ederal spending is out of control. The stated 1981 budget
deficit is $60 billion; however, I'd bet on $70 billion or
higher rather than $50 billion or lower--no matter what
President Reagan does. In January 1980, President Carter first
proposed federal spending for 1981 to be $616 billion. In March
1980, the estimate was revised to $612 billion. And in January
of this year, President Carter's last budget forecast it to be
about $664 billion. It will end up higher at the end of
President Reagan's first fiscal year despite his enthusiastic
post-election declarations about cutting it by $40 billion to
$620 billion. And this leaves out the roughly $20 billion of
spending that, for various preposterous reasons, is kept off-
budget. This predicament was not caused by President Carter, or
by any one president. It will not be corrected by one president.
It took fifty years to reach this Five years from now the
deficit, counted honestly, could range between $100 billion and
$150 billion. Federal spending could rise to