Calm down

摘要

The opening shots in America's budget battle were formally fired this week when President Bill Clinton presented his fiscal proposals to Congress on February 7th. Although the budget is an annual process, there is more at stake today than simply sorting out how much the federal government taxes and spends next year. This is, after all, an election year. And American politicians believe they are on the cusp of an era of burgeoning fiscal surpluses. What to do with these surpluses—increase spending, cut taxes, pay down debt?—is the big question.