After all, every family incurs deficits all the time to buy a house or car, or to get an education. Politicians use the federal budget deficit as a way to silence reformers, said Ehrenreich. Our national parks, our clean air and water, are assets. Other assets include financial assets, land, mineral rights, and physical structures and equipment. If they were, much of the debt would be offset, according to some budget analysts.
Politicians talk as though cutting the budget is the only way to reduce the federal debt.
One reason is military contractors. Marian Anderson , Director of Employment Research Associates, does not think so. But the same amount of money put into education would create 35,000 jobs. Gloria Steinem pointed out that diverting money to the Pentagon does not just depress the number of available jobs - it is also discriminatory to women. Jane Midgely of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom presented a Women's Budget analysis for Expo '96.