Issues

About Our Issues

The Foundation seeks to bring people together to become better informed, raising awareness of the need for overall fiscal responsibility, and engaging citizens in finding the solutions to the key challenges that must be addressed to improve our fiscal future. The quicker we take action in the near term, the lesser the burden future generations will have to bear.

Fiscal Sustainability

National Economic Responsibility

Today, with our economy struggling, the federal government is running sizeable deficits. That will help to stabilize the economy in the near term. However, even after economy recovers, the government projects decades of continuing deficits and mounting debt that put our nation on an unsustainable path. This is the so called "structural deficit". Absent meaningful entitlement reforms and spending constraints, future tax burdens will have to more than double for the country to get by. Budget controls, program evaluation, spending constraints, and tax reform must be implemented to free up resources to address new priorities and meet new needs. With trade deficits now at twice the previous record levels, and with our low national and personal savings rates, America also has become dangerously dependent on foreign capital.

Piecemeal changes will not solve these problems-comprehensive reforms are required to address them. Everything must be on the table – taxes and spending. The solution is deceptively simple: we should pay for current spending and programs with current taxes, not debt. That would avoid passing on the bill to future taxpayers. Each generation must have the flexibility to set their own priorities according to the opportunities and needs of their time.

Spending Priorities

Entitlement Reform

With the oldest of 78 million baby boomers starting to retire, spending for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will grow significantly as a share of the budget. With health care costs projected to rise faster than the revenues designated to pay for them, the growth in health care programs poses especially serious challenges. Changes to Social Security will also be required to assure its long-term finances and its ability to continue to supplement the income needs of an aging population. In addition, we need to re-examine all other federal spending to assure that programs and benefits reflect the current and future needs and priorities of our nation.

Taxes

Tax Reform

Closing the budget's structural gap will require an evaluation of the budget's revenue requirements. In addition to providing more resources, 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. At the same time, compliance with the current system costs Americans a great deal of time and money. Tax reform is necessary to restore the public's confidence that the system is fair and to provide a more transparent and effective way for the government to raise revenues. .


Health Care Reform

Health Care Reform

The rapid growth in the cost of health care is straining the budgets of households, businesses, and all levels of government. After adjustment for inflation and the growth in the economy, federal health care costs have more than tripled in the last 20 years. In the next 20 years, spending for Medicare and Medicaid is expected grow another 66 percent. Because Medicare and Medicaid cannot be fixed without addressing the rest of the health care system, overall health care reform measures that address the growth in costs is a fundamental part of achieving fiscal sustainability. Americans spend more than twice as much per person than people in other economically developed nations. Yet we don't enjoy better health outcomes or longer life expectancies. Our current health care system favors numbers of procedures over integrated care, specialists over primary care physicians, and intensive over preventive care. It also leaves over 46 million Americans uninsured. Without comprehensive reform, growing health care costs could bankrupt the country and deny increasing numbers of people much-needed care. We need to find ways to improve value in our health system, reducing costs while improving outcomes and improving access to quality care for all Americans.

What Individuals Can Do

Personal Financial Responsibility

By increasing personal saving-- as well as public saving--we can gain greater control over our own destinies. The country will be less dependent on foreign lenders and interest payments on the federal debt will stay within the domestic economy, instead of going abroad. We can do our part by saving more, taking better care of our personal finances, and avoiding excessive debt. Stronger individual finances will provide families with greater security, while low savings and large debts expose families to serious financial risks, as we have seen during the recent economic downturn. By saving more for retirement, we can improve our ability to live comfortably in our later years.

Helpful Resources