The debt and the deficit

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While most Americans talk and fret about the deficit and our mounting national debt, two eminent economists here do something different: They challenge the prevailing assumption that the federal budget imbalance insidiously saps our economic strength. This trenchant, original, and timely primer is the result. It is addressd to the four hundred and forty out of every thousand Americans who consider the debt and the deficit to be their country's most pressing problem, but cannot tell you exactly why. In crystal-clear language, Robert Heilbroner and Peter Bernstein explain what national debts and deficits are, and what they are not. One thing they are not nearly as big as we think. Another thing they are not is a burden on the shoulders of our grandchildren. And one thing they are is a potential means of financing economic growth. Heilbroner and Bernstein do not shrug aside the debt and deficit. "The only remedy for our present frightened state of mind," they write, "is explanations that are simple but accurate, facts that will defuse unreasoning panic, and arguments that will stand up under the most skeptical examination."--Publisher description;.