* https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/rates-bonds/government-bon...
* https://www.reuters.com/article/eurozone-bonds/update-3-yiel...
Is there any reason not to "borrow" when you're being paid to do so?
If negative yields forecast shrinking economy and smaller tax base in a future.. You will pay back less nominaly but more in proportion to your revenues. But this is a topic for another time..
So in general MoFs avoid that unless they are going to pass the ball to the opposition.
But of course you have to borrow to roll old debt.
Not if you have your own currency. Currency issuers never need to borrow.
It makes no sense to even suggest borrowing something that you can create at will.
You still have to pay it back in the future and you can live beyond your means to the point where you can't?
Infrastructure investments that are profitable later on are a different story.
However, I live in Germany, and when I go out I don't see any crumbling infrastructure. There's certainly potential for improvements, but it's not as if we're living in a crumbling country.
I, the GGP, was not talking about borrowing just because one can. But in the context of this story--Germany being tight fisted.
The Germany army has been using broomsticks in place of weapons:
* https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/german-army-...
See also Navy:
* https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/22064/
I'm sure there are things that need to be fixed or upgraded.
There's nothing wrong with being prudent with money, but Berlin has a fetish about it; it caused all sorts of problems during the Euro crisis (2010-2011).