America's cycle of disappointment

Washington

THE late Alice Rivlin, a longtime scholar at the Brookings Institution think tank, enjoyed an unusually constructive career.

Over more than four decades, Ms Rivlin - who died recently at 88 - served as the first director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the deputy director and then director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the vice-chair of the Federal Reserve Board. She authored many reports and was deeply engaged in the problems of the District of Columbia. To some in this town, she was known affectionately as "the queen of Washington's budget wonks".