I'd laugh if the Abbott-Hockey ploy didn't presume Australian voters were idiots

To date the Abbott Government has run up at least an additional $29.3 billion dollars in national debt over the last 135 days.

This means as of today the nation owes in excess of $189,422.8 billion in gross public debt.

Having mapped out this level of rising debt some months ago, the Abbott Government abolished the legislated debt ceiling late last year.

On 22 January the Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey made this nonsense announcement:

"I direct that the maximum total face value of stock and securities that may be on issue is $500 billion"

The directive apparently expires rather appropriately on April Fool’s Day 2024, as at the rate it is currently borrowing this $500 billion debt cap (now unsupported in law and therefore meaningless) will be exceeded by Abbott, Hockey and Co in under three years.

After all, Abbott still hasn’t said how the nation will fund his proposed personal $250 million VIP aircraft and other little prime ministerial luxuries or compensate for the reduced revenue his industry level taxation cuts will produce before the next federal election in 2016.