Beyond Balanced Budget Mania

An Agenda for Shared Prosperity Forum
Sponsored by EPI and the Institute for America's Future

Thursday, April 12, 2007, 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
EPI, 1333 H Street, NW, East Tower, Suite 300, Washington, DC

Video, audio, slide shows, and a full written transcript from this event are now available

Please join us for a discussion that challenges the prevailing, but ultimately misguided notion that budget policy should single-mindedly focus on balancing the budget in the short-term and on fixing a so-called "entitlements crisis" in the long-term. Instead of fixating on balancing the budget at all costs, budget policy really should be about prioritizing the nation's various needs, including public investments in such areas as early childhood development, access to higher education, universal broadband, renewable energy, and so on. As for the long-term deficit problem, describing it as an "entitlements crisis" obscures the fact that what the nation is actually dealing with is a crisis in escalating public and private health care costs that can only be addressed with comprehensive health care reform.

Registration
1:30-2:00 pm

KEYNOTE & DISCUSSION

Joseph Stiglitz
Professor, Columbia University
Nobel Laureate, economics 2001
Getting Beyond Balanced Budget Mania and Addressing the Nation's Needs

PANEL PRESENTATION & DISCUSSION

Henry Aaron
Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution
Chronic Deficits: Entitlement Crisis or Health Care Reform Crisis?

Joan Lombardi
Director, The Children's Project
Chair, Birth to Five Policy Alliance
Investing in Early Childhood Development: Science, Benefits, & Common Sense

Max Sawicky
Economist, Economic Policy Institute
Why Public Investment Matters

RSVP
Registration for this event has closed. Sign up to receive information on future events by email.

Video, audio, slide shows, and a full written transcript from this event are now available

Download printer-friendly PDF version of this invitation