Hi Runner,

Can you tell me why we need a surplus and if we do need one right now why have the LNP increased the deficit?

I can tell you that the voters in my area of Queensland, who changed their vote back to Labor this last election after the awful government that Campbell and the LNP provided us with, are not impressed with being told they are stupid by you or Tony Abbott.

Mollydukes

Dear runner,

The following link explains quite clearly
that "economic comparisons are useless without
context."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-07/alberici-economic-comparisons/4672166

Some of the things mentioned are that -
"property and share prices rose
almost continuously throughout the Howard-Costello
years. This not only fed positive consumer and
investor sentiment but it generated multiple millions
in capital gains tax revenue. There were also global
influences at play. Between 1998-99 and 2008-09
the mining boom delivered an unprecedented 75 per cent
rise in Australia's terms of trade -(prices we receive for
our exports relative to what we pay for imports) ..."

There's much, much, more -
it's worth a read.

Mollydukes

'Can you tell me why we need a surplus and if we do need one right now why have the LNP increased the deficit? '

Just look at what deficits have done to Greece.

You also say

'I can tell you that the voters in my area of Queensland, who changed their vote back to Labor this last election after the awful government that Campbell and the LNP provided us with, are not impressed with being told they are stupid by you or Tony Abbott.'

simple truth is hard to swallow especially for voters purely interested in a little short term candy or for those gaining by sucking on the public purse

Dear runner,

The only ones "sucking on the public purse"
under the current government is the rich
and the pollies.

Runner, telling me that Australia is like Greece is not going to cut it as an answer. How are we like Greece? For one thing Greece is part of the EU and we are not.

And you did not answer me about why the current Abbott government has actually increased the deficit that the other government left them.

I don't think that the sort of deficit we have is a problem because there are many other countries who have much larger deficits than we do and they have had them for years and they haven't turned out like Greece.

I read about Greece and I think one thing that is very different there is that the ordinary people didn't pay their taxes and their government was so corrupt that they didn't make people pay. People thought why should I pay tax when other people are not paying their fair share.

Australians are very different; we are people who do like to pay our fair share and help out when people are down on their luck so I don't think we will end up like Greece.

Are you sure that you can tell the truth about what is a good government when so many other people are changing their minds now that these LNP governments have shown that they can't be trusted and won't explain things honestly so that we can all understand how it works.

And how come they still tell us that the money trickles down when all the graphs show that the money gets sucked up to the people at the top.

That's not fair is it?

What is it about this government that has made your life better?

Mollydukes

'Can you tell me why we need a surplus and if we do need one right now why have the LNP increased the deficit? '
That's a goood question because it's something most people misunderstand. runner's answer was totally wrong, but most of the population are under the same false imoression.

Unlike Greece, Australia has unlimited credit because we own the RBA (whereas Greece doesn't own the ECB). So we never have to worry about running out of money (state governments do have to be a bit careful in this regard, though not as cautious as some have been recently).

We don't need a surplus. But when the economy is going well, a surplus is desirable because if the government doesn't take money out of the economy by fiscal policy (a surplus), they will have to do so by monetary policy instead (higher interest rates) or put up with higher inflation (which is generally considered to be worse).

When the economy is going badly, as it now is, a surplus is entirely undesirable because it results in economic decline. Austerity is what decimated the Greek economy, not deficits. And when the economy declines, so does tax revenue. And because of this, a declining economy is very likely to result in a higher deficit.