Grandma's Benefits Imperil Junior's Future

• Volume 53, Presented On: October 04, 2011
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From the Panel

• For: Margaret Hoover

• Hoovernomics (but a Different Hoover)
  Elizabeth Weingarten, Slate, October 4, 2011
  An interview with Fox News Commentator Margaret Hoover: Why she’ll argue for the proposition “Grandma’s benefits imperil Junior’s future.”
• How the GOP Can Win Young Voters
  Margaret Hoover, Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2011
  Republicans have a golden opportunity to win back millennials by articulating positive and pragmatic solutions to issues that affect them—starting with job creation, spending reform, entitlement reform and education reform.
• Margaret Hoover Talks Politics, Depression Economics: Echoes
  Amity Shlaes, Bloomberg, View July 12, 2011
  Interview with Margaret Hoover.

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• For: Mort Zuckerman

• Articles by Mortimer B. Zuckerman
  U.S. News & World Report, March 17, 2011
  Read Mortimer B. Zuckerman’s opinion pieces at U.S. News & World Report.
• Obama and the “Competency Crisis”
  Mortimer B. Zuckerman, Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2011
  It is the president's job to offer a coherent program for the twin threats of a static economy and an unsustainable explosion of our debts and deficits.
• Tax Hikes, Fewer Benefits Key to Federal Deficit Crisis Fix
  Mort Zuckerman, U.S. News & World Report, November 19, 2010
  To climb out of the fiscal hole, there must be hard compromises from everyone on the political spectrum. Conservatives will have to accept tax increases and defense cuts, and liberals will have to accept the reduction of entitlement benefits.
• Political Leaders Must Deal With the National Debt or Future Generations Will Pay
  Mort Zuckerman, U.S. News & World Report, March 5, 2010
  America’s financial crisis is only getting worse as more people draw from the entitlement pool and taxes remain low for higher earners. Reducing benefits, reforming eligibility for entitlement programs, and raising taxes are necessary to shrink our massive debt.

• Against: Howard Dean

• Leave Grandma Alone
  Elizabeth Weingarten, Slate, September 27, 2011
  An interview with former DNC Chairman Howard Dean: Why he'll argue against the proposition "Grandma's benefits imperil Junior's future" at the Oct. 4 Slate/Intelligence Squared U.S. debate.
• Howard Dean: Political Pain of Debt Talks
  The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, July 7, 2011
  Congress can make major reductions to the national deficit without cutting benefits provided by Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Reforming the payment system for the nation’s health care can result in major savings without interrupting service to beneficiaries.

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• Against: Jeff Madrick

• Stop Obsessing Over Entitlement Reform
  Elizabeth Weingarten, Slate, September 28, 2011
  Why Jeff Madrick will argue against the proposition "Grandma's benefits imperil Junior's future" at the Oct. 4 Slate/Intelligence Squared U.S. debate.
• The Big Lie About Social Security
  Jeff Madrick, NYRblog, New York Review of Books, October 29, 2010
  In the next three decades, Social Security as a percent of GDP will rise from 5 to 6 percent and stay at that level for decades after that. Despite that modest increase, deficits hawks continue to attack the program and retirees will pay the price.
• How Can the Economy Recover?
  Jeff Madrick, New York Review of Books, December 23, 2010
  What is rarely recognized is that even if the US can emerge from a weak economy within a few years, the economic foundation that existed before the cataclysm of 2007 and 2008 may not be adequate to restore the widely shared prosperity the US needs.
• Budget Fallacies: Why the Ryan Plan Won’t Work
  Jeff Madrick, New York Review of Books, April 19, 2011
  Congressman Paul Ryan claims his budget would improve our health care system, but it would increase costs for seniors while reducing benefits. In addition, it would dramatically slow down America’s economic growth.

Articles For & Against

• For the Motion

• Generational Balance, Not Budget Balance
  Laurence Kotlikoff, Bloomberg, August 2, 2011
  If we keep raising successive generations’ lifetime net tax rates, we will eventually be hitting up our progeny for every penny they earn.
• A National Debt of $14 Trillion? Try $211 Trillion
  Laurence Kotlikoff on All Things Considered
  Add up all the promises that have been made for spending obligations, including defense expenditures, and subtract all the taxes that we expect to collect—the difference is $211 trillion.
• How the Budget Deficit Could Lead to Generational Warfare
  Philip Moeller, U.S. News & World Report, April 18, 2011
  Future battles over government spending and budget deficits may include a divisive fight between generations over who should pick up the tab for baby boomer retirement and medical expenses.
• Bankrupt: Entitlements and the Federal Budget
  Michael D. Tanner, Cato Institute March 28, 2011
  If one considers the unfunded liabilities of programs such as Medicare and Social Security, the true national debt could run as high as $119.5 trillion.
• Entitlements: Not Just a Health Care Problem
  Andrew G. Biggs, American Enterprise Institute, August 2008
  Spending on the government’s three main entitlement programs—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—is projected to rise significantly in coming decades. If left unaddressed, these increases put the government’s budget and the American economy at risk.
• Attention: Deficit
  Isabel V. Sawhill, Greg Anrig, Democracy September 8, 2010
  Isabel Sawhill and Greg Anrig of the Century Foundation debate whether progressives should embrace entitlement reform or look elsewhere to narrow the fiscal gap.

• Against the Motion

• Austerity: The False Cure
  Greg Anrig, American Prospect, November 3, 2010
  The blame for the federal government’s fiscal condition is routinely assigned to “entitlements”—the nation’s three major social-insurance programs of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. But that accusation is misleading on several levels.
• A Moral Assessment of the Attack on Social Safety Nets
  Amitai Etzioni, Dissent, February 18, 2011
  Both legislators and media mavens argue that cutting into the social safety net is not merely necessary to reduce the deficit, but that it is inevitable. This fails to hold up—mathematically, morally, and politically.
• No Need to Talk About Taking an Ax to Safety Net for the Poor
  Comments by Dean Baker, Brookings Institution Forum
  First and foremost there is no real deficit problem and therefore there is no reason to talk about taking an ax to the country’s already weak safety net for the poor.
• Critics Still Wrong on What’s Driving Deficits in coming Years
  Kathy Ruffing and James Horney, Center on Budget Policy Priorities, June 28, 2010
  Together with the economic downturn, the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years.
• What’s Needed is Health Care Reform, Not an Entitlements Commission
  Monique Morrissey, Economic Policy Institute, February 20, 2009
  With Americans facing 401(k) balances that have dropped by 30% or more, scheduled Social Security benefit cuts, and rising medical expenses, the focus should be on whether we are devoting enough resources to social insurance programs, not too many.
• The Safety Net Frays: Morally and Economically, It’s Wrong for Federal Budget Makers to Go After the Poor
  Elizabeth Palmberg, Sojourners Magazine, July 2011
  The House of Representatives' budget, which would cut Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, foreign food aid, health-care reform, and unemployment benefits -- while sparing military spending and giving tax breaks to wealthy corporations and individuals -- would be a moral disaster for every American.

Related Articles

• Polls

• Public Wants Changes in Entitlements, Not Changes in Benefits
  Pew Research Center, July 7, 2011
  The public’s desire for fundamental change does not mean it supports reductions in the benefits provided by Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. Relatively few are willing to see benefit cuts as part of the solution, regardless of whether the problem being addressed is the federal budget deficit, state budget shortfalls or the financial viability of the entitlement programs.
• Polls Find Wariness About Cutting Entitlements
  Jackie Calmes and Dalia Sussman, New York Times, January 20, 2011
  Americans overwhelmingly say that in general they prefer cutting government spending to paying higher taxes, yet their preference for spending cuts, even in programs that benefit them, dissolves when they are presented with specific options related to Medicare and Social Security.

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• Congressional Budget Office

• Director's Blog: Health and Social Security
  Bridget Murray-Law, Monitor on Psychology, June 2011
  CBO director Douglas Elmendorf’s blog entries for "health" and for "Social Security.".

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• Social Security

• As Boomers Age, a Soul-Searching Budget Battle
  Emily Kaiser, Reuters April 7, 2011
  An overview of the current fight over Social Security, relating the history and context of this debate.
• How to Fix Social Security
  David John, Heritage Foundation, November 17, 2004
  There are only three real solutions to Social Security's rapidly approaching fiscal problems: raise taxes, reduce spending, or make the current payroll taxes work harder by investing them through some form of personal retirement account (PRA). Establishing PRAs is the only solution that will give future retirees the option to receive an improved standard of living in retirement.
• Time to Raise Social Security’s Retirement Age
  David John, Heritage Foundation, November 22, 2010
  Because today’s retirees enjoy longer lives and better health, both Social Security retirement ages (“normal” and “early eligibility”) must be increased.
• A Young Person’s Guide to Social Security
  Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Anna Turner and Kathryn Anne Edwards, Economic Policy Institute, July 20, 2011
  The Economic Policy Institute addresses the skepticism and lack of interest and understanding with this comprehensive guide to Social Security—written by young authors for young people.
• Rick Perry’s “Monstrous Lie”
  E.G. Austin, Democracy in America, Economist, September 8, 2011
  Rick Perry’s stated views on Social Security, which he has called unconstitutional and a "Ponzi scheme,” are effective in political terms and even defensible on the merits.
• A Monstrous Truth
  M.S., Democracy in America, Economist September 9, 2011
  The entire population of working Americans has already been subscribed to Social Security for decades, yet the system continues to pay out benefits on time. That is because the actuarial calculations underlying its revenues and benefits are sound.
• Yes, It Is a Ponzi Scheme
  Michael D. Tanner, National Review Online, August 31, 2011
  Social Security and Ponzi schemes are not perfectly analogous. Ponzi had to rely on what people were willing to voluntarily invest with him. Once he couldn’t convince enough new investors to join his scheme, it collapsed. Social Security, on the other hand, can rely on the power of the government to tax.
• Social Security: Built to Last for Generations to Come
  Tamara Draut & Robert Hiltonsmith, Demos
  Social Security is not a dire liability on the federal balance sheet nor is it in any imminent danger of insolvency. Relatively modest tweaks to the program’s financing will further strengthen the system for generations to come.

• Medicare & Medicaid

• Can Private Insurers Fix Medicare?
  Room for Debate, New York Times, April 4, 2011
  Experts debate Representative Paul Ryan’s plan to end traditional Medicare and replace it with a “premium support” plan where beneficiaries would choose a private insurer and the government would provide subsidies to pay the premiums.
• Bad Medicine: A Guide to the Real Costs and Consequences of the New Health Care Law
  Michael Tanner, Cato Institute, February 14, 2011
  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act represents the most significant transformation of the American health care system since Medicare and Medicaid. The more we have learned about what is in this new law, the more it looks like bad news for American taxpayers, businesses, health-care providers, and patients.
• Does President Obama Want to Impose a Crushing Burden on Our Children?
  Dean Baker, Truthout September 12, 2011
  We can fix our health care system and get payments to providers down to reasonable levels, as every other country in the world has done. Or, we can protect the insurers, the pharmaceutical companies, the hospitals and the highly paid medical specialists and tell people that they will have to do without care.
• Irrational Discourse: Will We Control High U.S. Health-Care Costs, or Just Shift Them to Seniors?
  Richard Kirsch, Sojourners Magazine, September/October 2011
  While it is true that the rising cost of U.S. health care is one of the biggest long-term challenges to the federal budget, the problem is with our overall health-care system, not with Medicare and Medicaid. In fact, they pay less for services than private insurance does.
• How to Fix Medicare: A New Vision for a Better Program
  Robert Moffit and James C. Capretta, Heritage Foundation, December 13, 2010
  Medicare can be saved—but not by ever more burdensome government bureaucracy and micromanagement, such as prescribed by the misnamed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Patient choice and market competition, along with strong budget controls, are the keys to reforming Medicare so that it will be available to future generations.
• Proceed with Caution
  Judy Feder and Marilyn Moon, Center for American Progress, May 2011
  Medicare is and remains the best option for ensuring quality health care for our retirees, for controlling costs for taxpayers, for administering benefits to Medicare patients, and for spreading the risks of insuring our elderly across our nation. There is always room for improvement, and the Medicare program is in the midst of exactly that—implementing its responsibility under the Affordable Care Act to lead the way in payment and delivery reform in the nation’s health care system.
• Solving the National Medicaid Crisis
  Brian Blasé, Heritage Foundation, May 6, 2011
  Unsustainable spending growth, enormous crowd-out of private coverage, perverse incentives that discourage work and financial planning, and cost control mechanisms like low provider payment rates that limit access for enrollees and contribute to a low quality of care have left Medicaid in crisis.
• 10 Reasons Why Everyday Americans Need Medicaid
  Scott Lilly, Melissa Boteach and Katie Wright, Center for American Progress, July 11, 2011
  While many people consider Medicaid to mostly serve the poor, many disabled and elderly Medicaid enrollees come from middle-class households. These beneficiaries make up 25 percent of Medicaid enrollees but account for two-thirds of Medicaid spending.
• A Plea for Plain Language on Deficits
  Jonathan Bernstein, New Republic, February 14, 2011
  The long term budget deficit is about one thing: medical costs. It’s not about “entitlements.” Social Security isn’t a long run problem of any serious consequence, nor are various small programs that count as entitlements in the budget process.

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• Near-Term Debt & Social Insurance

• A Tale of Two Deficits
  Henry J. Aaron, New Republic, June 1, 2011
  America faces two budget deficits. The first challenge is near term. Once the economic recovery is well-advanced, we must find a way to cut spending or raise taxes to prevent government debt from rising faster than income. The second challenge is dual: to slow the growth of health care spending, in general, and Medicare spending, in particular, and to decide whether to make cuts to Social Security.

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• Extras

• Boehner, McConnell Name Super Committee Members
  Susan Davis, National Journal, August 10, 2011
  Congress has failed in every attempt to forge significant compromise to course-correct the nation away from the fiscal cliff it’s headed toward, and the makeup of the deficit reduction committee so far does little to abate those fears. With nine of the 12 lawmakers now named, the chance for deadlock—which would trigger painful and unpopular across-the-board spending cuts—seems greater than the chance for compromise.
• Times Topics: Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction
  New York Times, June 1, 2011
  The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is a bipartisan, 12-member panel created by the deal struck by President Obama and Congressional leaders in late July 2011 to allow the government to raise the federal debt ceiling. If the committee cannot agree on a plan, or if Congress does not promptly enact its recommendations, the government would automatically cut spending across the board in hundreds of military and nonmilitary programs, including Medicare.
• Who’s Had the Worst Recession: Boomers, Millenials, or Gen-Xers?
  Derek Thompson, Atlantic, September 13, 2011
  Gen-Y has the worst unemployment. Near-retirees have the least time to recover their savings. And Gen-Xers? They're caught between debt that won't disappear and an economy that won't move.
• The Moment of Truth: Report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
  Co-Chairmen Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, December 1, 2010
  President Obama created the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to address our nation's fiscal challenges. The result is a six-part plan to put our nation back on a path to fiscal health, promote economic growth, and protect the most vulnerable among us.
• Restoring America’s Future
  Pete Domenici & Alice Rivlin, Co-Chairs, Debt Reduction Task Force, Bipartisan Policy Center, November 2010
  Restoring America’s Future was developed by a bipartisan task force that is chaired by former Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici and former White House Budget Director and Federal Reserve Vice Chair Alice Rivlin. The plan aims to reduce and stabilize the debt at 60 percent of the economy, and it reforms personal and corporate taxes to make America more competitive, ensures that Social Security can pay benefits to future generations, and controls health care costs.
• Roadmap to America’s Future
  Congressman Paul Ryan, Ranking Member, Committee on the Budget August 10, 2011
  A comprehensive, alternative approach to the Nation’s most pressing domestic priorities. Specifically, the plan addresses health care, retirement security, tax policy, and job training.