Greider is probably the person most responsible for making an entire generation of Rolling Stone readers into paranoid, leftist, economic ignoramuses. If you'd listened to him, you would've been holed up in your basement with your ration of canned water and crackers since the big Reagan-caused depression of the 1980s. It's coming, people!!... The surest way to get rich is to listen to William Greider or Paul Krugman, then invest in the opposite direction.
It wasn't long after that that the GOP became quite serious about having a balanced budget.
They put up a good fight in Congress when the 'Toon was in charge...
But as soon as their cronies captured control of the White House, Senate AND House, they couldn't resist plundering the Treasury. It's a weird turn of events, but the PTB are the ones who gave Greider some legitimate ammo to play with.