The retired chairman and CEO of Loral Space & Communications, Bernard Schwartz, knew he had a good idea for a lecture series at the New School when he read about the federal government’s new budget.

“No successful business operates the way the government does,” Mr. Schwartz said. “Can you imagine any large business having just one unified budget instead of both operational and capital budgets? This is no way to run a business.”

Or, it seems, a government. Which is why Mr. Schwartz is rounding up top economists and politicians to debate if society should heed Chicken Little’s call. His blue-chip panel, including economists Larry Kudlow, Brad DeLong, and Robert Solow, will present their findings Friday at the New School during a presentation titled, “Is the Sky Falling?”

Mr. Schwartz, a benefactor of the New School who will also speak on the panel, said he challenges the conventional wisdom that America can’t afford improvements to its highways, airports, and health care system unless it first tackles its budget and trade deficits. “These issues are not connected. Our economy is extremely strong, and we need to pay for these initiatives now so that our country can continue to grow economically.”

Politicians in search of press coverage during the early stages of the presidential campaign are particularly critical of the state of the nation’s economy.

The president of the New School, Bob Kerrey, told The New York Sun that politicians and economists both tend to become polarized in their positions. “Sometimes political rhetoric becomes policy,” Mr. Kerrey, a former Nebraska senator, said. “I think there is more gloom and doom than warranted. I listen to people all the time say that economic doom is around the corner.”

Mr. Schwartz said he agrees with Mr. Kerrey. “Since the founding of the Republic, the federal government has advanced and paid for things like the Louisiana Purchase and the Transcontinental Railroad, whether or not there was a budget deficit at the time,” Mr. Schwartz said. “The people in Congress have no idea just how strong how economy is right now and why we have to make sure its success continues.”

Indeed, interest rates remain low, unemployment is a respectable 4.6%, and private capital continues to flow into every facet of society. The fruits of globalization are flourishing.

Against this backdrop, the opportunity costs of eliminating the deficit could be enormous, an associate professor of economics at the New School, William Milberg, said. “Have the budget and trade deficits really caused interest rates to rise? The evidence is limited. I have sympathy for the spirit of this event,” he said.

The macroeconomic costs of balancing the federal budget may not be worth it, according to Mr. Milberg. “There’s enormous agreement among very well established groups of Democrats and Republicans,” he said. “They’re engaging in knee-jerk economics rather than concentrating on what are true sustainability thresholds in today’s society.”