PM to leave Aussies in loads of debt

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and deputy Wayne Swan face the press. Source: The Courier-Mail

GILLARD Government debt levels are forecast to blow out by 60 per cent to $165 billion in this term alone - equal to more than $14,000 for every working Australian.

Analysis of Budget documents reveals that between the 2010 election and Federal Treasury's update in October last year, the 2012-13 net debt estimate rose $54 billion to $144 billion.

With Wayne Swan having junked the Government's commitment to a surplus this financial year, Bank of America Merrill Lynch now forecasts Treasury will raise the estimate by a further $21 billion in the May budget.

"The government is starting to develop some form when it comes to over-estimating the improvement in its budget balance," Bank of America Merrill Lynch chief economist Saul Eslake said yesterday.

Ahead of the budget, the Coalition is honing in on a number even larger than net debt - the total value of bonds and other securities issued by the Government, or gross debt, which has ballooned from $151 billion at the 2010 poll to $267 billion now. In the last budget the Government raised the gross "debt ceiling" from $250 billion to $300 billion.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott believes Mr Swan will increase it again in May.

Mr Abbott told News Limited yesterday: "If Labor is determined to increase the cap on gross debt above $300 billion, if they cannot show a credible and speedy path back to surplus, if they cannot show a plan to start seriously paying off the debt, it will add further weight to our planned No Confidence motion in the Gillard Government.''

Mr Swan's spokesman said the Government had no plans to raise the gross debt limit. Merrills' Mr Eslake said the increase that had already occurred was "troubling".

"If the trends that look increasingly obvious aren't addressed at some point we might cross that threshold from safe territory to dangerous territory very, very quickly," he said.

Monash University Professor of Business and Economics Jakob Madsen said the gross debt rise was "disturbing".

"It's a dangerous trend and it's at the wrong time. It's completely unnecessary to hand out left, right and centre and the way they do it is not very clever," Professor Madsen said.

Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott said spending had grown "out of step" with revenue.

"If that doesn't change we are going to have serious public debt problem," Ms Westacott said.

Mr Eslake, Professor Madsen and Ms Westacott all said Australia did not currently have a debt crisis.

But, Ms Westacott said, "we do have a budget management crisis".

In that context, the Coalition is intensifying pressure on the cross-benchers, seeking support for a No Confidence motion.

Independent MP Rob Oakeshott invited Mr Abbott to call him or come to his electorate if he wanted to discuss a no confidence motion.

"Let's have a bike ride, or a surf," he said.

However, Mr Oakeshott added that he was opposed to a no confidence motion in budget week. It would reflect badly on Australia internationally, he said.Between the 2011-12 Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook and the 2012-13 Myefo, Treasury's estimate for this financial year's interest payments on government net debt soared by 20 per cent from $5.9 billion to $7.1 billion.

The Merrills forecast suggest a further increase in interest payments of as much as $1.1 billion.

Government net debt of $165 billion equates to $14,238 for each of Australia's 11.6 million workers, up from $8001 per worker at the last election, an increase of $6237.

Mr Swan's spokesman said Australia's net debt levels were "dramatically lower" than those of every single major advanced economy: "Our current net debt is 10 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, compared to around 80 per cent for the US and UK and around 35 per cent for Canada.

"The Government will reduce net debt in a sustainable way that ensures our economy remains one of the strongest in the world and protects Australian jobs and economic growth,'' the spokesman said.

To repay the debt, cuts were required "almost everywhere", Professor Madsen said, and the GST rate could need to be raised.

Mr Eslake said not only would spending have to be reined in, but the current $111 billion a year in tax concessions could have to be wound back.

Ms Westacott advocated reducing the current number of government agencies from 932 and making "health dollars work harder".

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Aussies cranky as SimCity servers crash

Take a look at the latest city simulator

UPDATE (6.02pm): THE servers hosting Aussie gamers trying to play SimCity have crashed causing nationwide outrage.

On its Facebook page, EA Games announced that it was "aggressively undergoing maintenance on the SimCity servers and adding capacity to meet demand".

"Performance will fluctuate during this process," it wrote. "Our fans are important to us, and we thank you for your continued patience."

Gamers are understandably furious at the server issues that have been plaguing the game's global launch. The US experienced similar problems during the American launch on Tuesday. EA promised they were working to ensure it prevented a repeat performance during the global launch today. Sadly that promise was broken.

"Want to fix SimCity EA? Get rid of the stupid DRM and servers!

We don't need them to play a single player game," wrote one Facebook user.

"It's a poor excuse to combat piracy as it makes people pirate and break your game anyway.

"Get of your frickin' high horse. Stop being such a Scrooge McDuck. It doesn't combat piracy in any way."

Once you get past the errors and the glitches, the game itself is addictive, according to IGN. Picture: EA

Another person wrote: "Release game with "Always online DRM" wonder why consumers freak out when their servers fail. I love EA's logic."

EA Announced its servers had crashed about 40 minutes ago and it has already accumulated more than 100 reply comments, mostly negative.

The company released this statement to news.com.au:

"We are experiencing extremely high server volume and it’s preventing some players from gaining access to the game. Our server team is working around the clock to resolve this issue so that we can get the rest of our fans into the game. We are aggressively undergoing maintenance on our servers to add the necessary capacity to meet the demand. Players may continue to play throughout the weekend but we want to note that performance will fluctuate during this time. We thank our fans for their continued patience."

SIMCITY has limped into existence after a series of server issues crippled the systems, bringing any attempts at gaming to a halt.

The remake of the original game, which was first released in 1989, launched in the US on Tuesday, amid technical problems. The game is rolling out to the rest of the world today and signs aren't good.

"Due to the high demand for SimCity, Origin has experienced delays impacting a small percentage of users. We're working non-stop to resolve," the company tweeted yesterday.

"We're making changes to prevent further issues, and are confident that Origin will be stable for international launches later this week."

Despite this, the global launch of SimCity seems to have been disastrous.

Part of the problem is caused by the fact that you need an internet connection to play. Technology blog Tech Dirt called this decision "ridiculous and seriously inhibited playability".

"For one, no one's internet connection is perfectly reliable. Secondly, SimCity was going further than most games, allowing only server-side saves, meaning that players could easily lose progress if their connections dropped," it wrote.

On top of that, every game is multiplayer, whether you like it or not. Not every user is going to want a social gaming experience. Also every game requires a server slot, meaning that an internet connection isn't the only thing standing between you and the game.

Source: Supplied

One Reddit user wrote: "I figured from everything I'd read that the always-on part of the game simply required an internet connection, not a slot on a server like I'm about to PvP or something. I'd be more understanding if I could just play my private region by myself like I intended."

SimCity is also a PC-only game that doesn't work on Macs. This is driving people bonkers.

Users are being locked out of playing games they have already purchased, and others are still waiting for it to download.

According to TotalBiscuit's video review the performance is so bad that people who pre-ordered the game are rebuying it because new purchases are unlocking immediately, while pre-purchases are taking a long time to load and organised people are having to wait longer for their purchases to be validated.

Server issues are continuing to plague gamers.

Users are reporting that they can't actually log in to play the game. Others say the game itself is broken.

One user @TheSimSupply tweeted this morning: "Yeah the game is broken, can't do anything, the tutorial doesn't work, I can't make my own city, I can't place roads, or anything."

One user @caflynn wrote that they were only able to play once in 24 hours due to server issues. "@ea Fix. Your. Servers. #failuretolaunch," said the tweet.

Another user @nickstires tweeted that they bought the game more than a week ago but said it wouldn't show in their Origin account.

Luke Reilly, IGN Australia's news editor told News.com.au that it was disappointing that SimCity had been "hobbled" by connection issues.

"It's not surprising for a game that requires an always-online connection to be crippled on launch due to the stress of so many players – we saw it happen with Diablo III – but it's certainly frustrating," he said.

Source: Supplied

Mr Reilly said EA has explained the reason for the always-online requirement is that portions of the computing behind the region simulation in Sim City is done on the server-side, rather than on users' computers.

"Multiplayer has always been a focus for Maxis with this SimCity but perhaps EA should have looked into some sort of straightforward, single-player mode that didn't require this sort of connectivity," he said.

"Gamers have been worried about the impact this always-online guff would have on the game and, at least at the moment, their concerns were justified. Some people just want to play SimCity by themselves, whenever they want, just like they did back in 1989.

"Of course, it's not as if EA wanted to launch of SimCity to be problematic but as digital distribution skyrockets publishers need to get better at making it work from day one. "
 

IGN's Dan Stapleton is blogging his experience of playing SimCity, as he plays.

Check out the video below to find out what it's like to actually play the game.

Or visit IGN for his detailed notes.

EA has been contacted for comment.

Once you get into the game, the experience is great, according to IGN.

The executive editor of IGN PlayStation, Greg Miller said he was initially worried that SimCity had "grown up too much" due to its focus on things like waste removal and traffic patterns but said his fears were unfounded.

"SimCity is as deep as it is charming, but the game ramps up so smoothly that when I got to worrying about where all of my citizens’ poop was going, I had a handle on the insanity," he wrote.

Source: Supplied

Unlike previous versions of the game, SimCity starts with roads. You can choose between dirt roads or asphalt, multi-lane highways or single lanes. However, the roads decide what kind of buildings that area can support, so if you want skyscrapers next to a dirt road - that's probably not going to happen. (Though we can't imagine why you would).

The game seems to be based on macroeconomics and the goal is to expand. So if you build a healthcare clinic, then you can buy ambulance garages for the property and then in turn expand the healthcare's reach, he wrote.

"Once your garbage dump starts getting overrun, you can add multiple incinerators to deal with the trash. When your Town Hall is placed, you can plop down departments that give you access to different buildings and perks."

It's a fascinating experiment in real-world town planning that has the potential to make people think about gaming solutions to real world problems.

Source: Supplied

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