Because of scarce Federal dollars, the agreement stipulated that the program would be financed entirely by the elderly.

Conservatives see a good peacetime use for the military; liberals are pleased that scarce Federal dollars go to a social service program.

Washington will surely cite the hard realities of competing claims for scarce dollars.

So the real test of state and local governments in the years ahead will almost certainly become how effectively they can spend their scarce dollars.

And both are after the same scarce dollars.

The gold is then used by industry, cutting back on the amount that Korea has to purchase from abroad using scarce dollars.

State officials say that the students are competing for scarce dollars with many other agitated - and often more politically powerful - groups.

Beyond that, some urban planners question the wisdom of spending scarce public dollars on the Olympics.

He says the pain is healthy because it forces principals to think creatively about how to stretch scarce dollars.

"When budgets get tight, New York's schools are in competition with other social services for scarce dollars," he said.