Fiscal Responsibility
America has become addicted to debt. Every American is now burdened, most of them unknowingly, with $184,000 in federal liabilities and unfunded government promises. Absent meaningful entitlement reforms and spending constraints, future tax burdens will have to more than double for the country to get by.
Entitlement
With the oldest of 78 million baby boomers starting to retire, the sum of America's unfunded liabilities currently exceeds three times the size of the entire U.S. economy. Today, people are encouraged to spend more than one-third of their entire adult lives in retirement, reducing the share of benefits available to the truly old and needy. We need to reform our entitlement programs to reflect current economic realities and longer life spans.
Health Care
Health care costs are more than twice as high per capita in America as in the rest of the developed world. Our current health care system favors chronic care over cures, specialists over primary care physicians, and intensive over preventive care. It also leaves over 47 million Americans uninsured.
Tax Reform
Our tax code must be overhauled to reflect current economic realities, reduce the system’s complexity, and enhance its efficiency. The tax system has become so complicated and riddled with special provisions that it violates basic fairness, encourages game-playing, sheltering, and other non-productive and even risky uses of money. Tax reform is necessary to provide a more transparent and effective way for the government to raise revenues.
Personal Responsibility
Many Americans can become safer and more secure by saving more, being more mindful of their personal finances, and living within their means. The combination of small savings and large debts threatens the well-being of workers and homeowners, as we have seen during the current financial crisis. By increasing personal saving as well as public saving, Americans will gain greater control over their own destinies.
New at PGPFread all
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Federal Budget on Unsustainable PathA report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shows that the current federal budget will force the national debt to continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run. Rising costs for health care and the aging of the U.S. population will cause federal spending to increase rapidly, assuming the continuation of current policies regarding health care entitlement spending (Medicare and Medicaid), and Social Security. |
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Washington D.C. "Gets Fiscal" with Budgetball on the MallThis weekend, government's policymakers went toe-to-toe with college students — not in a debate or a closed-door session, but by getting "fiscal" on the Budgetball battlefield. In a statement read during the opening ceremony, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner congratulated the players for taking part in an event to help broaden public awareness about responsible financial behavior. In the end, the University of Miami triumphed over seven other teams, including second-place finishers Philander Smith college. |
Blog, Op-Eds, and Columns
blog
Personal Savings Rate Hits New High
op-ed
"Sticks" or Mandates to Buy Health Insurance: Is Health Reform Possible Without Them?
If we are to achieve health reform — that is, affordable, sustainable, and constantly improving health care available to all — we need to start looking as much to the psychology of the issue as to the economics and politics.
Eventssee all
Upcoming Events
Jul 31 |
Public Agenda at ABA |
Jul 30 |
Public Agenda at Generations United |
Recent Events
Budgetball, a new sport developed to raise fiscal awareness, will debut on college campuses this spring starting with the University of Miami and Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas.
I.O.U.S.A.: Byte-Sized
The 30 Minute Version
"I.O.U.S.A." "may be to the U.S. economy what 'An Inconvenient Truth' was to the environment." -- Reuters .
