[waveofthehand]

It isn't a glitch, it is simply how the modern monetary system works. States can spend as much as they would like to. The issue for a state is what is available to buy, not whether the money is there to buy it with.

Austerity is therefore a self-defeating strategy. It does not remove wasteful spending, rather it creates more of it. What states should focus on is what are the best resources to purchase and how that spending should be apportioned, not whether there is money to spend with.