Wikipedia's list of countries by public debt is interesting: I see no correlation between rank and economic strength. Also curious: there are no countries with negative net debt, so why isn't the circular debt resolved?
Most (?) government debt isn't held by other governments, it's held by individuals, in the form of bonds. Hence, all governments can be in debt.
About twelve years ago the Australian government (having just changed hands) embarked on a campaign to pay back government debt, which back then was quite high. Now it's almost all paid back (just 15% of GDP left) but as I understand it they want to maintain some level of debt -- otherwise the whole Australian bond market would cease to exist.
Interesting: only 25% of our debt is held by other nations [1]. Still, the point stands: Japan owns a half-trillion in US bonds, but has a massive national debt of their own. Essentially, they're buying US bonds by selling their own bonds.
Australian Government actually has quite a bit of surplus saved up by the previous government during the resource boom. They've now announce they're gonna spend it.
Most (?) government debt isn't held by other governments, it's held by individuals, in the form of bonds. Hence, all governments can be in debt.
About twelve years ago the Australian government (having just changed hands) embarked on a campaign to pay back government debt, which back then was quite high. Now it's almost all paid back (just 15% of GDP left) but as I understand it they want to maintain some level of debt -- otherwise the whole Australian bond market would cease to exist.