Branches of government, including Congress and such entities as the Federal Reserve System, attempt to control the extremes of boom and bust, and of inflation and depression, by adjusting tax rates, the money supply and the use of credit. They can also affect the economy by changing the amount of public spending by the government itself. Normally, the aim is a balanced federal budget. But since 1960 a deficit has prevailed in the federal accounts in every year except 1969, and it has generally widened, reaching a high of some $200 thousand-million in the mid-1980s, before dropping back again.
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