What economic theory tells us is to look at the entire projected path of policy, measure its fiscal gap, and decide on the basis of the size of its fiscal gap whether the policy is sustainable.
What really matters is that this is a debate about fiscal policy and the size of government.
The 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, which is a joint project of The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, ranked 183 countries based on 10 measures that evaluate such things as openness to trade and investment, government size, fiscal soundness, business and labor regulation, property rights, corruption, monetary stability and financial competition and transparency.
At the same time, government debt has exploded to a size that makes fiscal policy less potent.
Although Mr Koizumi has had close ties to the finance ministry, upon taking office he was initially more concerned with overhauling expenditures, and their effect on Japanese politics, than with the size of the fiscal balance itself.
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Furthermore, under the gold standard, there was a culture of fiscal restraint that helped limit the size and scope of government.
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This fiscal year, Apple plans to expand the size of 20 stores and add 30 more world-wide.
Questions also covered the 2011 Budget, tax avoidance and evasion, fiscal integration in the eurozone, economic growth and the size of the UK deficit.
It is the size of deficit reduction that has been identified by the fiscal commission, named after former Senator Simpson and Erskine Bowles.
General Mills says that the increase relates to its acquisition of Pillsbury, which doubled the company's size, and pledges that the awards will be lower in this fiscal year.
This concession to fiscal excess is the story of 30 years of Republicans trying to rein in the size of government with little to show for it.
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States are already facing down a fiscal gap in funding for special education students, and the looming sequester will likely double its size.
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