(The author, a Harvard senior, was not an editor of the CRIMSON. He was the co-author of Mayor Lindsay's position paper on revenue-sharing this summer and is presently leading the Urban Fiscal Crisis Study Group at the Institute of Politics. )

THE BATTLE of the Bulge, according to Webster's New World Dictionary, was "the last major German counteroffensive of World War II, an unsuccessful attempt..." The Battle of the Bulging Budget, currently being fought in New York City, will most likely be analogously defined: "the last major Lindsay counteroffensive of the Urban Fiscal Crisis, an unsuccessful attempt..."

It is unclear how soon this definition might be confirmed. The Mayor's victory on Tuesday may only prove that he has won the battle to save himself, but is continuing to lose the war to save New York City. Many would say, as John Kenneth Galbraith suggests, that it is a war of fiscal survival. This is oversimplifying the situation to some degree, but perhaps not very much.

Most urban mayors would agree that while "the best things in life are free." it costs a hell of a lot just to stay alive. What worries most of them is the belief that the cities, particularly the central cities, are dying from fiscal starvation in front of an affluent but indifferent Federal government.

Just how bad is the fiscal situation in New York City? The problem is quite complex and no attempt is made here to offer more than a few suggestive thoughts. However, the discussion will point out, even at this level, just how hopeless the situation appears.

Imagine the following scenario: With his wrists handcuffed behind his back, his legs bound tightly, his eyes blindfolded and his mouth gagged, John V. Lindsay is told he must rescue a drowning New York City (from the polluted Hudson no less). This comes close to describing the present situation. A more modern version of trial by fire cannot be found.

That Lindsay won a second term is a tribute to the resiliency of the man, but not a sign that New York City has been (or will be) saved.

A CENTRAL theme runs throughout the numerous fiscal ills one could catalogue for New York City. Assuming that the Mayor knows what is optima! in an economic sense (and which therefore minimizes or even solves some fiscal problem), it is usually not optimal in a social sense.

Even if it is both economically and socially desirable, it is often legally prohibited, or more accurately, not sanctioned (New York City, as a legal entity, exists and functions only at the mercy of the State). And even if it is economically and socially desirable as well as legally permissible, it invariably runs into pressure group and ethnic politics rendering it politically untenable. Yet the question remains whether the Mayor can know what is economically and socially optimal.

At the present time there is one program planner in the City's Bureau of the Budget exploring the possibility of an "economic and social report of the Mayor" that would be comparable to the President's annual economic report. The difficulty of such a task is immensely complicated by the lack of a sophisticated understanding of the urban economy and social structure. In New York City, this lack of sophistication reflects a lack of data rather than brainpower.

Lindsay probably has as bright a group of advisers, assistants, and program planners as exists in any federal, state, or local bureaucracy today. What is lacking in New York, but to a much lesser extent in Washington, is meaningfully organized economic and social data to begin knowing what optimal policy is and how to implement it, even if it can't yet be achieved because of other institutional constraints.

Even while acknowledging the difficulty of determining optimal urban policy, some skeptical critics downplay the so-called urban fiscal "crisis." They contend that a disproportionate amount of the nation's wealth is concentrated in metropolitan areas, and add that this is particularly true for the New York area.

Data from the 1960 Census validates their point. At that time, average per capita income in SMSA's (Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas) was 52 per cent higher than in non-SMSA's. And the New York metropolitan area had an average per capita income 15 per cent higher than the average SMSA. Since 1960 these relationships have remained approximately the same. It is not unreasonable then to ask why the cities, particularly New York City, are complaining about not having enough money.

The Budget Director of New York City might well respond to this question, depending on how frank he was willing to be, that a crisis atmosphere around budget time is good politics-it tends to get more money out of a recalcitrant state legislature.

HOWEVER, there are more substantive reasons why a crisis atmosphere prevails. Accepting the skeptics' point that there is presently a disproportionate amount of wealth in metropolitan areas, one cannot overlook the dynamics of annually balancing the local budget. Things do tend to get worse over time. This is explained by the relatively simple concept of a "fiscal gap" or a "fiscal imbalance."