Alternatively stated, queues are safest in a steady state. If they are growing in size, that is clearly bad if not bounded. If they are shrinking in size, tha

Alternatively stated, queues are safest in a steady state. If they are growing in size, that is clearly bad if not bounded. If they are shrinking in size, that means you are going to be idling soon. I think it is fair that if you are picking between those states, you'd prefer the idling. That said, consider a physical machine. The "hopper" on many is essentially a queue to feed in items to work on. If you let that go empty, you messed up. Hard.