Dealing with the short- and medium-run deficit would be fairly straightforward: decide how large a share of GDP the federal government should take up, set spending at that level, and set taxes so that the budget is balanced (or so that the debt-to-GDP ratio is not growing) over the business cycle. Determine whether, overall, you would rather have in the medium term a federal government that spends, say, 16%, 20%, or 24% of GDP – and on what.
处理中短期赤字比较简单：先确定联邦政府该分到国内生产总值的多大份额，再在此基础上决定开支，而后再确定税收，使得该商业周期的预算达到平衡（或者说确保债务占国内生产总值的份额不会扩大）。确定中期政府可以花费比如国内生产总值的16%、20%、或24%¾以及花在哪些方面。