Reagan's Inflate-the-Deficit Game News Clipping

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THE N E W YORK TIMBS, SUNDAY, JULY 21, 1985 E21 

· WASHINGTC)N lJB.mes Reston 
·, 

Presidents, DoctOrs, Reporters ···· 
r. 

. -. WASHINGTON the popular. idea that the cpnfidential found a polyp in his eolon that was nqt 

The President is back at ·the ~lationship between doctor and pa- . malignant but a warning sign. ' 
White House, to everyone's re- tient also applies when the patient is . The' White House dOctor then was Th. e' 'pu' blt"c's' 
lief, buthisaidesar~stillsoreat •President of the United States. Daniel Ruge. We don't know what ·. · · . 

the press for asking all those ques- The health of a President is nor what Dr. Ruge's advice was ·at that~ . • ht 
tions about his .medical record. They merely a private but a public con- time; but ·Lahy S~kes·, the White rtg . 
say it's "distasteful" io intrude into cern, as Mr. Reagan ·recognized l)y House spokesman, whose manners t kn. 
the pri,vate relations between adoctor authorizing the disclosure of the most are no better than his 111emories of - 0 0 W 
and his patient.· intimate-details of his cancer opera- history, said -he-would not make Dr: 

Maybe so. The only trouble is that tion. ~ut there are two problems. Ruge "available for questioning/' 
this is precisely what the White House . · The first is that the people get almost again on the grotind of confidential · 
said when they were covering up the too many medical facts about a Presi- doctor-patient relations. . _ issue of his age, which was the . one 
illnesses of WOOdrow Wilson and dent's .illness in the White House, and In any event, nothing was done about thing he feared the mos~.. . . . 
Franklin Roosevelt. too few flbout the state of his health be- · thai first medical . warning, and there. So what? Was it a medical decision 

All would be well, they said. Besides, fore he gets there. And the second is are two theories here about that. or a political decision? Nobody but 
the questions were not only "distaste- that they seem indifferent to ~he health The firs( is that Mr. Reagan didn't the PreSident really knows. ( 
ful" but painful. Since then, the histo- of Presidential candidates during the take the news -all tha,t seriously, and What we do know is that the White 
rians, With good reason, have con- election campaign. · didn't really want to think about it. The · House is now saying- and you can't 
demned the press for · misleading the The facts in :president Reagan's second is th;:tt he thought vaguely abOut ' blame them at this late date - that 
people~ · · case. are not in dispute. Everybody it, but decided it was no big deat. Aild if there was never really any discussion 

The intention here is not to s\lggest knew he-was no spring chicken, His he went- into the hospital to have it re- in 1984 of the President's health in 
that. President Reagan's illnesS is as doctors told him in March of 1984, at moved, even if ·the doctors found noth- relatiQn to the re-election campaign, 
serious as Wilson's in 1919 or Roose- the beginning of the last Presidential i ing else, it would be front-Jiage news . which . is propably true. But I why 

, velt's)~ 1944, but merely to question ___ ~lection· campaigil, that tl_ley had_ . and raise in U,e election campaigri the wasn~t the ma~er discussed? This is 
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one of many . unanswered questions. term, inCluding Mamie, who told him~ 
It's interesting to compare all this his health would be cared for better in' 

with how President Eisenhower dealt ·th-e White House than anyplace else; 
with the health-and~age issue after he all except his brother Milton, who in-­
had a heart attack and before he de- sisted to the end, and lost, that . Ike -
cided to run for a second term. shoultl quit While he was ahead. 

On Jan. 13,- 1956, he invitCd several '. Again, ·. personal and historical 
members of his Cabinet to dinner at the analogies are reckless if not treacher-~ 

. White House. Among them were Secre- ous. But at least Ike tried to make a 
tary of State Dulles and, Secretary ·of · rational and orderly tranSition of , 
J;he Treasury Humphrey; his chief of ·Presidential-power and, wondered, _as 
staff, She:rm~ Adam$.; Henry Cabot he tolp me one night, that ma~be 

_ Lodge, Jim Hagerty, his press sec~e- - th-ere should be some outside panel of 
. tary, and his brother Milton. doctors that could consider or COJi,. 

The President placed before them ·. firm the health problems of Pre5iden­
the detail¢<~ medical repOrts ot his tial candidates before it was too late _. · 
dQCtors, and asked some hard ques- Anybody who's interested in ·ii.he;' 
tions·: What if _he died during the <:am- problem of Presidential illness, ~d 
paign, or shortly after. the election if how to deal with it while the Presi~ 
he won? Who would be left behind? dent is recovering, should read Ste­
lle mentioned· some possible succes- phen Ambrose's excellent biograpb.y-

. ;sors. He went round the table asking . of "Eisenhower- The President.!'-It 
each one what he should do. makes you think, which is not n~: 

.~1 said he should go for a seCond sarily a bad idea. d :p -
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Reag:an'sinflate~the-Deficit Game 
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------~.,....,...-,..------,.... · we run out of voice and breath. ·Or we 
By Daniel Patrick Moynihan can cure their extravagance by sim; 

ply reducing their allowance." 
WASHINGTON' · This statement was noticed by Re-

T
heweek of July 8 began publican conser.va~ives : 'What was 
with the announcement this business of deliberately creating 
that David A. Stock- , ' a Republican deiicit? As it happened, 
man would be leaving a new economics was at hand to show 
as budget director and that this need not happen. Known as 
ended with the Senate "supply-side," it held that cutting 

Judiciary Committee approving two taxeS would increase revenues. A few 
constitutional amendments requiring weeks after the President's speech, a 'balanced budget. This marks the the· Office of ~anagement and 
transition froll;l policy to panic. It sug- Budget issued revised budget projec-
gests we pause for a moment's reflec- tions sho~ taxes going down and 
tion. receipts going up; almost doubling 

First, some definitions. The policy from $520 billion in 1980 to $940 billion 
was -the Administration's deliberate in !986. · 

'i'he driviJ?.g; 
motive· 
has, been . 
to dismantle 
50 years' 
social 
legislation 

decision to create deficits for Strate- , Well) ' of course none of this hap-
gic, political purposes. The panic ,' pened. The budget was not balanced change: "The basic .fact is that we 
arises among those who.think the in 1984 as promised. Rather, by that · are violating badly, even wantonJ.y, 
deficit was caused instead by 'a fail- time, Mr .. Stockman was talking the cardinal rule of sound public fi­
ure of our political sygtem. : 'about $200 billion deficits "as far as naitce: Governments must extract 

The Reagan Administration came 
to office with, at most, a marginal in- the eye can see." from the people in taxes· what they 

There are plenty of reasons the dispense in benefits, services and pro­
terest iii balancing the budget- con- strategy camr to grief, but the least tections . . . indeed, if, the [Securities 
trary to rhetoric, there was no great 
budget problem at the time _ but noticed is tha the budget committees and Exchange Commission] had 
with a very .real interest in disman- just: couldn:t deliver. Successive jurisdiction over the executive and 
tling a fair amount of the social legis- chairmen, especially in the Senate, legislative branches, many of us 
lation of the preceditig 50 years .. The tried to transform the process from a would be in jail." . 
strategy was to induce a deficit and straightforward allocation of funds · This is taking too much blame. It 

_ use that as· gro\m~ for the· disman- · for 19 "budget functionS" into an was ·an honest effort, simply too 
tling. item-by-item decision on everything. clever: A failing, they say, of intellec-

It was a strategy devis~ by young Committee ·meetings became specta- tuals in Government. 
intellectuals of a capacity that Wash- · cles: dazed legislators, swarming The constitutional amendments ar,e 
irigton had not seen for years. They_ · staff, exhausted journalists. another matter. Theyreflectakindof 
were never understood, and as _they . Then it collapsed. Other commit- desperation : Don't let tis do it again. 
depart they leave behiiid an alarming tees stopPed paying any heed. The Which quite misses the point. The 

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incomprehension of the coup they al- Senate Budget Committee itself deficit was· policy, a curious legacy of 
most pulled off. - · broke apart. In 1982, the chairman in the young radicals who came to 

t
. " The key concept was that individ- effect gave up and settled for a party- power in but 

. ua1 Gpve~: p...mgrams ara.rel~eN.ote on.a-0ne-page-budget resolu~oo 
~ ~ tiv:. ely iiiViilnerable_ to dir~t assa~t. tion with about a dozen ilumbe:-> on it The budget is now out of control for 

The Congress, the staff, the constitu- that nobody bothered to examme be- the moment. Debt service was $53 bil: 
ency can usually beat you and always cause by then nobody believed any of lion in 1980; it will ~ $234 billion by 
outwait you. . . it_any ,more. . 1991)._ The debt is compounding; we 

On the other hand, the Budget Act On June 5, 1985, Mr. Stockman told will indeed in time be borrowin8 
of 1974 contained li~le understood the board of the New York Stock -Ex- abroad to pay interest owed 
powers of huge potential. 11b.e budget abroad. · . . · 
committees, assumiilg agreement by . We can do little about this in tlie 
the~ Congress, cpuld require other near-term. It is now, at miilimum, a 
committees to C\1~ back p,rograll?-~· . D. Y·. sfu_nction: 15-year problem." On the bright side, 

. ~ ~er-~cally a · reconcl11- the Social Security Trust Funds begir) 
atlon mstruction - ~ad never been . f th . . to grow rapidly after 1988, reaching .. 
used to the fullest: but .It was there. 0 e an estimated $1 trillion surplus by 

Thus, the pi~. Reduce revenues. polt"tt"cal 1999. The dark prospect is that some 
Create a defiCit. Use the budget pro- d · · t t" · the l990's willaive 
cess to eliminate programs. a mm1s ~a ton m . <>: . 

A hidden strategy? Not. really. On economy up and w1pe out the debt by mflatmg 
Feb. 5, 1981, 16 days in office, the the c~ency. . , 
President in his first television ad- • · t · - But 1f there 1sn t much we can do, 
dress to the nation said: ·~There were lS no a there are things we -~ learn._ Prin~-
always thos'e who told u5 that taxes · t ·. f pally, that the dysfunctiOn of the poht;, 
couldn't be cut until spending was re- . s ym p om 0 ic~l. economy is n?~ a symptom of a 
duced. Well,youknow, wecanlecture a f~t}t" 4-.g - f~thtlg of the poht1cal system. The 
our children about extravagance until c;.u. 11 dtsaster was planned, although not as 

a di~ter. If we can get a truly con-
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, New York 
Democrat, is a member of the Senate 
Budget Committee. 

_SyStem servative Administration into office 
by the 1990's, we can probably restore 
stabilitybytheyear2000. 0