Nixon's Record Suggests Skepticism on '73 Budget
A YEAR AGO at this time, President Nixon forecast that the federal budget deficit for fiscal 1972 would shrink to $11.6 billion from the $18.6 billion then estimated as fiscal 1971Ûªs red ink total.</br></br>Moreover, under the ÛÏfull employment budget idea (which) is in the nature of a self-fulfilling prophecy,Û the President promised that 1972 would see a turn toward steady economic growth. On the full employment basis, the budget would be balanced.</br></br>As the government cranks up its machinery to announce the fiscal 1973 budget figures, it might be well to observe that the predictions and forecasts of last year were nothing short of a disaster.</br></br>Û¢	The forecast for the fiscal 1971 deficit delivered only six months before the end of the year on June 30th was way off. It actually turned out to be $23.0 billion, not $18.6 billion.</br></br>Û¢	The $11.6 billion deficit originally forecast for fiscal 1972 (the current year) has swollen almost beyond belief. Last July, the Administration officially boosted the deficit guess to $18.6 billion. The informed word in Washington at the moment is that the deficit is in the neighborhood of $35 billion.