Panel Thurs 2 Dec on politics and deficit reduction in NYC

See below. W. D. Burnham is a former professor of mine, T. Ferguson does important work on money and politics, and J. Stiglitz is a colleague at Columbia (whom I’ve never actually met). Could be interesting.

Join the Roosevelt Institute on December 2nd, from 8-11am at NYC’s Harvard Club 27 West 44th St. for a panel discussion of the Bipartisan Deficit Commission Report, the future of the U.S. Economy, and the prospects for policy change in the wake of the midterm elections.

The conversation will be framed by the release of three new Roosevelt Institute White Papers:

Democracy in Peril: The American Turnout Problem and the Path to Plutocracy (Walter Dean Burnham)

A World Upside Down: Deficit Fantasies in the Great Recession (Thomas Ferguson and Robert Johnson)

Principles and Guidelines For Deficit Reduction (Joseph Stiglitz)

Because space is limited, please RSVP to Madeleine Ehrlich at [email protected] or 212.444.9138.

1 thought on “Panel Thurs 2 Dec on politics and deficit reduction in NYC

  1. If you wish to be a skunk at the picnic, you might point out that since the share of GNP taken by the top 1% has gone from under 9% in 1976 to 24% in 2007, that the deficit be reduced by taking, say 3-4% of this increase, so this group has only 20-21%. Everybody's jaws will drop and then the important people will look at each other with knowing glances and there will be a statement to the effect that "this just can't be done" and then the panel will go on to discussing shredding what's left of the safety net for the submerged 2/3rds of the population (you know, the people you don't have lunch with at the faculty club–but they would be waiting on your table).

    If they actually want a description of how this might be done, you could explain that one way to start would be to eliminate preferential treatment of dividends and capital gains. Dividends have no justification even under supply side "theory" (a theory similar to creationism in terms of its empirical support), and the privileging of capital gains is completely unnecessary as the world is awash in capital (all time corporate cash on hand highs, borrowing costs non-existent, two trillion in dollars sitting in China) and it's just used to create bubbles because there aren't sufficient investment opportunities in productive enterprises. And the social security tax could be extended to all levels and types of incomes, rather than taxing labor. And if the panelists start talking about marginal tax rates, you might discuss how the marginal tax rate on a middle-class laborer is twice what it is on a person in the top 1%.

    On the second thought, you don't want to bring any of this up, for you won't get invited back, as you would have obviously proven your unfitness for serious society.

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