JUSTIFICATION: Requiring federal government expenditures to be balanced by tax revenues except in emergencies is a direct and effective way of minimizing federal deficits. This approach has been implimented by most of the state governments and has been generally successful.

AUTHOR: UWSA SANTA CLARA CO., CA EMAIL:humphrey@aimnet.com

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The U.S. Government shall set up individual national debt accounts for each adult citizen. For all FUTURE increases in the national debt, the increases shall be apportioned equally to all U.S. citizens and recorded in their account. Government bonds sold to finance this increase in indebtedness shall clearly state that they are backed only by the personal wealth of individual U.S. citizens. Each year the interest on each citizen's account shall be payable with their income taxes. When a citizen dies his national debt account shall be a debt against his estate. If his estate can not pay the full amount, the amount of default shall reduce the amount of principle payable to bond holders on that debt at maturity. When the U.S. Government runs a surplus and reduces the national debt, that reduction shall be equally applied to reduce the debt balances in each citizen's account. When a U.S. citizen reaches 18 years and received the right to vote for representatives that have the authority to increase the national debt, that citizen shall receive his/her own national debt account starting out with a zero balance.

JUSTIFICATION: Our national debt has been described by some as "the decision of American citizens to encumber themselves". The truth is the national debt is the decision of adult American citizens to finance current consumption by encumbering their children and grandchildren. This legalized theft of the wealth of future generations of Americans violates the principle of "no taxation without representation" which is a cornerstone of the social contact of American society.

This proposed solution makes each adult U.S. citizen proportionally responsible for any debt incurred by their elected representatives. We will be much less willing to allow our elected officials to incur debt, if we ourselves are directly responsible for both that debt and the annual interest payments to support it.

AUTHOR: John M. Humphrey EMAIL: humphrey@aimnet.com

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Congress hearby authorizes the United States Treasury to borrow up to a total of $190 billion in the current fiscal year, and $150 billion next year. These amounts decrease to $110 billion in 1998, $75 Billion in 1999, $50 billion in 2000, and $25 billion in the year 2001, and nothing in the years 2002, 2003 or 2004. Any additional borrowing by the government will require a 60% super majority of both houses. After fiscal year 2004 this "Path to a Balanced Budget" act expires.

JUSTIFICATION: America's highest fiscal priority should be reaching a balanced budget. This solution fixes by law the maximum federal deficit for the next ten fiscal years rather than specifying the maximum spending based on hypothetical and possibly fraudulent tax revenue projections and then putting Congress in a postition where they must borrow or jeopardize the credit rating of the government.

AUTHOR: Rich Martin EMAIL: RichSlick@aol.com