A Billion Here...

"A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking real money"

They are the words of Republican United State Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen. He died a few months before I was born (1969) but his words still resonate today.  

They accurately encapsulate the position we face as the Government hands down their 2020 budget. It is expected to deliver a $200 billion dollar deficit and predict more than a one trillion dollar national debt in the years ahead!

Only thirteen years ago we had no net government debt. That was undone by the Rudd government.

As our deficits started to mount up, the 'wise heads' in Treasury and the parliament told us that our growing debt was nothing to worry about. They said it was temporary and manageable.

They were wrong.

Now we stare into the financial abyss with a trillion dollar debt burden and the same fools are boasting we are coming last in the ugly economy contest and so there is nothing to worry about.

Perhaps they are right. Maybe we should forget that they have been so wrong so often. Maybe we should overlook that this latest crisis is induced by policies that have inhibited our liberties, empowered dictatorial leaders and smashed small business.

But it isn't just the corona stupidity that has got us in this position.  Our country has been compromised by political decisions taken through past decades.

The stupidity of shutting down our singular competitive advantage, cheap and abundant electricity, in favour of green fantasies has cost us dearly. It has decimated our manufacturing base and increased the cost of living  to among the highest in the world.

The welfare state has developed a group of bludgers who only care for what they can get and not what they can give. This attitude has been exacerbated by an immigration policy that has been more Ponzi scheme than working in our national interest.

All of these issues, and likely almost every other signifiant one you can identify, have been a product of government policy decisions.

The repeated public warnings have been ignored as politicians of all stripes have pursued their re-election over doing the right thing.

Now things are set to get even worse.

No matter what is said in the weeks ahead, the predictions and forecasts are simply window dressing to convince us all that things are under control.

The new mantra is that debt doesn't really matter because we have less of it (as a proportion of GDP) than some other comparable countries.

It wasn't that long ago those other countries were fooling themselves just like we are now.

So enjoy whatever largesse comes your way as a result of the Federal budget. There should be something in it for everyone....except for those left to ultimately pay for it.

That burden will fall to our children and grandchildren (and possibly their grandchildren too).