labors budget reply

[Bobby]

Ah, so you'd cut Defence? Really and over on Aus.politics your bemoaning the size of the ADF. Cutting Defence spending will fix that, how? How will it fix defence preparedness? So, you'd cut infrastructure? So, you'd make life difficult for Australians to produce the produce that they sell overseas? Make it harder for Australians to get to and from work everyday? So, you'd cut spending on the Environment? OK, how many endangered species are you prepared to lose? How much native plantlife are you prepared to sacrifice? How many National Parks are you prepared to close? Education? So, here we have some people complaining that we are going backwards in the OECD ranking. How is cutting spending going to fix that, Bobby? Health? How many Australians are you prepared to die or be incapacitated by illness? Social Security? How many recipients are you going to throw onto the streets to beg for their existence? Those are likely to happen if you cut as deeply as I suspect you want to...

So - what is you alternative -
keep borrowing more and more money forever
or until we can't borrow anymore?
What will happen then?

No, not quite, Bobby. All I would propose is that we keep our debt under control. The Tories have allowed it to blow out to over 600 billion, despite their claims of being "better economic managers". The ALP will bring it back under control and reduce it to what ever it is believed is manageable (ask Treasury and Finance that question, not me). Australia has been at various times a debtor nation or a creditor nation. Debt is not anything to be afraid of, Bobby. Our level of debt compared to some other developed countries is substantially lower, even at over 600 billion. We have a rich economy, we can afford to carry some debt.

Not if the debt keeps climbing higher and higher.
The interest payments are enormous.
How many hospitals and schools could that buy?

[brian ross]

Ah, so you'd cut Defence? Really and over on Aus.politics your bemoaning the size of the ADF. Cutting Defence spending will fix that, how? How will it fix defence preparedness? So, you'd cut infrastructure? So, you'd make life difficult for Australians to produce the produce that they sell overseas? Make it harder for Australians to get to and from work everyday? So, you'd cut spending on the Environment? OK, how many endangered species are you prepared to lose? How much native plantlife are you prepared to sacrifice? How many National Parks are you prepared to close? Education? So, here we have some people complaining that we are going backwards in the OECD ranking. How is cutting spending going to fix that, Bobby? Health? How many Australians are you prepared to die or be incapacitated by illness? Social Security? How many recipients are you going to throw onto the streets to beg for their existence? Those are likely to happen if you cut as deeply as I suspect you want to...

So - what is you alternative -
keep borrowing more and more money forever
or until we can't borrow anymore?
What will happen then?

No, not quite, Bobby. All I would propose is that we keep our debt under control. The Tories have allowed it to blow out to over 600 billion, despite their claims of being "better economic managers". The ALP will bring it back under control and reduce it to what ever it is believed is manageable (ask Treasury and Finance that question, not me). Australia has been at various times a debtor nation or a creditor nation. Debt is not anything to be afraid of, Bobby. Our level of debt compared to some other developed countries is substantially lower, even at over 600 billion. We have a rich economy, we can afford to carry some debt.

Not if the debt keeps climbing higher and higher.
The interest payments are enormous.
How many hospitals and schools could that buy?

You want a simplistic answer to a complex question, Bobby. It would buy some but not necessarily as many we could purchase by borrowing the money. Which would be better? Substantially fewer hospitals which we own outright or more hospitals we have borrowed money for? Get back to us with your answer, Bobby...

[IQS.RLOW]

The ALP will bring it back under control and reduce it...

Channeling your inner Hans Christian Andersen with magical tales from fairy land that have no grounding in reality?
Tell us another story Unky Bri Bri

[Bobby]

Ah, so you'd cut Defence? Really and over on Aus.politics your bemoaning the size of the ADF. Cutting Defence spending will fix that, how? How will it fix defence preparedness? So, you'd cut infrastructure? So, you'd make life difficult for Australians to produce the produce that they sell overseas? Make it harder for Australians to get to and from work everyday? So, you'd cut spending on the Environment? OK, how many endangered species are you prepared to lose? How much native plantlife are you prepared to sacrifice? How many National Parks are you prepared to close? Education? So, here we have some people complaining that we are going backwards in the OECD ranking. How is cutting spending going to fix that, Bobby? Health? How many Australians are you prepared to die or be incapacitated by illness? Social Security? How many recipients are you going to throw onto the streets to beg for their existence? Those are likely to happen if you cut as deeply as I suspect you want to...

So - what is you alternative -
keep borrowing more and more money forever
or until we can't borrow anymore?
What will happen then?

No, not quite, Bobby. All I would propose is that we keep our debt under control. The Tories have allowed it to blow out to over 600 billion, despite their claims of being "better economic managers". The ALP will bring it back under control and reduce it to what ever it is believed is manageable (ask Treasury and Finance that question, not me). Australia has been at various times a debtor nation or a creditor nation. Debt is not anything to be afraid of, Bobby. Our level of debt compared to some other developed countries is substantially lower, even at over 600 billion. We have a rich economy, we can afford to carry some debt.

Not if the debt keeps climbing higher and higher.
The interest payments are enormous.
How many hospitals and schools could that buy?

You want a simplistic answer to a complex question, Bobby. It would buy some but not necessarily as many we could purchase by borrowing the money. Which would be better? Substantially fewer hospitals which we own outright or more hospitals we have borrowed money for? Get back to us with your answer, Bobby...

Come on Brian,
we can't keep borrowing money forever.
Everything has a limit.

Again -
what will happen when we can no longer pay?

[brian ross]

So - what is you alternative -
keep borrowing more and more money forever
or until we can't borrow anymore?
What will happen then?

No, not quite, Bobby. All I would propose is that we keep our debt under control. The Tories have allowed it to blow out to over 600 billion, despite their claims of being "better economic managers". The ALP will bring it back under control and reduce it to what ever it is believed is manageable (ask Treasury and Finance that question, not me). Australia has been at various times a debtor nation or a creditor nation. Debt is not anything to be afraid of, Bobby. Our level of debt compared to some other developed countries is substantially lower, even at over 600 billion. We have a rich economy, we can afford to carry some debt.

Not if the debt keeps climbing higher and higher.
The interest payments are enormous.
How many hospitals and schools could that buy?

You want a simplistic answer to a complex question, Bobby. It would buy some but not necessarily as many we could purchase by borrowing the money. Which would be better? Substantially fewer hospitals which we own outright or more hospitals we have borrowed money for? Get back to us with your answer, Bobby...

Come on Brian,
we can't keep borrowing money forever.
Everything has a limit.

Again -
what will happen when we can no longer pay?

We go bankrupt, just as we nearly did during the depression, Bobby. However, we are a long way from that, even with a 600 billion debt. Our GDP is approximately $US1450 trillion, 600 billion is pretty much a drop in the bucket. I agree we need to reduce it but we do not need to reduce it to zero as you appear to desire.

I have already asked you, what you want to cut and how will you handle the resulting social dislocation. You have failed to answer, Bobby. How about instead of only asking questions, you answer some instead?

[billy the kid]

No, not quite, Bobby. All I would propose is that we keep our debt under control. The Tories have allowed it to blow out to over 600 billion, despite their claims of being "better economic managers". The ALP will bring it back under control and reduce it to what ever it is believed is manageable (ask Treasury and Finance that question, not me). Australia has been at various times a debtor nation or a creditor nation. Debt is not anything to be afraid of, Bobby. Our level of debt compared to some other developed countries is substantially lower, even at over 600 billion. We have a rich economy, we can afford to carry some debt.

Not if the debt keeps climbing higher and higher.
The interest payments are enormous.
How many hospitals and schools could that buy?

You want a simplistic answer to a complex question, Bobby. It would buy some but not necessarily as many we could purchase by borrowing the money. Which would be better? Substantially fewer hospitals which we own outright or more hospitals we have borrowed money for? Get back to us with your answer, Bobby...

Come on Brian,
we can't keep borrowing money forever.
Everything has a limit.

Again -
what will happen when we can no longer pay?

We go bankrupt, just as we nearly did during the depression, Bobby. However, we are a long way from that, even with a 600 billion debt. Our GDP is approximately $US1450 trillion, 600 billion is pretty much a drop in the bucket. I agree we need to reduce it but we do not need to reduce it to zero as you appear to desire.

I have already asked you, what you want to cut and how will you handle the resulting social dislocation. You have failed to answer, Bobby. How about instead of only asking questions, you answer some instead?

Yeah...get him to answer some questions brian......pft...

[Bobby]

We go bankrupt, just as we nearly did during the depression, Bobby. However, we are a long way from that, even with a 600 billion debt. Our GDP is approximately $US1450 trillion, 600 billion is pretty much a drop in the bucket. I agree we need to reduce it but we do not need to reduce it to zero as you appear to desire.

I have already asked you, what you want to cut and how will you handle the resulting social dislocation. You have failed to answer, Bobby. How about instead of only asking questions, you answer some instead?

What would going bankrupt mean?

[brian ross]

Bobby, instead of asking questions, please answer the ones I have asked. Until you do, I won't be answering any more of yours.

[billy the kid]

Bobby, instead of asking questions, please answer the ones I have asked. Until you do, I won't be answering any more of yours.

God youre a hypocrite...

[Bobby]

We go bankrupt, just as we nearly did during the depression, Bobby. However, we are a long way from that, even with a 600 billion debt. Our GDP is approximately $US1450 trillion, 600 billion is pretty much a drop in the bucket. I agree we need to reduce it but we do not need to reduce it to zero as you appear to desire.

I have already asked you, what you want to cut and how will you handle the resulting social dislocation. You have failed to answer, Bobby. How about instead of only asking questions, you answer some instead?

What would going bankrupt mean?

Nice side step.