Shrinking Budgets and the Shrinkage of Budget Theory
本文指出美国联邦预算过程对改革具有惊人抵抗力，尽管术语和系统不断变化，但预算增长、机构小幅增拨和赤字扩大的基本模式始终未变。
The federal budgetary process in the United States has been surprisingly resistant to change. Reforms come and go but certain budgeting truths seem inviolable. Despite changes in nomenclature, budget systems (such as ZBB and PPB), and the players themselves, the basic game has stayed the same. Budgeting is a largely decentralized political process, governed by highly stylized rules for negotiation and given to predictable outcomes. Each year the budget grows larger most agencies receive an appropriation that is a, modest increase over the previous year's, and the nation's deficit grows larger.