Word: budgets
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...real Federal economy without a complete change of concept of what are the proper functions and limits of the Federal Government itself." Last week he told Congress practically the same thing-that a third of the Government's activities would have to be cut out to balance the budget. But last week he used the statement as a conclusive argument against reducing expenditures...
...late as 1937 he talked of balancing the budget. Last week in his budget message, he talked only of letting the budget balance itself: in offering a nine billion dollar budget for fiscal 1940, he calculated that if the national income (now 60 billions) rises to 70 billions the Government's revenues will reach six billions; if the national income reaches 80 billions (as in 1929), revenues will reach eight billions; if the national income reaches 90 billions, revenues will reach 10.6 billions...
This turnabout in the President's philosophy was crystallized in the new budget in a proposed method of bookkeeping. Government expenditures have for several years been in effect divided into two types -ordinary (Government operating expenses, national defense, interest on public debt, etc.) and extraordinary (relief, highways, Civilian Conservation Corps, flood control, public buildings, etc.). The former he would have remain fairly constant from year to year; but extraordinary expenses would chart (in reverse) the country's ups and downs, and he suggested that these expenses be treated as national investments...
This resembles the successful double budget by which Sweden governs itself. However, Sweden's extraordinary expenditures are for business "investments"-electric power production, mining, communications, liquor, tobacco, even lotteries-which are better than self-supporting and which return income to the Government. Most U. S. extraordinary expenditures (which include billions for WPA) bring little or no cash return...
...President's fiscal philosophy of 1939 is therefore a tacit acknowledgment of an idea that political realists long have harbored: expenditures cannot be reduced for reasons both political and social; the U. S. economic system is going to support a larger and larger debt; the U. S. budget is not likely to be balanced by the New Deal or by a successor administration for a long time to come. Corollary of this (not of course believed by the President) is that the U. S. debt will never be paid off, and that until some drastic event-such as wild...