The latest “Facing the Future” introduced a semi-monthly segment entitled “Economist Mom,” with Diane Lim, a principal at District Economics Group and former chief economist for The Concord Coalition.
Lim wrote the Economist Mom blog when she was with Concord. The purpose of this radio and podcast segment is — as it was with the blog — to help make fiscal responsibility more tangible for everyday Americans.
“What happens in the economy and what happens in public policy does impact all of our lives,” Lim said during this initial program segment. “It is not just an abstract concept, it is something we should be paying attention to because the economy is all interdependent; we are all a part of this economic ecosystem.”
During this segment, she focused on the dangers of policies that require excessive federal borrowing.
“When politicians are talking about pushing a new tax cut, continuing a tax cut, or pushing for more spending without talking about how it is going to be paid for, people need to be reminded that the money has to come from somewhere,” she said.
Lim stressed that one generation’s deficit-financed tax cut is another generation’s tax increase, with the cost of passed down from parents to their children.
Also on the program, Concord’s New England Regional Director Chase Hagaman and Concord’s Executive Director Robert L. Bixby discussed the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of new tax cuts passed by the House and the continuing congressional appropriations process.
The tax cuts, which extend some of the expiring provisions from the 2017 tax legislation, would add $631 billion to federal deficits over the next 10 years. But Bixby noted: “In the Senate you still have the possibility of a filibuster so that means they would have to get Democratic support for the tax bill, and it’s not there.”
Congress passed and President Trump signed a few appropriations bills for Fiscal 2019, along with a continuing resolution for those lawmakers have yet to agree on. This avoids a partial government shutdown and gives Congress until Dec. 7 to resolve the remaining differences.
However, Bixby said: “Who knows what is going to happen in 2020? I do not think we have turned a corner on the dysfunction we have seen on appropriations bills.”
Hagaman hosts “Facing the Future” each week on WKXL, NHTalkRadio.com (N.H.), which is also available via podcast. Join him and his guests as they discuss issues relating to national fiscal policy with budget experts, industry leaders, elected officials and candidates for public office. Past broadcasts are available here. You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play or through RSS.
