RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alice M. Rivlin, March 26, 2009, The Washington Post
President Barack Obama’s budget is the subject of floor debate in the House and Senate this week. Alice Rivlin says that the budget offers good remedies for America’s economic ills, but urges Congress to make it even better by paying for the new investments and reducing the long-term deficits. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William A. Galston, November 10, 2009, Senate Budget Committee
Speaking before the Senate Budget Committee, Senior Fellow William Galston discussed how the Untied States’ current fiscal course is unsustainable. The level of deficits, debt, and borrowing from abroad projected for the next decade threatens not only our economic prosperity, but also our currency, global leadership, and national independence, he asserted. Galston recommended that an independent, bi-partisan commission be created to address the challenge of developing a sustainable fiscal policy. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William G. Gale and Alan J. Auerbach, September 15, 2009, The Brookings Institution
William Gale and Alan Auerbach review recent economic events and their impact on U.S. fiscal performance and prospects, highlighting the historic nature of the 2009 budget outcomes, the unsustainability of plausible ten-year budget projections, and the increasingly dire long-term fiscal problem. Read More
BOOK
Ron Haskins and Isabel V. Sawhill, September 15, 2009
Creating an Opportunity Society examines economic opportunity in the United States and explores how to create more of it, particularly for those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Read More
VIDEO
Alice M. Rivlin, August 27, 2009
President Barack Obama has nominated Ben Bernanke to serve a second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The nomination came on the same day the White House announced a sharp increase in projected deficits. Alice Rivlin says the deficit projections should serve as an impetus for officials to step up efforts to fix the floundering economy. She also gives the Bernanke nomination her nod of approval.
VIDEO
Bill Frenzel, August 14, 2009
The debate over health care reform has moved from Capitol Hill into the heartland where Members of Congress are hosting dozens of packed town hall meetings on the issue. William Frenzel, a Brookings expert and former U.S. representative from Minnesota, and the a co-chair of The Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget—which holds community meetings to gauge how the public feels about government spending—says town hall meetings should be used judiciously.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Henry J. Aaron, August 05, 2009, The New England Journal of Medicine
As Congress continues to debate health care reform, the question of how to pay for it remains at the center of the discussion. The politics of paying for near-universal coverage are formidable and may prove insurmountable, says Henry Aaron. He believes it is essential to identify elements of a full plan that could be financed at a politically acceptable price and would set the stage for later reforms. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Gary Burtless, August 04, 2009, National Journal
Critics of the government’s stimulus policies claim the surge in personal saving shows the stimulus has not been effective. Gary Burtless examines whether this claim is credible, finding that the presumed failure of the stimulus package is based on a very unrealistic benchmark. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William G. Gale and Alan J. Auerbach, July 30, 2009, CNNMoney.com
William Gale and Alan Auerbach discuss the size of the long-term budget deficit and why it must be brought under control. They urge fiscal discipline with delicate timing: imposing spending cuts and tax increases too late risks precipitating a crisis in financial markets; imposing fiscal discipline too soon risks weakening the recovery or worsening the recession, as actually happened in the United States in the 1930s. Getting this mix right will require luck, discipline, imagination and leadership. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Mark Muro, Sarah Rahman and Amy Liu, July 23, 2009, The Brookings Institution
In this framing paper, Mark Muro, Sarah Rahman and Amy Liu highlight the work of some of the most creative recovery act implementers in metropolitan America, noting that their efforts to innovate come against the grain of federal “business-as-usual.” Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William G. Gale, July 21, 2009, National Journal
William Gale argues that choosing to finance health care reform by taxing the rich is bad economic policy, bad health policy, bad budget policy and poor leadership. He says if we want to seriously reform the health care system, we need our politicians to get serious with some sensible policies. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William G. Gale and Alan J. Auerbach, July 08, 2009, Los Angeles Times
The U.S. confronts two major economic challenges: the worst recession since the Depression and a growing imbalance between federal spending and revenues that makes our underlying fiscal policy unsustainable. Policymakers face a delicate balancing act between encouraging economic recovery and establishing fiscal sustainability. William Gale and Alan Auerbach say success will take new ideas, some luck and uncharacteristic honesty and resoluteness — from our leaders and the rest of us. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alice M. Rivlin, July 06, 2009, Bloomberg
Alice Rivlin talks to Bloomberg's Tom Keene about U.S. monetary policy, the budget deficit, unemployment, gross domestic product and health care.
Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alice M. Rivlin, June 25, 2009, House Committee on the Budget
Testifying before the House Budget Committee, Alice Rivlin urged enforcement of the statutory pay-as-you-go budget rules to rein in the long-term deficit. She endorsed the recent actions taken to stimulate the economy and rescue the financial sector, but said the costly measures further obligate Congress and the administration to control deficits. Read More
VIDEO
William G. Gale, June 22, 2009
While many steps have been taken to help shore up the floundering U.S. economy, William Gale says that the long-term fiscal situation is still very dire.