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ARTICLE CONTENTS
[Pages 1285-1334]
TOP OF ARTICLE
Introduction
I. The Long-Term Fiscal Picture
A. Inadequacy of Annual Deficits and Surpluses to Describe
the Long-Term Picture
1. Reasons for Concern About Deficits
2. Deficits’ Deficiency as a Measure of the Above Concerns
* * *
B. Improved Measures
1. Generational Policy
a. Generational Accounting
b. The Generational Imbalance
2. Policy Sustainability or Specification
C. Resilience of the Fiscal Picture
II. Were the 2001–2003 Tax Cuts Steps Toward a
Smaller Government?
A. The Anti-Government Agenda That May Have Helped Motivate the
2001–2003 Tax Cuts
B. Evaluating the Size of Government
1. A No-Government Baseline?
2. Evaluating the “Size of Government” Allocatively and Distributionally
3. Inadequacy of Gross “Tax” and “Spending” Dollar Flows as Proxies for the Size of Government
C. Evaluating the Likely Effects of the 2001–2003 Tax Cuts on the Allocative and Distributional Size of Government
1. The Need for Offsetting Future Tax Increases and Social Security and Medicare Cuts
2. Offsetting Future Tax Increases and the Size of Government
3. Future Social Security and Medicare Cuts and the Size of Government
4. Transition to a Smaller Government?
III. Significance of the Fiscal Gap
A. How Important Is a Measure of Currently Stated or Inferred Policy?
B. Isn’t the Performance and Growth of Our Economy More Important Than the Fiscal Gap?
C. Why Does It Matter That Current Social Security and
Medicare Are Unsustainable?
D. What Is Wrong with Burdening Future Generations, Who May Be Considerably Wealthier Than We Are?
E. Aren’t the Life Expectancy and Medical Technology Trends That Underlie the Fiscal Gap Fundamentally Good Things?
Conclusion
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