Leading economists strongly oppose Republican Balanced Budget Amendment

Seven leading economists, including five Nobel prize winners, have written a letter to the president and Congress strongly opposing a Balanced Budget Amendment such as the one proposed by Republicans.  They write in part:

We, the undersigned economists, urge the rejection of proposals to add a balanced-budget

amendment to the U.S. Constitution. While the nation faces significant fiscal problems that

need to be addressed through measures that start to take effect after the economy is strong

enough to absorb them, writing a requirement into the Constitution that the budget be balanced

each year would represent very unsound policy. Adding additional restrictions, as some

balanced budget amendment proposals would do, such as an arbitrary cap on total federal

expenditures, would make the balanced budget amendment even worse.

Read the complete letter here:  http://www.cbpp.org/files/7-19-11bud-sig.pdf