A lesson in Economics 101

A decline in economic activity (GDP) increases unemployment and reduces tax receipts. This can easily become a vicious cycle. In times of economic weakness governments typically step up spending to help account for the decline in consumer consumption. This is what we are doing in the US and thus the mounting deficits. The euro zone countries do not have the privilege of printing money to prop up their economies. The trick for a government is to borrow as little money as possible to get GDP moving higher. Higher output from the economy leads to more tax receipts that ARE SUPPOSED to be used to pay back the loans taken out to jump-start the economy.