Imagine a company/government says we'll go into heavy debt because we want to give our shareholders/citizens a good shot - is that not irresponsible? Those are

Imagine a company/government says we'll go into heavy debt because we want to give our shareholders/citizens a good shot - is that not irresponsible? Those are two different questions. When it comes to a company, the answer is very often Yes. The purpose of most companies (there are some exceptions) is to maximize profits using all ethical and legal means. If the expected payoff of the capital investment the loan would finance is greater than the interest of the loan, then taking it very often makes sense even if it would risk bankruptcy if something goes wrong. When asking about the government, it matters a lot about what you think the purpose of government is, and that is a philosophical question I will leave alone for now.