Candidates' Solutions for Exploding Deficit Draw Skeptical Responses

Candidates' solutions for exploding deficit draw skeptical responses

BY GREGG FIELDS

Knight Ridder Newspapers

MIAMI - (KRT) - The economy is growing, home sales are setting records and hiring appears to be picking up.

So why are economists on both the right and the left still anxious about America's economic direction?

The simple answer: The federal deficit is exploding, and economists don't seem to believe that either George W. Bush or John Kerry has a credible plan to bring it under control.

"This subject isn't going to be discussed honestly in an election. Bush and Kerry want to talk about what they're going to give people," said Peter G. Peterson. He was secretary of commerce in the Nixon administration and is a veteran Wall Street titan and author of "Running On Empty," which argues that deficits are bankrupting America's future.

In the last four years, Washington has gone from a federal budget surplus of $236 billion in fiscal 2000 to a deficit of $422 billion for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That figure was a record; it would have been far higher but for a $153 billion surplus in the Social Security trust fund. (All figures are from the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan analytical arm of Congress.)

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