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THE BATTALION
Tuesday, October 9, 2001
Federal deficit seems
certain for next year
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WASHINGTON (AP) —
Politicians of both parties are
lamenting that a federal deficit
seems certain this year.
Analysts outside the govern
ment are more concerned with
ihe budget’s increasingly
shaky longer-term prospects.
A $52 billion surplus pro
jection for fiscal 2002 was put
outlast week by the leaders of
the House and Senate budget
committees. But that figure
excluded bills to revive the
economy and protect the
nation against terrorist attacks.
Bearing price tags well into
the tens of billions of dollars,
those measures will produce a
deficit in the double-digit bil
lions of dollars for the fiscal
year that began Oct. 1, experts
agree. The deficit will be the
first since 1997.
Rather than expressing
alarm, economists say it makes
sense for the government to
run deficits for the next year or
two as it tries to prop up the
) economy by pumping
money into it through tax cuts
extra spending.
It’s quite appropriate that
your surpluses should decline
in an economic downturn,” said
Susan Hering, an economist
with UBS Warburg, a financial
services firm in Chicago.
With layoffs piling up and
consumer confidence plung
ing, no one can be certain
how long the current down
turn will last. The longer it
goes on, the likelier long-
termsurpluses are to shrink.
In May, the CBO projected
$(T(rjllion in surpluses from
^through 201 1. Last week.
the budget committee leaders
said that figure now looks more
like $2.6 trillion — and could
be as small as $240 billion.
The surpluses are important
because politicians have been
counting on them to dramati
cally reduce the national debt
over the next decade. That
would put the government on
more solid financial ground and
help shore up Social Security
and Medicare for the looming
retirement of the 76-million-
strong baby boom generation.
Many analysts say it’s not
yet time to panic.
Politicians got a break
because the problems with the
«
I don’t think we’re
yet at the point where
we return to the had
old days of deficits
yea r after yea r.
— Paul Kasriel
economist
economy and terrorism began
when the budget was stupen
dously healthy, according to
the analysts. A deficit this year
in the tens of billions of dollars
is insignificant, economists
say, compared to the country’s
$10 trillion economy.
“I don’t think we’re yet at
the point where we return to the
bad old days” of deficits year
after year, said Paul Kasriel,
economist with The Northern
Trust Co. in Chicago.
Analysts worry that, when
NEWS IN BRIEF
writing legislation in coming
weeks to stimulate the econ
omy and buttress anti-terror-
ism efforts, lawmakers will
enact permanent tax cuts and
create new spending pro
grams. The combination and
a further weakening of the
economy could dissolve pro
jected surpluses.
“Should decisions over the
next few months eliminate the
fiscal flexibility we had in our
future, that would be a very
unfortunate turn of events,”
said Robert Reischauer, presi
dent of the Urban Institute, a
research group, and former
chief of the Congressional
Budget Office.
Bush and leaders of
Congress have spoken of the
need to keep the economy
and federal budget healthy
over the long run, no matter
what short-term steps they
take in coming months.
“These are unusual times
that require unusual meas
ures,” said Senate Minority
Leader Trent Lott, R-
Mississippi, last week. “But
we should not loose the dogs
of deficit spending forever.”
The problem is that
translating such sentiments
into reality often leads to
familiar partisan conflicts.
The Democratic and
Republican budget committee
leaders announced a set of
principles last week aimed at
limiting the long-term fiscal
harm any economic stimulus
package might have. Such a
package is beginning to work
its way through Congress and
could have a price tag of
roughly $75 billion.
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TXU to republish rate increase
The Bryan City Council called for TXU Electric &
Gas to republish its proposed gas rate increases
and postpone the increase until December at the
council’s last meeting on Sept. 25.
TXU published an 11.21 percent rate increase
for the southern region of Texas, which is half of
the price Bryan customers were going to be
charged. TXU’s new rates included a 24.3-percent
increase for residential gas and a 7.5 percent
increase for commercial gas.
TXU tried to increase the rates by 19 percent in
2000, but Bryan and College Station disputed the
proposal. The cities settled on a 4.5 percent increase.
The council adopted a resolution stating that
TXU must republish a notice in The Bryan-College
Station Eagle stating the rate increases for all res
idents in Bryan.
TXU wrote a letter to the council the previous day
saying that it would not republish the notice because
they were not in the wrong.
The agenda for tonight's council meeting includes
adopting a resolution to distribute certificates of obli
gation, which will bring in nearly $16 million for the city.
The council will also consider renaming Briarcrest
Drive and West Villa Maria Road to Briarcrest Parkway.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the council
chambers of the Bryan Municipal Building in Bryan.
Managing money for people
with other things to think about. 5
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