Cutting budget deficits can never be just an exercise in…

Thanks to decades of accumulated federal budget deficits and, more significantly, imprudent Medicare and Social Security policies, we've stolen almost $60 trillion from our children.

— Steven Rattner

To avoid large and unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social…

— Ben Bernanke

Bush may be a strong leader in the war on terrorism, but on budget deficits he is missing-in-action.

— Jim Cooper

The social and racial conflict, which springs from the redistribution ideology, may deepen as economic output is shrinking and transfer 'entitlements cause budget deficits…

— Hans F. Sennholz

Budget deficits are not caused by wild-eyed spenders, but by slow economic growth and periodic recessions. And any new recession would break all deficit…

— John F. Kennedy

Well, I think what we need to remember is that budget deficits can impede economic activity.

— Anonymous

Under Reagan's policies, inflation and nominal GNP growth shriveled much faster than predicted, throwing off government revenue estimates and resulting in budget deficits.

— Paul Craig Roberts

I love listening to these guys give us lectures about debt and deficits. I inherited a trillion-dollar deficit. ... This notion that somehow we…

— Barack Obama

I get a headache when I hear supporters of this endless warfare complaining about the federal budget deficits. They're like arsonists complaining about the…

— Bob Herbert

I agree with the idea of cutting [budget], but it should all be coming out of entitlements for the affluent and not out of…

— David Brooks

Were not cutting the budget simply for the sake of sounder financial management. This is only a first step toward returning power to the…

— Ronald Reagan

Normally, when politicians talk about 'cutting the budget,' they really mean reducing the amount of increase. Actual spending goes up while the politicians claim…

— Mark McKinnon

We must create wealth and we must cut our deficits.

— Manuel Valls

It seems to me there are good deficits and bad deficits. Now, we have a deficit that comes from the militarization of our society…

— Anonymous

What works for Germany can't work for the rest of Europe: No country can run a chronic surplus without others running deficits.

— George Soros