Although the debt debate has receded, some keeping a close eye on the issue continue to advocate for urgent measures to address what they see as an ever-looming problem. But others say those fears are overblown and that the priority should be economic investment and boosting the middle class.
GUESTS:
- Bob Bixby – executive director of The Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan organization that encourages fiscal responsibility in Washington
- Harry Stein - director of Fiscal Policy at the Center for American Progress, independent nonpartisan organization seeking to change the lives of Americans through progressive ideas
LINKS:
- A 2013 report from the Center for American Progress on the fiscal debate: "When considered all together, there is clearly no need for deficit reduction to take precedence over every other important issue facing the country. We need to stop allowing deficit concerns to hijack every other policy discussion."
- The Concord Coalition's Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform: "Don't duck the debt. Your campaign promises for reviving the economy, strengthening national defense, improving the social safety net or reducing the tax burden will ring hollow if they count on an escalating and unsustainable infusion of borrowed money. We do not seek pledges. There have been far too many of those. We seek solutions."