As President Reagan was putting the last touches on his eighth budget proposal to Congress last week, a similar exercise was taking place three blocks north of the White House, in our Washington bureau. TIME correspondents, playing the roles of the Cabinet officers they are normally assigned to cover, decided to try their hands at chopping the $150 billion federal deficit. The result, which appears in this week's Economy & Business section, may not revolutionize the budget process, but it is likely to encourage more than a few taxpayers to pick up a pencil and try it themselves.
National Economics Correspondent...