In the later world inflation will erode the principle balance in half each decade.

FORBES: How Heavy Is the Federal Debt

We can also work together to build a framework, put together a proposal that should have bipartisan consensus built around the principle of balance, as we tackle our long-term and medium-term deficit and debt challenges.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney,

In principle, it mirrors the balance that was put forward by the Simpson-Bowles Commission, by the Domenici-Rivlin Commission.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

But one of the things you heard the President of the United States say on New Year's Day when this fiscal cliff challenge was resolved is that the agreement enshrined the principle that we must have balance as we move forward in our deficit reduction.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney,

As taxes go, a VAT is one of the least offensive, and a levy on bank balance sheets that penalizes excessive risk can in principle reduce the likelihood of panics.

FORBES: The U.K. Austerity Plan Is a 77% Solution

You know, there's a balance that can be struck, and the key principle is sustainability.

WHITEHOUSE: Town Hall in Arnold, Missouri

But make no mistake: it is the very principle of free speech which hangs in the balance there.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Clare Lopez on the Geert Wilders Trial

And also that, as you work with the -- stick with the principle of the financial, but along the way you need to balance the growth of the economy.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

To put all this in simple terms, the absence of a comprehensive solution to the eurozone's woes is progressively poisoning the German balance sheet: on the "are-what-you-eat" principle, Germany is gradually turning into Italy and Spain, in a fiscal sense.

BBC: Eurozone nations�� sovereignty v AAA

What teetered in the balance that week was not only the whole fabric of Russian-American relations since the cold war, but the principle of democratic control over Russia's army.

ECONOMIST: Strobe Talbott, deliverer of Russia