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[image: Tackling the National Debt]

Winter 2020 | Issue 17
Tackling the National Debt

Summoning the courage to be fiscally responsible

Read the latest issue of The Catalyst [image: arrow] <[link removed]>

On Monday, the White House is slated to release its budget proposal for fiscal year 2021, jumpstarting the budget process for the year. Of course, this process largely will deal with our short-term fiscal challenges, while the larger national debt marches onward and upward. The accumulation of all our federal deficits over time now reaches around $ 23 trillion.

As The Catalyst <[link removed]> editorial board met last fall to consider issues that will require courage to tackle, we settled on this one to spotlight. Unlike, say, climate change, the national debt evokes few visceral responses. Left unchecked, this deep-seated problem will lead to its own calamities.
In this edition, we present a range of contributors who offer their views on controlling, reducing, and minimizing the debt. Plus, we offer readers the chance to decide how they would fix this problem. You will find a reader’s quiz in Robert Bixby’s “How Would You Balance the Budget?” piece. Take it and show how you would answer this challenge.

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Finding Budget Compromise: Case Studies from Recent Presidencies


James A. Baker, III recalls from his time as President Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff how a bipartisan compromise saved Social Security in 1983.
Read case studies in compromise. [image: arrow] <[link removed]>

We Cannot Burden Future Generations with Unpaid Debts


John Kasich , former GOP House Budget Committee chairman, explains why budget writers cannot play favorites and that major transitions must be phased in. The former Ohio governor also outlines the critical fiscal issues facing states.
How a budget hawk practiced his beliefs. [image: arrow] <[link removed]>

Debt Lessons from the States: Investing in Public Employees while Protecting Taxpayers


Margaret Spellings , president and CEO of Texas 2036, addresses one of the most important issues facing states: underfunded pensions.
Discover how Texas can deal with its pension liabilities. [image: arrow] <[link removed]>

How Would You Balance the Budget?


Michael A. Peterson , Maya MacGuineas , and Bob Bixby , leaders of three non-partisan organizations devoted to fiscal responsibility, make the case for why we ignore the national debt at our economic peril.
Take the reader quiz. [image: arrow] <[link removed]>

The National Debt Worries Americans, but We Are Not Clear About the Solutions


Holly Kuzmich , the George W. Bush Institute’s executive director, delves into polling data to gauge Americans’ interest in this problem.
What polling data says about our attitudes toward the debt. [image: arrow] <[link removed]>

Listening to Washington, Smith, and Friedman: The Moral Case Against Public Debt


James Otteson , the Thomas W. Smith Presidential Chair in Business Ethics at Wake Forest University, writes about the morality of handing off our biggest fiscal challenge to future generations.
The moral case against public debt. [image: arrow] <[link removed]>

A Historical Look at National Debt Teaches an Unambiguous Lesson


Cullum Clark , director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative, dives into how nations previously ignored their debts and yet how others have corrected them.
Learning from history about ignoring — and resolving — debt crises. [image: arrow] <[link removed]>

The Choice is Ours: The Budget Deficit is a Lack of Prioritization


Matthew Rooney , managing director of the joint economic growth initiative, declares that the nation has a hard time setting priorities because Congress consistently fails to pass a budget.
Congress: We need priorities. [image: arrow] <[link removed]>

Cutting Foreign Aid is Not the Answer to Our Debt Crisis


Natalie Gonnella-Platts , director of the Bush Institute’s Women’s Initiative, and Lindsay Lloyd , Bradford M. Freeman Director of the Bush Institute’s Human Freedom Initiative, expose the myth that eliminating federal aid will take care of the debt.
Cutting foreign aid is not the answer. [image: arrow] <[link removed]>

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