In 2012 I wrote a poem (below) expressing concern at the level of debt inherited by every newborn Australian.
It was then $80,796 per person.
Again, we checked it as being $98,974 in 2017.
Nobody seemed to care.
Today, it is $180,961.
Am I the only one concerned?
Inherited Debt – Getting Worse!
Will They Make the Same Mistake?
I think about the young ones in generation Y
Their enthusiasm and energy,
their ability to reason why.
They can clearly see the burden
which hasn’t reached them yet,
passed down by past generations
that burden’s known as “Debt”.
Now how on earth did it get this way,
us “oldies” are not all dills.
Were some of us looking the other way
or brain dead on too many pills?
Did they fall for the same old story,
known as the “political curse” –
spending to buy the people’s votes
which, of course, makes everything worse.
“You can live at someone else’s expense”,
goes the old political song,
“Give us your vote, you lovely folk
and you’ll see we will do no wrong.”
“We are handing out these millions
while someone else is paying.”
Remember the bandit, Robin Hood,
had a very similar saying?
If we calculate what is owing
with some really simple accounting,
you will see that the debt*, when the bill comes in,
will be huge – and – constantly mounting*.
Will some feel guilty, knowing their votes
were bought with the embezzled money
of a generation yet unborn?
The tragic result? – Not funny!
Meanwhile our Generation “Y”,
having started in a hole,
will hopefully vote in cynical vein
and so avoid selling their souls.
Having recently contacted and questioned,
a number of young ones I know,
they made me feel quite optimistic
that the future will reap what they sow.
November 20, 2012
***
*At September 2011
Net foreign debt – $740.5 billion
Divided by the population – $32,294 per person
+ total household debt of $1,100 billion
Grand Total per person $80,796
*At December 2017
Net foreign debt – $1,009 billion
Divided by the population – $40,546 per person
+ total household debt of $2,466 billion
Grand Total per person $98,974
*At July 2022
Net foreign debt – $1,929 billion
Divided by the population – $74,192 per person
+ total household debt of $2,777 billion
Grand Total per person $180,961 per person
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