Something strange is happening in the debate about the U.S. federal budget deficit. Across the land, in books and on editorial pages, the message seems to be changing. In October 1987, Peter Peterson wrote in the Atlantic Monthly that the federal deficit is the centerpiece of many grim scenarios, including global depression, severe inflation, a decline in U.S. living standards, and a shrinkage in America’s role in the world. In February 1989, also in the Atlantic, Jonathan Rauch said that while the continuing budget deficit shows that Americans have changed their attitudes about the morality of borrowing against the future, economists cannot tell Americans whether it is good or bad for them.
Read more on Costing or related topics Government policy and regulation, Global strategy and Government
A version of this article appeared in theJuly–August 1989issue of Harvard Business Review.
Read more on Costing or related topics Government policy and regulation, Global strategy and Government
