A Talk with the New Budget Boss

"1 think that the economy is going to be worse on January 20 than it is now," says Thomas Bertram Lance, the little-known Atlanta banker who is Jimmy Carter's choice to be director of the Office of Management and Budget. It is a sample of the candid views he will be offering as an economic policymaker--and his long and close relationship with Carter guarantees that the President-elect will listen. Last week Lance talked with TIME Correspondent John Berry about Administration strategy, Carter's relations with businessmen and his own job. Among his views:

ON THE STATE OF BUSINESS: The economy is not rebounding as everybody thought it might. Christmas sales are not going to be enough to start a new boom. The problem is not going to go away without some sort of direct action. I think that something along the lines of the 1975 tax rebate is needed, plus investment incentives, plus some kind of work program. The possibility of [inflationary] overstimulation [of the economy] is not a major factor now.

ON BUSINESSMEN'S ATTITUDE TO CARTER: I think [their] concerns are pretty well being dispelled by the way that he does things. Businessmen generally appreciate and respect performance. The business community won't agree with him about everything, and they won't get what they always think they might deserve, but they'll always know how he stands; he'll explain that to them very directly. You know, his action about wage and price controls [flatly rejecting the idea of imposing them] will do more to start restoring confidence than anything else, because it removes a vast area of uncertainty.

ON POSSIBLE ADMINISTRATION PRICE GUIDELINES: I think it would be a mistake to set hard and fast numbers, targets. If you do, it just always says to somebody that they have a chance to cross the Rubicon and say 'I did it.' Once you start being specific you will have what begins to constitute a managed economy. I think that you have got to allow the marketplace to do its thing, [but] you may try to jawbone.

ON HIS OWN RELATIONS WITH CARTER: I would think we will have a really easy relationship, not formal or structured. He will expect me to help him wherever I can. I think the area of congressional relationships is awfully important, and I may be able to work in that area. In Georgia, while I ran the highway department, I had other areas that I dealt with, relations with the business community, for instance, and I would expect to be involved there. I think I will be wide-ranging, not just strictly handling the budget.

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