"Government debt is money spent by governments before they confiscate it. Such debt has little meaning, since the evil is found in the confiscation, and not the timing. However, given the culture of democracies, people are taught the nobility of nations and the loyalty of being a taxpayer. Governments know that they can spend whatever they want today, and obligate you to pay for it tomorrow. The nature of national cultures is such that even when the threshold of extortion is less than government spending, by the time the debt comes due, cultures convince people that it is their debt. In this fashion, they raise the threshold of extortion. People are less likely to revolt or quit working when they are taught that it is their nation, their debt and their moral obligation to pay."