President Obama"™s intention to convene a fiscal responsibility summit is a very welcome development. It offers a valuable opportunity to focus public attention on our nation"™s unsustainable budget outlook and to highlight various approaches to meaningful action.
As a group of budget analysts and former senior budget officials, we view this summit as the first step to addressing the enormous long-term fiscal problem facing the United States. Without decisive action this problem will lead to serious harm to our economy and a huge financial burden on our children and grandchildren.
Tackling these problems will require a degree of sacrifice impossible under the existing policy process, which discourages bipartisan compromise and encourages procrastination and obstructionism. Unless those procedures are modified, and the American people are engaged in the process, future legislative attempts to address the looming fiscal crisis will almost certainly fail.
In our view, the American people are ready to confront the challenge. For the last three years several of us have traveled around the country as a group, discussing these issues with thousands of Americans in dozens of cities, in a bipartisan effort known as the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour. We have found that when Americans are given the facts and options in a neutral and bipartisan way, they want action and are willing to make difficult trade-offs.
We therefore urge the President to lead a major public engagement effort "“ beyond a oneday summit "“ to inform Americans of the scale and nature of the long-term fiscal crisis, explain the consequences of inaction and discuss the options for solving the problem. This should be bipartisan, and involve a serious conversation with Americans to help guide action in Washington. As a group with some experience in this domain, we stand ready to assist if needed.
We also believe that for this policy commitment to produce tangible results, the President and others who share the goal of fiscal responsibility must address the fact that the regular political process has been incapable of dealing with long-term fiscal issues. We see no alternative but to create an independent and truly bipartisan commission or other mechanism capable of bringing about decisive action that has broad public support. We therefore urge the President to support such a commission. For this commission or some other mechanism to break through the legislative logjam it will need four key elements:
[ul][*][align=left]It must be truly bipartisan and develop solutions that command wide support.[/align][*][align=left]It must have a broad mandate to address all aspects of the fiscal problem while fostering strong economic growth.[/align][*][align=left]There must be no preconditions to the deliberations. All options must be on the table for discussion. Nobody should be required to agree in advance to any option.[/align][*][align=left]Recommendations must go before Congress for an up-or-down vote with few if any amendments. Such a game-changing process is not without precedents; controversial military base closings or the ratification of international trade agreements, for example, have long been governed by special rules along these lines, not by business as usual.[/align][/ul]
We are deeply worried about the long-term fiscal imbalance and the dangers it carries for the economy and for our children and grandchildren. We know the President is concerned as well, as are many Members of Congress in both political parties. We are ready to help in building public understanding of the problem and the options, and in crafting an approach that will enable the legislative process to deal with the problem.
This statement is offered by members of the Brookings-Heritage Fiscal Seminar. The views expressedare those of the individuals involved and should not be interpreted as representing the views of theirrespective institutions. For purposes of identification, the affiliation of each signatory is listed.
Signatories: Joe Antos American Enterprise Institute Will Marshall Progressive Policy Institute Robert Bixby Concord Coalition Pietro Nivola Brookings Institution Stuart Butler Heritage Foundation Rudolph Penner Urban Institute Alison Fraser Heritage Foundation Robert Reischauer Urban Institute William Galston Brookings Institution Alice M. Rivlin Brookings Institution Ron Haskins Brookings Institution Isabel Sawhill Brookings Institution Julia Isaacs Brookings Institution C. Eugene Steuerle Peter G. Peterson Foundation
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
RE: Heritage Scholars Join Call for Independent Commission
Quote:
ORIGINAL: falcon
Where were the so called "Heritage Scholars" when Reagan, Bush I,and Bush II ran up overeight trillion dollars in national debt.
They were right there railing agianst these social programs falcon. However, just like today, your not listening. surprise surprise
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
RE: Heritage Scholars Join Call for Independent Commission
Quote:
[blockquote]quote:
They were right there railing agianst these social programs falcon. However, just like today, your not listening. surprise surprise
[/blockquote]
They stood by silently while the government grew buy leaps and bounds.
Horse hockey, where do you think I learned how bad all these unsustianable entittlement programs were? Why do you think I fight so hard for individuals to actually own their own retirement accounts with their name on it instead of a fake account that no one owns and no one is guaranteed to see a dime in return? Like I said, you weren't paying attention. Instead of riding the canidate that talk about reform out of town and voting for the false promises. You should have been paying a little more attention.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
RE: Heritage Scholars Join Call for Independent Commission
Quote:
ORIGINAL: Fieldmouse
Quote:
[blockquote]quote:
They were right there railing agianst these social programs falcon. However, just like today, your not listening. surprise surprise
[/blockquote]
They stood by silently while the government grew buy leaps and bounds.
Horse hockey, where do you think I learned how bad all these unsustianable entittlement programs were? Why do you think I fight so hard for individuals to actually own their own retirement accounts with their name on it instead of a fake account that no one owns and no one is guaranteed to see a dime in return? Like I said, you weren't paying attention. Instead of riding the canidate that talk about reform out of town and voting for the false promises. You should have been paying a little more attention.
HA HA, one more year of your guy FM, and you wouldn't have to worry about retirement, you would probably have to walk out of town, your car would be repo'ed. lmao
RE: Heritage Scholars Join Call for Independent Commission
Hey RM, I like a lot of my peers on this board realise, there will be no SS when we retire. It's in the hole by 6+ trillion. Not because the Government spent it (because it was always set up to go into government bonds) but because it was a ponzi scheme from the get go. A slush fund for politicians thats nearing the end. Medicare and medicaid are even worst.Well over 60 trillion unfunded. Where is this money going to come from? No, I'm going to be well taken care of through my own hard work. I'm not waiting around like you for someone else to do your dirty work. If you really want your neighbors money, go there with your hand out. Don't send the politician like arthur does.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
RE: Heritage Scholars Join Call for Independent Commission
Quote:
ORIGINAL: Fieldmouse
Hey RM, I like a lot of my peers on this board realise, there will be no SS when we retire. It's in the hole by 6+ trillion. Not because the Government spent it (because it was always set up to go into government bonds) but because it was a ponzi scheme from the get go. A slush fund for politicians thats nearing the end. Medicare and medicaid are even worst.Well over 60 trillion unfunded. Where is this money going to come from? No, I'm going to be well taken care of through my own hard work. I'm not waiting around like you for someone else to do your dirty work. If you really want your neighbors money, go there with your hand out. Don't send the politician like arthur does.
FYI FM, I am fully retired on my own cash. I would like to know why you don't concentrate on a way to fix SS. I suppose you know, that ifwe were to keep wages instep withGDP, we would not have an SS funding problem. I'm sure you would have some good idea's to reform it, instead of abolishment.
RE: Heritage Scholars Join Call for Independent Commission
False. You clearly don't understand the problems with SS. It has nothing to do with wages not keeping pace with GDP, because they are. Next year there will only be 3 people paying for one persons retirement not the 42 people when it began. It's a ponzi scheme through and through.
I've put forth my fix plan many times and it begins tomorrow. We implement a means test for everyone retired. You retire folks have voted for 50 years +/- and running people who warned about the problem out of town. You all had the chance to fix it but blew it. You shouldn't get a pass in my book. Anyone above a certain level, gets dropped from SS. That income leve will slowly drop until everyone is off of the SS system. I estimate the last person to ever get an SS check would be in their early fifties but it won't be much. Anyone in their 40s will be cut off from any benifits but will also get a chance to divert current money in their later years towards a retirement account and also get breaks to deposit more into a retirement account. My reward for giving up my SS now yet still dumping my money into the pnzi scheme, mean everyone in their thirties our below it out tomorrow. All of their money goes into their own account. They earn it, they get to keep it for themselves. Now don't tell me I'm not trying to fix the SS system.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
Heritage Scholars Join Call for Independent Commission
