Deficits are projected to decrease further as federal support for states and the financial sector wind down and the economy recovers. However, increased debt and related interest costs will remain. For the landscape industry this means a fragile future in terms of growth. Long-term simulations show that absent policy changes the federal government faces an unsustainable growth in debt.

Recent events have made the fiscal challenge greater. Although the economy is still fragile, there is wide agreement on the need to begin to change the long-term fiscal path as soon as possible without slowing the recovery because the magnitude of the changes needed grows with time. Congress recently enacted a return to statutory PAYGO and, in February, the President established a commission to identify policies to change the fiscal path and stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio. ?EUR??,,????'?????<