By the same token, in setting budget priorities and policies, attention must be paid to the attendant consequences for the real economy. Achieving budget balance, for example, through actions that hinder economic growth is scarcely a measure of success. We need to develop policies that increase the real resources that will be available to meet our longer-run needs.
The greater the resources available - that is, the greater the output of goods and services produced by our economy - the easier will be providing real benefits to retirees in coming decades without unduly restraining the consumption of workers. *  *  *  These are challenging times for all policymakers.