Dear Australia, government surpluses are not your friend! The lessons we failed to learn from the Howard/Costello years

This year marks the 20th anniversary since the Howard government – having run budget surpluses for a decade – announced that the government’s net debt had fallen to zero. In April, Liberals and conservative pundits posted mournful recollections of “Debt Free Day” on 21st April 2006, when Treasurer Peter Costello announced the Commonwealth had “paid…