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Articles on Public debt

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Then NSW treasurer and now Premier Mike Baird, shaking hands in 2013 to mark the handover of Port Botany under a 99-year lease – the same period as has been proposed to lease state electricity assets to private operators. Dan Himbrechts/AAP

NSW can pay for the infrastructure it needs without privatisation

Privatising public assets is like a tradesperson selling her or his tools when facing a temporary income shortfall. Much better to borrow at low interest rates and productively invest those funds.
Queensland’s debt: is it sky high, or under control? An economist shows what you need to know to judge for yourself. AAP/Dan Peled

The true state of Queensland debt

How much debt is Queensland really in? How much of that debt can past Labor governments bear responsibility for, and has the current Liberal National government cut or added to it? And how does Queensland’s…
Fast-spinning black holes don’t just exist in space – Queensland’s Liberal National and Labor parties are busy attacking each other’s strategies to cut debt, yet both have been guilty of having black holes in their plans. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Uncovering the black holes in plans to fix Queensland’s debt

Author’s update, January 29: In the week since this article was published (on January 23), Labor has moved to address the funding “black hole” in its plans to reduce Queensland’s debt, mainly by adopting…
Cutting a dash. A 1957 Chevrolet. Randy von Liski

Hard Evidence: are we facing another financial crisis?

Taken at face value, David Cameron’s warning this week about risks in the global economy sounds like it might be wonderfully prescient. Here’s the country’s economic chauffeur, carefully checking his instrument…
A hockey stick back to surplus? Lukas Coch/AAP

Hockey’s hockey stick: a lesson in budget fudging

You can’t fault a treasurer for trying to put the best possible spin on budget numbers — and that’s certainly what Joe Hockey did last night. The most important numbers, of course, are the deficit projections…
Will the credit card cover this? ben_osteen

Time to stop inflating the household debt bubble

Household debt in the UK recently hit a record high, surpassing the previous peak reached in September 2008. That was the month when Lehman Brothers collapsed, sparking off the global financial crisis…
Australia’s debt level is currently pegged at A$300 billion, but should the debt belt be tightened or dropped altogether? John Pryke/AAP

Debt ceiling is a belt when we already have braces

The Australian Parliament is deadlocked on a bid by the government to increase the debt ceiling from A$300 billion to A$500 billion. The Greens have flagged a willingness to drop the ceiling entirely…
While the Coalition has criticised Australia’s public debt levels, it is the country’s private debt that is the big issue. Image sourced from www.shutterstock.com

The truth behind our ‘dangerous’ public debt levels

Liberal MP Andrew Robb has criticised the rise in public debt under the current Gillard government in a recent ABC radio interview. During the interview, Robb claimed growth in public debt was excessive…

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