Petition BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT FOR BRITAIN

This is from the US Balanced Budget Amendment Milton Friedman produced some years ago and is once again on the American political agenda.::

(a) Total outlays in any fiscal year shall not increase by a percentage greater than the percentage increase in nominal gross national product in the last calendar year ending prior to the beginning of said fiscal year.

.....

(b) If inflation for the last calendar year ending prior to the beginning of any fiscal year is more than three per cent, the permissible percentage increase in total outlays for that fiscal year shall be reduced by one-fourth of the excess of inflation over three per cent....

It can be read in full on http://a-place-to-stand.blogspot.com/search?q=balanced+budget+amendment - the rest of it is basically legalese defining GNP, inflation and years so that the lawyers can't wriggle out of it.