Budget Deficits: Rhetoric and Reality
批评媒体、政客和经济学家对预算赤字的过度关注，指出他们缺乏对赤字定义、测量、经济影响模型和实证数据的清晰理解，并认为联邦赤字规模并非首要经济问题。
Whatever the real or imagined ills of the economy, the news media, most politicians and a fair proportion of the economics profession are quick to point to the culprit: “the budget deficit.” No matter that few appear to know or care precisely what deficit they are talking about or how it is measured. No matter that few bother to explain in terms of a relevant model just how government deficits may be expected to impact the economy. No matter that few offer any empirical data to sustain their judgments. I believe there are serious problems with our fiscal policy. These relate to fundamental national priorities and the provision of public goods, now and for the future. But the current size of the federal deficit is not “our number one economic problem,” if indeed it is a problem at all.