Looking to 1984, Congress and Reagan duck the deficit problem
Trust the approach of a presidential election to concentrate politicians' minds on the gravest threats facing the nation. After many months of bitter wrangling, for example, Congress and the Reagan Administration have at last reached a tacit understanding about what they will do between now and November 1984 to reduce those gargantuan $200 billion budget deficits. In a word, nothing.
What is more, there is impressive bipartisan agreement on the reasons for this course. The deficits may choke off the budding economic recovery, all...