Mirage: Why Neither Democrats Nor Republicans Can Balance the Budget, End the Deficit, a ND Satisfy the Public

The federal budget deficit, slashed by the first Clinton administration from $300 billion to $120 billion, will shoot up to new heights within a decade, warn the authors, unless bolder measures are taken. But they are not likely to be, in their judgment, because ever since Ronald Reagan's ascendancy and the Republican assault on big government, budgetary politics has been polarized-moderates on both sides are in short supply, and any centrist compromise on taxes, spending and entitlement reform invariably alienates constituencies of the two major parties. Congressional Quarterly reporter Hager and Washington Post national staff writer Pianin interviewed scores of White House officials, members of Congress and lobbyists, past and present, making this account of budget battles from FDR through Clinton a hard-hitting scorecard for the shortcomings, evasions and wishful thinking of Democrats' as well as Republicans' budget-reduction plans. Their penetrating examination of the volatility of deficit politics reveals the sharply divergent visions of the role the federal government should play in society. Author tour. (Apr.)