budgets
consider government expenses. many are fairly fixed. infrastructure, defense, research, education, etc. social programs get less expensive during boom times and more expensive during bust times. ie more people are carrying their own weight during the booms. more people need help during the busts. now consider government income. it's not fixed. the government takes in more during booms than during busts. which seems kind of unfortunate. cause it's pretty much impossible to balance the budget every year. we have choices. a healthy company would build up its cash reserves during the booms. consume them during the busts. borrow money if it has to. pay it back during the next boom. and the cycle starts all over again. however, our government hasn't been following that model. it's been spending and borrowing during the booms. companies that follow this model go bankrupt. and out of business unless they can convince the government to bail them out. who's going to bail out our government?