State of Democracy Lecture

"Is the United States Headed for a Catastrophic Budget Failure?" This year’s federal budget deficit is a record $1.4 trillion, but the flood of red ink is only just beginning.  An aging population, rising health care costs, and a political establishment that seems incapable of making tough choices threaten to turn the United States into the largest insolvent debtor nation in history, with catastrophic consequences for the US and world economies.  This lecture will address the causes and consequences of catastrophic budget failure and what we can do to avoid it. Speaker is Leonard Burman, the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Professor of Public Affairs at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, director emeritus of the Tax Policy Center, and affiliated scholar at the Urban Institute.