Balancing a nominal budget will solve nothing, and attempting to achieve such a spurious balance will produce much mischief.

... often analysis seems to be based on the assumption that future economic output is almost entirely determined by inexorable economic forces independently of government policy so that devoting more resources to one use inevitably detracts from availability for another.

Larger deficits are necessary and proper means to mitigate unemployment as the far greater evil in terms of human welfare.

Deficits do not in themselves produce inflation, nor does a balanced budget assure a stable price level.

The nominal budget is a poor indicator of the impact of government outlays and revenues.

The great increase in longevity has produced a surge in the desire to accumulate assets for retirement. It has outpaced the ability of the private sector to produce assets, so we need a larger government debt.

There is no reason inherent in the real resources available to us why we cannot move rapidly within the next two or three years to a state of genuine full employment.