Suskind

"A lesson O'Neill had learned in his days running OMB, and never forgot, was that the budget is often the only place where there is a true competition of disparate ideas-- a competition over who will get the money and won't. And the only way for that competition to work is for the budget to be finite. A ballooning deficit-- he'd often tell cabinet secretaries or department heads, who feared his visits-- is a sign of casual thinking and tough choices not made. Balancing a budget, thereby, is not just a matter of fiscal good sense. It compels comparison virtues-- such as intellectual rigor and honest assessment of the intentions that underlie action. Do you know what you're doing-- and do you know why?"


February 18, 2004