...they make a point of only spending the money they have.
Germany has the third-highest public debt in the world with only the fifteenth-highest population. Their debt is much higher as a percentage of GDP than the U.S. (83% vs. 62% according to the CIA world Factbook. [1]) They've spent plenty of money they don't have.
But Germany was/is in a very different situation. We are absorbing since twenty years a formerly communist econom - the GDR. Germany had little choice than invest a lot of money to do so. If you look at current policies, they are much about getting the debt problem under control.
Germany has the third-highest public debt in the world with only the fifteenth-highest population. Their debt is much higher as a percentage of GDP than the U.S. (83% vs. 62% according to the CIA world Factbook. [1]) They've spent plenty of money they don't have.
[1] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...