Facing The Future

This week on Facing the Future, we'll talk with Ben Ritz, Vice President of Policy Development at the Progressive Policy Institute, about a comprehensive plan his organization released in July to greatly improve the nation's fiscal outlook by cutting costs, raising revenues and growing the economy.

This week on Facing the Future we focused on the economy and previewed the 2025 tax debate when key provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. We also discussed some new tax proposals that have been floated on the campaign trail.    Our guest was Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of the American Action Forum and former Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Concord Coalition chief economist Steve Robinson joined the conversation.

This week on Facing the Future, Dr. Kent Smetters of the Penn Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania will give us his nonpartisan analysis of the budgetary, economic and distributional effects of the Harris and Trump campaign policy proposals. Also, Steve Robinson discusses new long-term projections for Social Security.

This week on Facing the Future, Josh Gordon, Director of Health Policy at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), joined the show to discuss healthcare spending, prescription drug prices, and more. At CRFB, Gordon heads the Health Savers Initiative.Concord Coalition Chief Economist Steve Robinson joined the healthcare conversation, and later discussed his new issue brief entitled Means Testing Federal Benefits and Tax Expenditures.

This week on Facing the Future, Bob is joined by Bill Gale, Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution. A well respected expert in the subject of debt and taxes, Gale recently wrote a piece for Brookings called Back to the Future: Can the Government Reduce Its Debt Again? which discussed the future of federal debt management in the United States. Later in the show, David Lerman, writer of CQ Rollcall’s budget newsletter previewed the important appropriations and spending decisions that await Congress when it returns from summer recess in September. Concord Coalition Chief Economist Steve Robinson joined both conversations.

This week on Facing the Future we celebrated Social Security’s birthday. Wednesday, August 14th marked 89 years since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. Bob and Concord Coalition Chief Economist Steve Robinson assessed Social Security’s accomplishments, future challenges, and some myths about reform. Later in the show, former U.S. Senator from Indiana Dan Coats shared his experience with the debt and deficit through the lens of a long and distinguished career of public service in the federal government.

This week on Facing the Future, Bob Bixby switched from the host chair to the guest seat to talk about  his 25-year career as Executive Director of The Concord Coalition. National Field Director Phil Smith asked Bob questions about the importance of the federal budget, the fiscal outlook, and The Concord Coalition over the years. Later in the show, Phil interviewed two of our Fiscal Lookout volunteers, Kevin Wiley of Indiana and Erik Carter of New York, about the work of political depolarization and engaging their communities in fiscal issues.

This week on Facing the Future we’ll talk with Jeff Holland of the Peterson Foundation about a series of papers released last week called Solutions Initiative 2024. It features seven plans from prominent think tanks, including one from our second guest, Andrew Lautz of the Bipartisan Policy Center.

This week on Facing the Future, we'll take a preliminary look at the tax policy proposals of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. In addition, we'll consider the tax policy implications of a case recently decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Our guest is Steven Rosenthal, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

This week on Facing the Future we'll look at whether the Fed has seen enough progress on inflation to begin cutting interest rates? Our guest is Gordon Gray, executive director of the Pinpoint Policy Institute. Then, we'll say farewell to frequent co-host Tori Gorman as she takes up a new job with the Congressional Research Service.

This week on Facing the Future we'll get perspectives from high school students who negotiated their own budget plans at a recent New Hampshire Boys State conference. Then we'll review what Presidents Biden and Trump said about the debt and Social Security at the debate.

This week on Facing the Future, Bob was joined by Concord Coalition Co-Chairs and former U.S. Senators Bob Kerrey (D-NE) and Jack Danforth (R-MO). Thirty years ago they co-chaired a bipartisan commission on entitlement and tax reform that warned of unsustainable budget trends. Reflecting back upon the past three decades, the bright spots are overshadowed by the same looming problems the Kerrey-Danforth Commission warned of in 1994. The Co-Chairs outlined where we stand and where we go from here. Concord Coalition Policy Director Tori Gorman joined the conversation.

This week on Facing the Future, Bob Bixby was joined by Concord Coalition Policy Director Tori Gorman and Chief Economist Steve Robinson to discuss the latest 10-year Budget and Economic Outlook from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO report projects that the federal budget deficit will grow from $2 trillion this year to $2.8 trillion by 2034 (adjusted to exclude timing shifts that occur when the first day of the fiscal year falls on a weekend). Bob, Tori, and Steve broke down the key projections from the report and what each could mean for interest rates, jobs, and economic growth going forward.

This week on Facing the Future, Bob Bixby was joined on the show by Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. He also served as one of thirteen COVID-19 advisors on President-elect Biden’s pandemic advisory board in 2020. Osterholm provided insights into where we currently stand with COVID-19 and what lessons we can learn to better prepare for the next pandemic. Concord Coalition Chief Economist Steve Robinson and National Field Director Phil Smith joined the conversation.

This week on Facing the Future we’ll examine developments on the national security front with Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution. Topics include the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza as well as competition with China.

This week on Facing the Future Bob was joined by George Mason University Professor Sita Slavov to discuss her recent essay Making Tough Fiscal Choices to Protect Future Generations and the relevance of long term sustainability to younger generations. Slavov has previously worked with the White House Council of Economic Advisors and was a member of the 2019 Social Security Technical Panel on Assumptions and Methods. Concord Coalition National Field Director Phil Smith joined the conversation.

This week on Facing the Future we'll talk with Jason Furman, a former top economic advisor to Presidents Clinton and Obama. He now teaches economics at Harvard University. We discussed the prospects of a "soft landing" for the economy and the crucial role of interest rates in projecting future debt.

This week on Facing the Future, we'll hear first from two UNH professors, Dr Carolyn Arcand and NH State Senator Dan Innis, about the relevance of fiscal policy to their students' future. Then we'll take another look at GAO's new estimate of government-wide fraud with Rebecca Shea, co-author of the report.

This week on Facing the Future we took a close look at Social Security and Medicare, the two largest programs in the federal budget. Between them they cost nearly $2.2 trillion dollars in 2023, roughly 36 percent of total federal spending. They also affect the retirement income and healthcare of millions of Americans.    On Monday, May 6, the Social Security and Medicare trustees issued their 2024 report, which again indicated that both programs have serious challenges ahead, and those challenges are not too far off.

This week on Facing the Future we’ll look at the future of Social Security with former U.S. Representative Reid Ribble (R-WI), who served in Congress from 2011-2017. In 2016, Ribble released the Save Our Social Security Act (S.O.S.) with a bipartisan group of co-sponsors. We discussed that plan with him and why he thinks Social Security reform is essential.