Though individual borrowers are expected to pay off debts, the same isn’t true for governments, Paul Krugman argued in a column for the New York Times last week. That’s because unlike people, governments don’t die, and they gain more revenue with each passing generation. “Governments, then, must service their debts – pay interest and repay principal when bonds come due – but they don’t necessarily have to pay them off; they can issue new bonds to pay principal on old bonds and even borrow to pay interest as long as overall debt doesn’t rise too much faster than revenue,” he added.