For governments, for companies, even for private individuals, running out of money is no problem as long as you can make the payments on your debt, or more importantly, people believe you can make the payments on your debt.

It makes you wonder whether money is a real thing, or if its just some meaningless abstraction designed to allow people, businesses or states to live beyond their means. Or to "invest", which is another way of saying the same thing.

Besides, what good does money actually do you in a real crisis? I have money in the bank, I have a pension income, and I have no debt, but tomorrow my pensions could be stopped, my cash wiped out by inflation or a bank crash, and I could lose my property by eminent domain or a sudden hike in taxes. And I'm not even talking health care costs. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FINANCIAL SECURITY!

The whole financial system is based on trust. Have you ever heard of a company that used its own money to finance an expansion? A person who bought his house by paying cash? A government that went broke fighting a war? Have you ever heard of a bank that didn't loan out more money than it had in its cash reserves. It isn't just poor people who depend on welfare, the whole damned economy pays its bills with money that doesn't exist yet, but that will hopefully exist in the future. Its money they promise they will pay back tomorrow, with interest.

And when countries go broke, other countries loan them money to get them back on their feet because they need those bankrupt countries to buy their products. Or because they are so heavily invested in the countries that are going under--they can't afford to let them go under. Financial crises don't occur because the money runs out, they happen when the accountants lose track of who owes who what, and when its due.

Oh sure, real bankruptcies do occur; in people, firms, banks and nations, but it doesn't mean the money "runs out". It just means the people in charge screw up, lose control of the situation, and no one believes them any more. It happened here in 1929, and again 80 years later. And in each case, the factories didn't all catch fire overnight, the workers didn't vanish, the natural resources didn't miraculously disappear. The greenbacks in the vaults didn't go away. And after some meaningless smoke and mirrors, we printed some more, or "refinanced" (or started a war, which amounts to the same thing) and the problem went away. Real economies don't function on a cash basis, because the value of the goods and services produced exceeds the amount of money available as wages and profits. A certain amount of friction in the system ensures this; you can't pay your workers enough to buy the stuff you make, so you have to sell to them on credit. And this works at every income level.

Money is like stock certificates or bonds, its only worth what someone is willing to pay for it (or give you for it, or work for it). After all, its just paper with lies printed on it. The world doesn't run on money. It runs on IOUs. I'm not saying real money and wealth don't exist, I'm saying that they only matter to the poor.

And if you're wondering how this elaborate financial system we have functions when its constructed from a tissue of lies, just look at who's in charge of it (and who benefits most from it): Businessmen, politicians, lawyers and the very rich. Do you really think it matters what political party is in charge? If you believe that they have really got you conned.