Time Clock: THE FEDERAL BUDGET

Can It Be Simplified?

TO the average citizen, the federal budget is as unintelligible as a careless housewife's checkbook. It also baffles experts. The Hoover Commission, after a long look, called it "an inadequate document, poorly organized and improperly designed." Yet even with recent improvements, the method of computing the budget makes it hard to talk about Government finances and make sense. For example, the Administration expects a budget deficit of $3.8 billion in the current fiscal year; yet also hopes its cash income will fall short of outgo by only $500 million....