The article speaks of consumer debt, I spoke of consumer debt.
Government debt is a different thing, and a government without any debt doesn't sound like a wise thing if it is even possible in such a highly integrated and globalised world.
Nominally Germany has a balanced budget. I agree it isn't really balanced and the big zero is just achieved via some shifting around of things.
However the fact that the government jumps through all sorts of hoops to be able to say the budget is balanced is at least an interesting indicator that it does seem to matter to enough people.
Even government budgets have to adhere to some standardized schemes of reporting. See also rating firms.
Otherwise even the US would have a balanced budget and no debts. (Ignoring the fact that the US is the main force behind trying to change the account rules to make them look less bad.)
On the other hand: The government shutdown because of the debt ceiling seems just like "Stop hitting yourself" on the playground.
And Germany's budget is far from balanced.