial irresponsibility? REALLY? Is that all you've got?

Another $800 million borrowed today: tenure 8 years, yield 3.80%

Total gross borrowing since 9 September just under $19 billion.

Hockey: "The (AAA) credit rating is what matters"

Hockey: "We're in good shape."

Budget Emergency = Bunkum

Hockey is the smiling assassin of our economy while Abbott pretends to be important fighting fires. They cannot reduce the debt unless we once again create our own money via Govt banks. We used to have 5 of them. Now this system owns us and our Govts.

Poirot, the Liberal Party told a multitude of lies prior to the day of the last election. One of them was that we were bordering on bankruptcy and our borrowings were too high. A few days ago, Joe gave the Reserve Bank nine billion dollars which he borrowed.

They have begun to ticking off their real agenda (making the rich richer). We ain't seen nothing yet! Wait until the audit begins!

Hockey is a nincompoop and Abbott is a shill (or should that be a 'dill'?), probably both!

Australia is lost I'm afraid.

P.S. I was going to move to the Cocus Islands but it seems that the U.S. owns them now.

'Australians are too smart to be fooled by Mr Hockey’s political diversions'

The author writes this at the end of an article that showed just HOW MUCH Australians were fooled by Mr Hockey's political diversions - enough to throw out one of the only Western governments to keep their country out of recession for 5 long years, while the rest of the bankster-swaddling, austerity-mad, welfare-bashing Western economies tanked.

Admittedly, SOME Australians are too smart, mainly because they have trained themselves to see through the pro-Coalition lies and distortions of the Australian media. Other Australians are so steeped in their own born-to-rule political conservativism, they have bought completely into the myth that only conservative politicians understand how money works.

The rest - either through lack of understanding or lack of interest - couldn't care less.

'The secret of Mr Hockey’s economic management is that he doesn’t care about debt, and is only worried about deficits when he can’t blame them on someone else'.

Really, where is your proof this is the case.

Tough budgetary times ahead, but I don't see anything useful Labor had done, expect promise more with no attention to difficulties ahead.

Chris,

"Really, where is your proof this is the case."

AS I mentioned above, Mr Hockey and Co deftly and conveniently scooted around Labor's healthy credit rating and domestic stats when they were hollering about budget emergencies prior to the election.

Then he comes out with an eight page dossier (Lol) the Thursday before, wafted it about while he sweated for the cameras.

"Now" he says the credit rating is what matters.

"Now" he says "We're in good shape"

"Now" he lifts the debt ceiling, when in the past he's demonised such a move - especially by such a whopping amount.

"Now" - he's in government.

poirot, politics is politics.

But, for Leigh to say Hockey does not care is silly. The Coalition's response to debt can only be judged over time.

And most Aust's assume they will do a better job than Labor.

Chris,

"poirot, politics is politics."

I recall that you were quite strident in your denunciation of Alan Austin for posting articles highlighting the Coalition's "creative" interpretation of the economy.

You got reasonably hot under the collar in reply to Mr Austin for questioning the Coalitions assertion's, and for his defence of the healthy state of the Australian economy in the wake of the GFC.

Now, when Mr Hockey seems to have swept all under the carpet, you meekly mutter "...politics is politics."

Yes, it is...however misrepresenting the Coalition's intentions and the state of the economy to the Australian electorate deserves at least a little hot sauce - don't you think?

http://m.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/joe-hockey-blowing-hundreds-of-millions-to-make-himself-look-good-20131029-2wcy3.html

"So “Labor’s” deficit blows out to about $40 billion this year, but Hockey’s heroic efforts to reduce the debt in the years ahead will be enhanced by a rich stream of dividends from the RBA. The last time the Aussie had a sharp fall, the RBA paid the government a dividend of more than $5 billion. Trader Joe is playing the forex market with borrowed money.

Last week the RBA deputy governor, Philip Lowe, said the level of the bank’s capital reserves had not been keeping him awake at night. The board had wanted to rebuild the capital level over time but the government wanted to do it immediately."

Here's a good one:

"The official line from the Treasurer is that he found the world to be a dangerous place on his trip to Washington. Today Glenn Stevens said:"

poirot, the coalition will do a better job in terms of budget than Labor. This is something I am confident of.

I am not really interested in football commentary; I will leave it to others.

The people have spoken, and I am interested in how new govt will deal with problems ahead.

Labor has enough problems on its hands with Shorten in charge, and another poor choice.

Thanks, Chris.

"I am not really interested in football commentary; I will leave it to others."

Hilarious!

You were quite the partisan and vocal commentator when you were slamming Austin.

".... and I am interested in how new govt will deal with problems ahead."

Judging by Hockey's choice to waste no time hiking the debt ceiling by so much, Id say they'll deal with it pretty much the same as Labor has.

But of course, when the LNP does it, it good fiscal management.

Lol!

[Deleted for abuse.]

Hi Shadow Minister,

Just wanted to mention that I have it on very good authority (ie, Graham) that it is prohibited on this forum to call people liars, or to state outright that they are lying or have lied.

One can intimate that fellow posters are being loose with the truth, but calling them liars is not on.

So I'm looking forward to a retraction.

(btw, my name is "Poirot")

if the state can organize effective and prolonged violence against dissent, it spawns reactive revolutionary violence, or what the state calls terrorism. Violent revolutions usually give rise to revolutionaries as ruthless as their adversaries. “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster,” Friedrich Nietzsche wrote. “And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

Violent revolutions are always tragic. I, and many other activists, seek to keep our uprising nonviolent. We seek to spare the country the savagery of domestic violence by both the state and its opponents. There is no guarantee that we will succeed, especially with the corporate state controlling a vast internal security apparatus and militarized police forces. But we must try.

Corporations, freed from all laws, government regulations and internal constraints, are stealing as much as they can, as fast as they can, on the way down. The managers of corporations no longer care about the effects of their pillage. Many expect the systems they are looting to fall apart. They are blinded by personal greed and hubris. They believe their obscene wealth can buy them security and protection. They should have spent a little less time studying management in business school and a little more time studying human nature and human history. They are digging their own graves.

Our shift to corporate totalitarianism, like the shift to all forms of totalitarianism, is incremental. Totalitarian systems ebb and flow, sometimes taking one step back before taking two steps forward, as they erode democratic liberalism.

This process is now complete. The “consent of the governed” is a cruel joke. Barack Obama cannot defy corporate power any more than George W. Bush or Bill Clinton could.
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2013/10/30/229339-our-invisible-revolution/

say what you like, something needs to be done about budgetary spending in western countries, and I feel the Coalition will do a better job in long term for Australia.

I am consistent on this.

Whether the Coalition is up to task, to make reform fair rather than advantage rich, remains to be seen.

Labor had its chance to show its economic credibility to deal with future problems ahead, but failed.

as I said, it is a bit rich for Leigh, a propagandist for Labor, to accuse Hockey of not caring about Australia's budget direction.

Again, for someone who writes about the need for evidence, where is his to show why Hockey has no idea?

Last time I though about it, which was yesterday as I continue to write a piece about when Aust should address its budget situation, I concluded there was strengths and weaknesses of both sides of the debate (common sense).

Leigh's poor opinion piece, again, does not reflect any uncertainty about addressing difficulties ahead, as reflected by his arrogant assertions.

Come on Andrew, do you really think economics is easy; perhaps you can us why.

Evidence that's a good topic.
Propaganda is another one.
I'm still waiting for Hokey to show us the evidence of the "budget emergency".
Or was "budget emergency" just propaganda?
Hokey does care about the direction of the economy, the direction his corporate masters want

Chris,

It's interesting that you obviously expect the Coalition to do the right thing by democracy.

I have my doubts.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/silence-echoes-across-canberra-as-the-coalition-clams-up-20131102-2wt5k.html

"Since winning office, Abbott has fronted the nation's media just eight times. Calls to his office, and to his ministers, frequently go unanswered or unreturned.

During the week, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop was a star speaker at the Australian Council for International Development conference in Canberra. The two-day event was open to the public, including the media - except for Bishop's speech. It's understood the media was barred at the request of the minister, who is tasked with enforcing the government's $4.5 billion cut to foreign aid over the next four years.

Announcing the government would respond to Australia's ballooning credit card bill by almost doubling the borrowing limit to half a trillion dollars, Treasurer Joe Hockey held a 10-minute press conference and took few questions."

Excuse me if I detect a whiff of fascism.

........................

Shadow Minister,

No retraction?

Okay.....

well if the coalition does not do it, in line with some tempering from public debate, we are doomed.

If Labor, given its recent record, was the best we could have, heaven help us.

Australia needs reform; key how to do it in fairest way.

I am not fussed who does it; Labor and Coalition sides of politics have their various strengths and weaknesses. I just want some govt to start the ball rolling.

Chris, and others here who are going down the 'Labor blew it and now I'm so confident that the Coalition will save the day' path.

The fact that you keep buying into the blindingly false premise that the current levels of government debt are due simply to government spending has completely destroyed your own credibility. If anything, it shows just how hopelessly out of touch the Coalition's supporters are with the push-pull realities of national and international finance.

I don't know why people like Poirot even bother to reason with you.

Under one god

'Violent revolutions are always tragic.'

Add to that 'avoidable but inevitable'.

I may not have said it, but my concerns abut budgets also extends to revenue factors which also help explain deficits at times.

i was going to raise..what cec is saying about ol sell out joe
but seems him and them go right back..much interesting stuff coming out about joe..and his wife

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=cec+joe+hockey&

anyhow were all doomed..if only half..of this is true
http://cecaust.com.au/main.asp?sub=media&id=/video/20131025_cec_wr.htm

http://cecaust.com.au/main.asp?sub=media&id=Aus_Weekly_Report.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-04/joe-hockey-australia-us-debt-ceiling-comparison/5050616

Interesting to compare Australia's government debt as a percentage of GDP with other economies - 3rd lowest in the OECD.

some of the bigger picture
long winded..but a exhumation..of the root of our problems
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a46u_yI3RoQ

joe should ask..his mate..about jeckle island
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nnT3FXLd2M

banking crimes
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/bankersinonechunk.php