Thus, we must be vigilant to ensure that our economy remains sufficiently flexible for entrepreneurial initiatives. And we must continue our efforts to further enhance productivity growth by raising national saving and spurring capital formation.
Attaining a higher national saving rate quite soon is crucial, particularly in view of the anticipated shift in the nation’s demographics and associated pressures on federal retirement and health programs in the first few decades of the next century. Reducing the size of the federal budget deficit, and over time moving the unified budget into surplus, would go a substantial way in that direction.