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Speaker 1: How much does fifty bucks for some families cost the

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Speaker 1: rest of us. That's the real question we should be

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Speaker 1: asking ourselves this morning. Remember, the government's running a deficit,

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Speaker 1: a structural one. They spend more than they earn in taxes.

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Speaker 1: The up to four hundred million dollars in yesterday's package

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Speaker 1: comes from the operating allowance. That's new money. Government claims

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Speaker 1: this is basically like a checking account, but that's disputed.

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Speaker 1: The Taxpayers Union says, given the fact the books are

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Speaker 1: in the red, new spending is basically funded by borrowing.

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Speaker 1: Therefore it's more like a credit card than a check account.

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Speaker 1: We do have a budget in May where cuts will

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Speaker 1: surely come, but remember the forecasts for the tax take

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Speaker 1: are also dependent on forecasts for growth, and growth is

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Speaker 1: being hit by oil too. That means they won't earn

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Speaker 1: as much as they thought they would. Add to that

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Speaker 1: the fact that borrowing costs are roughly twenty percent higher

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Speaker 1: now than they thought they would be back in December,

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Speaker 1: and the spending starts to look a little shaky. Fifty

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Speaker 1: dollars per family is not the real number we should

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Speaker 1: be talking about this morning. The number but we should

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Speaker 1: be talking about this morning is five six hundred dollars

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Speaker 1: per household. That's roughly how much we are going to

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Speaker 1: spend next year servicing our debt. That is before all

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Speaker 1: of this extra cost. Just think about that. Look around

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Speaker 1: your household, your family. That's five and a half grand

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Speaker 1: a year, just an interest, more than we spend on

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Speaker 1: schooling our kids through primary and secondary. Debt servicing is

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Speaker 1: now the fourth largest line item on the government's books,

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Speaker 1: according to Treasury, The more we spend, the longer it

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Speaker 1: takes till we even start paying down the debt. That magical,

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Speaker 1: mystical date has been pushed out until at least twenty thirty.

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Speaker 1: It's like waiting for Taylor Swift to announce the concert

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Speaker 1: at Eden Park would be amazing. I'd be there, but

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Speaker 1: will it actually ever happen. I'm not saying people don't

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Speaker 1: need petrol money today, but is anyone asking at what cost? Tomorrow?

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Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge some live

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Speaker 1: to news talks. It'd be from five am weekdays, or

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Speaker 1: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.