<i>&gt; Companies have of course to keep prudent accounts or go out of business.</i><p>Wrong comparison. A politician is to government what a CEO is to a company. Loads of CEOs make terrible decisions to appease the stock market short-term, then leave the company before shit hits the fan. Replace &quot;CEOs&quot; with &quot;prime ministers&quot; and &quot;stock market&quot; with &quot;electorate&quot;. Human nature is what it is.