[MarcoPolo]

I would LOVE to see a balanced budget. That would be significant as well, but only if it is matched with several things: 1. cutting all pork barrel spending (including pet ones like international AIDS funding and ALL federal education funding) 2. actual aggressive repayment of our 9 trillion dollar national debt 3. gradual phase-out of federal programs such as Social Security, Medicare and other federal welfare benefits.

Without these three accompanying actions, a balanced budget may set back the time on the time bomb which is our national debt but will never be able to actually remove the problem or alleviate the almost certain financial meltdown that is coming our way in the next few decades due to our overwhelming entitlements we've promised through programs like Social Security and Medicare.

I, like you, would certainly applaud a balanced budget though as a good early step in the process. Let's see if they'll actually go through with it or not.

[RightWhale]

Since the items mentioned aren’t happening and won’t ever be happening in this life, we’ll just have to play the hand. They are way beyond any econ theory.