Budget Trial Balloons Fly in Mass Formation

Washington weighs which of its ideas on taxes and spending might sell

THIS YEAR WE'LL PUMP $15 BILLION INTO THE ECONomy. On second thought, make it $31 billion.

Maybe we'll raise the gasoline tax. Hold it -- a new tax on all forms of energy might be better.

Freeze Social Security pensions for a year? The old folks' lobby is going to kill us. Could we maybe get Congress to buy a higher tax on the better-off pensioners instead?

Those are just some of the trial balloons floating around Washington. Bill Clinton vows that in his State of the Union speech next Wednesday, he will finally unveil the economic policy he once promised...

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