They could buy all the cars and oversized Christmas tree ornaments they wanted, unless they happened to run up an unpayable credit card bill in the process.
Businessmen could not pay back money they owed the banks. And they could not get loans to keep their businesses open. Many factories closed. Great numbers of people were out of work.
The government I lead will not leave the next generation, your children and grandchildren with a debt to settle that we were too weak to pay ourselves.
And soon enough even a mountain of silver couldn't pay for all their warring, and the Spanish crown had to borrow money, which they couldn’t pay back, so they defaulted on their debt several times in the 17th century.
With a new rebellion brewing, the king's forces assemble and Falstaff is supposed to raise a troop of men as well, but he's spending his time at a tavern where he's run up a bill that he can't pay.