In this episode of The Debt Dialogues I interview Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, about the cause of the Depression and how it made possible the creation of the American welfare state.
On the July 16 edition of Coffee & Markets, Brad Jackson and Allysen Efferson had me on to discuss my new book on Social Security, how FDR’s program has hurt American self-reliance, and my End the Debt Draft campaign.
Laurence J. Kotlikoff testifies before the House Committee on Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee on the state of the program. I don’t agree with all his conclusions, but I definitely agree that the program’s finances are in far worse shape than is commonly understood. “To pay its scheduled benefits in full through time, the Social Security system needs a 32 percent immediate and permanent increase in the future path of payroll tax revenues. Based on the current covered earnings ceiling, this represents a 4-cent-on-the-covered-dollar higher payroll tax starting today and continuing forever. . . . Social Security is in dire financial shape.” Kotlikoff was the first guest featured on my podcast The Debt Dialogues, which you can check out here.
One of the recurring themes in debates over the entitlement state is that most people are on the dole through no fault of their own, and that the only way they can succeed is if the rest of us are taxed to give them free education, free job training, free child care, subsidized transportation, and anything else the entitlement state's supporters come up with. Is that true?
The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview Lee Ohanian, Professor of Economics at UCLA, on the state of the economy.
Over at the American Enterprise Institute blog, James Pethokoukis takes me to task for opposing a government "safety net," i.e., for advocating the total abolition of the welfare state.
The Debt Dialogues is a weekly podcast that aims to educate young people about the welfare state and how it will affect their future. In this episode, I interview Sylvester Schieber, former chairman of the Social Security Advisory Board and author of The Predictable Surprise: The Unraveling of the U.S. Retirement System, on the question: Does America face a retirement crisis?
Paul Ryan just released a plan to reform the welfare state in order to encourage work and upward mobility. Ryan has long been worried that our “safety net” has become a “hammock,” lulling people into long-term dependency and punishing them for working: many poor Americans can actually lose money by getting a job and forgoing whatever handouts they were previously eligible for.
Let me share something with you that’s a little personal. One of the greatest sources of joy in my life is my one-year-old daughter, and my wife and I are eager — that’s too weak a word, actually — to have another kid. But we simply cannot afford to.
