Lawrence Summers writes in The Fiscal Times that faster economic growth would cure much of what ails the American government today.

Data from the CBO imply that an increase of just .2 percent in annual growth would entirely eliminate the projected long-term budget gap. Increasing growth, in addition to solving debt problems, would also raise household incomes, increase U.S. economic strength relative to other nations, help state and local governments meet their obligations and prompt investments in research and development.

Beyond the fact that spurring growth has a multiplicity of benefits, of which reduced federal debt is only one, there is the further aspect that growth-enhancing policies have more widely-felt benefits than measures that raise taxes or cut spending. Spurring growth is also an area where neither side of the political spectrum has a monopoly on good ideas. We need more public infrastructure investment, but we also need to reduce regulatory barriers that hold back private infrastructure.

We need more investments in education, but also increases in accountability for those who provide it. We need more investment in the basic science behind the renewable energy technologies, but in the medium term we need to take advantage of the remarkable natural gas resources that have recently become available to the U.S. We need to assure that government has the tools to work effectively in the information age, but also to assure that public policy promotes entrepreneurship.

If even half the energy that has been devoted over the last five years to “budget deals” were devoted instead to “growth strategies” we could enjoy sounder government finances and a restoration of the power of the American example. At a time when the majority of the U.S. thinks that the country is moving in the wrong direction, and family incomes have been stagnant, a reduction in political fighting is not enough – we have to start focusing on the issues that are actually most important.

Of course, if growth is the important goal, at the federal or state level, then one ought to search for the policies that promote growth.