Government debt comes about because Treasury runs our economy as if it were a household. If the incoming flow of tax receipts does not cover the outflow of government spending, it directs the AOFM to tender for the sale of government bonds to cover the expected shortfall.

But this is no more than an academic exercise. The government is not a household. It is the currency issuer of Australian dollars and can never run out of money. It never needs to borrow any more than it needs to collect taxes.

Read more at: The Australian Independent media Network