Rosy Goes to Toronto
Forget the economic summit that just concluded here and turn your attention to the one that will count-in France in 1989: they had to hold this one because it is an annual event.</br></br>For President Reagan, the Toronto summit provided a convenient backdrop of nostalgia and looking back. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher-Reagan's closest ideological partner-pronounced her blessing, as a spokesman for her put it, by crediting Reagan for moving the world away "from the locomotive theory to prudent economic theory." That means, he said, that a policy "of throwing money" at problems has been abandoned.</br></br>The mutual admiration society apart, the president and the other heads of government said they are content with the current short-term outlook, and chose not to rock the boat by dwelling on the medium- and long-term issues. So the main product of the Toronto summit was a global "Rosy Scenario."</br></br>But in private conversations, lesser officials were not kidding themselves: they know that the hard problems, not discussed here, have been swept under the rug until next year, when there will be a new American president.</br></br>"At the 1989 summit, you will have the key new participant-either Bush or Dukakis," said a Canadian official. "And Bush or Dukakis will have to face all of the big issues-the American budget deficit, trade imbalances, Third World debt and these huge farm subsidies."