OUTLOOK: How Little Stimulus Will Be Enough?

Though the Administration has been less than eager to point it out, President Carter's abandonment of his plan for $50-a-person tax rebates left him recommending substantially less stimulus for the U.S. economy this year than had the conservative Gerald Ford. Dropping of the rebate, higher-than-expected tax receipts and a continued failure of Government agencies to spend money as rapidly as planned have combined to reduce the Administration's forecast of the budget deficit in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 by a startling $19.3 billion. That would make the deficit $48.7 billion —$10 billion less than the one projected in the...