The Forum > General Discussion > If we don't act, we are going to go broke.
If we don't act, we are going to go broke.
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The Australian government does not borrow in foreign currencies. It hasn't to any large extent since our dollar was floated, and it hasn't at all since the 1990s.
Therefore, even if our debt were the biggest in the world, we could still borrow more just as easiily as if we had no debt at all. The BRA would never refuse to lend us money if we needed it, and because of that, bondholders can also be 100% sure of getting their money back.
This doesn't mean we should always run deficits. There are often good reasons to run surpluses. But fear of going broke isn't one of them.
And there are ALWAYS good reasons not to waste money. But again, fear of going broke isn't one of them.
Governments often do make money on their borrowings, as the money can be spent on things that make the economy more productive.
"Living within your means" is an INCREDIBLY STUPID policy for a government, as it not only prevents that government from investing in the future, but also forces the economy to shrink. This in turn reduces tax revenue, so more likely than not, the government would fail to achieve that dumb accounting objective anyway.
Cooperation, family and self help are good things, but they're not a cure for the problem of a stagnating economy. More government spending is.
And the worst thing now is the people like you: whinging about the gounger generations' failure to take the opportunities that aren't there any more. Tertiary education is not an alternative to life experience, but a way of enabling life experience!
Governments are best placed to solve the problems because they have the resources that ordinary people don't have (and often don't even have access to). But we do need capable government. When the most able are the least qualified, it's likely to lead to a lot of waste.