Presentation Monday, Sept. 19, 2011
The Johnson County Task Force on Aging invited an IPP presentation on federal deficit and debt issues as part of its Debt Reduction Summit, held Sept. 19, 2011, in Iowa City at the Iowa State University Extension Office on the 4-H Fairgrounds.
Below are two of the key graphs from slides at that presentation by IPP Assistant Director Mike Owen. For a PDF file of all slides, click here.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3490
Economic Downturn and Bush Policies Continue to Drive Large Projected Deficits, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Kathy Ruffing and James R. Horney, May 10, 2011
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Deficits of recent years and the resulting debt problem stem from three main causes:
We chose to reduce our federal revenue — tax cuts passed in 2001-03 and still on the books.
We chose to spend more on national security, including two wars.
We lapsed into a recession from which we have not recovered; this has caused a substantial loss of revenue.
It is not realistic to think we can deal with these ongoing problems without addressing those root causes of it.
We need a balanced approach to deficit and debt reduction: Spending cuts and new revenues should have equal shaes of the solution.
We should protect entitlement programs for low-income Americans so that nothing in debt reduction increases poverty or income inequality.
We must not undermine Medicaid; changes must be carefully designed to truly contain costs of services and treatment, without reducing eligibility or access to quality care.
We must avoid further cuts in non-defense discretionary services; these already have been cut by nearly $1 trillion in the Budget Control Act.
Iowa Fiscal Partnership website: www.iowafiscal.org.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities website: www.cbpp.org.
National Priorities Project website: www.nationalpriorities.org
IPP's Mike Owen, in the Sept. 17 Iowa City Press-Citizen
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