A new economic rule: Save or go into debt

Governments try to maintain a state where all of the money taken in each year is spent and no more.  It will amaze you to see the lengths to which bureaucrats throughout the United States go to make sure that all of the money they have been budgeted gets spent and not a penny more.  This state of matching income to outgo is a metastable condition, just like balancing a broom on the end of a finger and requires continuous effort and vigilance.  It becomes impossible when economic forces beyond the control of the bureaucrat manifest.  Bureaucrats have attempted to correct this problem by hiding money in accounts that they maintain from one fiscal period to the next.  But these funds are called slush funds.  With the amount of money in these funds, many bureaucrats have fallen to the temptation to misuse them. 

Queueing theory:  What does that have to do with it?

Queueing theory says that if the number of people coming into a bank is constant, and the time required to service each of these people is constant and the teller time matches the rate of service then the line will not grow.  But if the rate of people coming into the bank is random with an average rate of entry equal to the rate of service then the line will grow infinite. 

What does that mean?  It means that randomness requires the ability to service to exceed the rate of required service or the queue grows. 

What does that mean for money?  It means that income has to exceed outgo or you have projects that will sit and wait and when they can't wait, you go into debt to pay for them.

Therefore, it applies to all including the government:  Save or go into debt.

These are economic rules that apply to the everyday. There are others and as they are needed, I will add them to the list.


1. A dollar spent is a dollar taxed
2. To consume you must produce
3. The law of supply and demand still applies even if you are the government
4. Education, infrastructure, production, efficiency, trust raise the economy. Burdens such as commitments, promises, debt, crime, security issues and overhead lower the economy
5. Savings takes money from the now and moves it into the future. Borrowing takes money from the future and moves it into the now.
6. Save or go into debt