from time to time it has been proposed that a law or constitutional amendment be passed that will force the federal governmnet to balance its budget year, as many state and local governments are required to do. How would such requirement affect the conduct of discretionary fiscal policy? Automatic fiscal policy? If you were desinging such an amendment, do you think it would be better to require that the actual budget deficit be kept at zero each year, or should the aim be only to keep the structural deficit at zero? Discuss.