News You Can Use. If You Happen To Be President Earlier this month, Jason Furman, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote a piece in Slate about "Repairing Some Of The Worst Bush Administration Screw-Ups" in the area of fiscal policy. The Four-Step Program he outlines:

• Step 1: Fully account for all costs in the budget
• Step 2: Stick to these costs, with a veto pen if necessary
• Step 3: Be ready to work together with the other party to reduce the deficit.
• Step 4: Don't forget what really counts:

The stabilization of the long-run deficit is inevitable—policymakers have no choice but to abide by the iron laws of arithmetic. But the most important budgetary issues are the choices policymakers make about how much to invest in research, how much to spend ensuring that everyone has health insurance, and what is done to make our nation more secure. Making these choices will be easier if we start to fix our bigger fiscal problems. I like Furman's optimism about the inevitability of policymakers abiding by the iron laws of arithmetic. Do I share it? Not fully. Looking back at history, including the history of fiscal policy, it seems clear that the inevitability of facing up to national challenges (even to the iron law of arithmetic) depends in large measure on who happens to be president. Here's to hoping that the next one listens to Jason Furman.