What I mean is that only the government can borrow at the risk-free rate. Out of interest why do we need less of this? I think as a whole (although it's obviously not perfect), central bank policy helped the financial crisis not turn into a 1930s prolonged depression. Remember in an economy, your spending is my income, and my income is your spending so if everyone tries to simultaneously save, everyone is worse off. This is a classic collective action problem - what is in everyone's private best interest isn't in the interest of the community. Having a government step in with fiscal policy solves this situation.