Greg Mankiw Weighs in on the National Debt, Balanced Budgets, and the VAT

A few key points Mankiw makes:

1. Deficits ARE NOT necessarily bad.  It makes sense for governments to borrow in certain instances.
2. Balanced Budgets are somewhat overrated.
3. Obama knows that his long-term plan is unsustainable.
4. The Value-Added Tax is an effective way for the government to collect additional tax revenue

Here is the full article in the NY Times.