Well, you can go part way. In a business, there are investments, and there are expenses. Both involve spending money. What's the difference? Investments pay you back, and expenses don't.

There really isn't a problem with government making genuine investments. Needed infrastructure is a great example. They actually do pay even the government back, in the form of increased tax revenue.

The problem is that government often says that something is investment, but it's really just expenses. Bridges to nowhere, and a blizzard of other pork. But government decides where to spend via politics, not rational economic analysis, and so government spending is much less efficient than the label says.

Government should borrow to invest in the country. The problem is getting them not to borrow to throw the money away on political boondoggles.