Brian Parker
speaker
1,041 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 16 Apr
Brian Parker’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Apr 2026 with 2.
Appearances
the sort of economic variables, if you like, that we have to deal with.
We think about it in terms of saying, well, look, in an environment where budget deficits, for example, in a number of economies are problematic, the United States being a case in point, the demands on government to spend money and to help address issues like climate change or the need to spend more money on defence or, for example, the need to spend more money on education and training
to help people adjust and evolve their skills to cope with the rise of artificial intelligence?
Or in a worst case scenario, what about those people who perhaps may be at a certain phase of their career where if their job is taken by artificial intelligence, will they be able to be retrained?
Maybe you need to help them into an earlier retirement.
So all of these, to me, suggest that the demands on government to spend money and help solve problems are only going to rise rather than diminish.
And that also begs a longer-term question.
If you're worried about budget deficits, but you still want governments to do X, Y, and Z, how are you going to pay for it?
And this is going to be an ongoing challenge, I think, for society and for the economy and for government everywhere, really.
That's a really good question because I actually think there's a lot of nonsense spoken about budget deficits, for example.
There's always this idea that, oh, but it's all about good housekeeping and that you've got to pay back the debt and you've got to balance the books.
Governments are not households, all right?
You and I, before we shuffle off this mortal coil, we'll have to settle our accounts or our estate will, right?
Because we have a finite life.
Governments, like companies, theoretically have an infinite life.
which means you may not need to pay back debt ever, but you do need to be able to refinance it.
And so fundamentally what that means is that do you need to always and everywhere have a balanced budget or aim for a surplus always and everywhere?
No, you don't.
But you do need to be acutely aware that when you are running budget deficits, that those deficits can be funded sustainably over time and that when you do need to refinance your debt, you can refinance that debt at a reasonable rate.
And that means fundamentally running your finances in such a way that you maintain the confidence of financial markets.
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