Increasingly prices are set by sellers to raise their prices without a loss of sales sufficient to wipe out the gain.

There is no real justification for a requirement that a budget of any sort should be balanced, except as a rallying point for those who seek to hamstring government.

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

If unemployment could be brought down to say 2 percent at the cost of an assured steady rate of inflation of 10 percent per year, or even 20 percent, this would be a good bargain.

Nearly all educational expenditure should be considered a capital outlay. Education provides a future return in the form of enhanced taxable income and an enhanced quality of life.

Firms would be given initial entitlements to gross markup on the basis of past performance, adjusted by changes in labor and capital inputs. This is somewhat similar to the definition of normal profits under some versions of the wartime excess -profits tax. Entitlements would be transferable and a competitive market established.

Increasingly prices are set by sellers to raise their prices without a loss of sales sufficient to wipe out the gain.