Friday, Aug 22, 2008
Australia's foreign debt has ballooned since the 1980s, topping more than A$600 billion. Our current account deficit continues to exceed the "Banana Republic" levels experienced during the Hawke-Keating era.
candobetter: Immigration and Australia's current account deficit
By the early 1990s, Australia - with a population of only 17 million - had accumulated a foreign debt of over A$140 billion, equal to 40 percent of GDP and exceeding other major 'debtor' countries such as the former Soviet Union. A key cause of this debt 'blowout' was the high and unsustainable levels of immigration during the late 1980s.
Posted by big chris @ 07:26 AM (674 views) Add Comment
2 Comments
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1. d'oh said...
I can certainly attest that there seem to be infrastructure problems in Australia. The last 15 years has seen (relative) gridlock hit most of the areas I am familiar with. In terms of soil and water table, it has been estimated that Australia can support about 10 million people in perpetuity (except for narrow coastal strips, the place is a great big desert.) We are over 20 million now. I despair at our immigration policy. Australia, like the rest of the world, needs to be reducing population over time, not ramping it up.
2. plato said...
d'oh.@ 1......
Actually you have hit on an extremely important point. Reducing population to its most efficient level is vital to the survival of ecology and economy.
This happens naturally as prosperity controls reproduction. It would be far better to 'educate' poorer countries and help them produce their own and exportable goods than bring them over for 'cheap'labour and taxation.
Alas! Our leaders are too greedy.