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Speaker 1: So June twenty twenty six, right, June twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 1: not far off. In fact, it's next year, and next

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Speaker 1: year's election year. Of course, by that time, it has

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Speaker 1: been reported this week the interest, the interest bill on

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Speaker 1: our national debt will be eleven billion dollars. You see

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Speaker 1: how this works. Not long ago I was sitting here

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Speaker 1: on this program, the warnings were being issued that it

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Speaker 1: might reach ten billion, ten and at the time it

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Speaker 1: was pointed out that that ten is about two lots

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Speaker 1: of the police budget, two times the police, just an interest.

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Speaker 1: Once we pay the ten billion, our debt doesn't diminish.

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Speaker 1: It's exactly the same. We've gone nowhere. We've just kept

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Speaker 1: the wolf from the debt door for another twelve months. Well,

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Speaker 1: the ten has now gone. We're heading towards eleven two

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Speaker 1: lots of police and another billion dollars on top. Why because,

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Speaker 1: as the Finance Minister is pointing out and keeps warning,

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Speaker 1: she is doing this, by the way, because it's budget's

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Speaker 1: getting closer. But as she keeps warning, the cost of

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Speaker 1: borrowing is going up. Why because we're a greater risk.

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Speaker 1: Risky people who want money have to pay a higher price.

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Speaker 1: It's why credit card debt is more expensive than mortgage money.

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Speaker 1: The government sells bonds, they ask for money in return,

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Speaker 1: and they will give you interest for you to give

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Speaker 1: them that money. You want a decent return, don't you, Yes,

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Speaker 1: you do. Last time they put out ten year bonds.

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Speaker 1: The other week they were paying four point six two

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Speaker 1: percent big interest bill on billions and billions of debt.

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Speaker 1: Remembering also that they're adding to that debt each and

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Speaker 1: every year until they reach an annual surplus. And even

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Speaker 1: if they reach an annual surplus, which they aren't, they're

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Speaker 1: not going to for years. All you've achieved is not

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Speaker 1: adding to the pile of debt. Even if you add

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Speaker 1: not one more dollar to that debt, the debt doesn't shrink.

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Speaker 1: It demands another eleven billion dollars from you to pay

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Speaker 1: the interest bill. The mistake that is so often made

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Speaker 1: as we look at other countries and go, oh, look

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Speaker 1: at their debt. It's more than ours, either in dollar

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Speaker 1: terms or a percentage of GDP. What isn't pointed out

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Speaker 1: is how small and how vulnerable and how unable we

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Speaker 1: are to grow our way out of this particular problem.

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Speaker 1: We owe a lot and ratings agencies, although not alarmed

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Speaker 1: are these days alert to the problem. This government were

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Speaker 1: left with a shedload of debt from an economically criminal

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Speaker 1: previous government, and that bill is now sitting about to

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Speaker 1: hit by June of next year eleven billion dollars a year, or,

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Speaker 1: if you want to put it another way, thirty million

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Speaker 1: dollars a day, every day forever. For more from The

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Speaker 1: Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to News Talks at B

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Speaker 1: from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.