Intractable Deficits Seen By Stockman: Stockman Sees Intractable Deficits
Budget director David A. Stockman, in an unusually blunt, closed-door session with business leaders, has warned that unless President Reagan and Congress agree to raise taxes or massively cut spending, the federal deficit likely will remain in the $200 billion range through 1988.</br></br>Even the austere budget approved by the Senate, and endorsed grudgingly by Reagan, ÛÏwould mean nearly $200 billion deficits each yearÛ unless the economy outperforms the expectations of the nationÛªs 50 leading business forecasters, Stockman said in a June 5 speech to directors of the New York Stock Exchange.</br></br>The administration is relying on its more robust economic forecast in asserting that the Senate plan would almost halve the current deficit by 1988.</br></br>ÛÏAs a policy matter, it is obvious enough that to close this threatening $200 billion budget gap we must either massively cut spending or raise taxes by large, unprecedented magnitudesÛÓor by the lights of some, enact a sweeping mixture of both,Û See STOCKMAN, A10, CoL 1</br></br>Office of Management and Budget spokesman Edwin L. Dale Jr. released the speech after Reagan and Stockman became angered by an account of it in yesterdayÛªs New York Times, headlined: ÛÏStockman Says Tax Increase May Be Best Budget Solution.Û