Missiles or pensions.

Abstract

If you have ever watched a film of a rocket ascension, you will notice that the rocket starts out slowly and somewhat unsteadily, building up speed as it rises. It is during this first, slow acceleration that the flight can be cancelled by adverse winds and the rocket grounded. There is a parallel with our nation's present venture into deficit financing. Each year our budget is a little higher, a little broader. Each year the federal government gets a little deeper into more programs which should be locally organized and administered. For part of each year the United States government, the government of the richest nation on earth, lives from hand to mouth, with only enough money in its treasury to pay next month's expenses. Almost every year, Congress debates raising the statutory debt limit. But this is only the beginning of the rocket's flight. Each new federal program starts