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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Can America Govern Itself?: Deficits, Debt, And Delay, Ron Haskins Oct 2013

Can America Govern Itself?: Deficits, Debt, And Delay, Ron Haskins

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

America has now been in the throes of a deficit and debt crisis for nearly a decade. Over the last three years, the federal government has tied itself in knots trying to reach a long-term solution. Any effective solution will involve tax increases and entitlement cuts. But both parties have been unwilling to openly bargain about either the tax increases or spending cuts they are willing to consider as part of a grand bargain. Why are both parties being so intransigent? What are the prospects for a grand bargain and what might it look like? What are the consequences if …


Putting Nevada In Perspective: State And Local Government Budgets In Recession And Recovery, Tracy M. Gordon Sep 2012

Putting Nevada In Perspective: State And Local Government Budgets In Recession And Recovery, Tracy M. Gordon

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Nevada, the state most affected by the Great Recession of 2008, faced one of the nation's worst state budget shortfalls in 2011. This presentation examines state budget drivers, including constitutional requirements, tax and spending limitations, federal statutes, demographics, and the resulting policy choices to evaluate how state-level decisions affect local jurisdictions that continue to cope with lower property values, foreclosures, and high unemployment. It will also discuss longer term challenges including rising health care costs and retiree pensions as well as issues surrounding implementation of the Affordable Care Act.


The U.S. Tax System: Where Do We Go From Here?, Adele C. Morris Mar 2012

The U.S. Tax System: Where Do We Go From Here?, Adele C. Morris

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

This talk will explore how the U.S. tax system really works, where revenue comes from, where spending goes, what a tax expenditure is, and discuss deficit prognoses and how the recent political debates could affect our economy. The speaker will highlight some advantages and disadvantages of different budget balancing options.


Deficits And Disaster, Ron Haskins Sep 2010

Deficits And Disaster, Ron Haskins

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The nation’s deficit path is unsustainable. The public debt is likely to increase by $1 trillion per year until 2020, and then increase at an ever increasing rate after that. Far from helping the nation address its exploding deficit, the last two administrations and every congress since 2000 have taken actions that have intensified the problem. It is time for Americans to face the high probability that due most fundamentally to their continuing demand for high spending and low taxes, sometime in the next decade or so one or more catastrophes will strike America. This presentation will lay out the …