On Facing the Future, Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert L. Bixby joined me and Senior Vice President at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Marc Goldwein to discuss CRFB’s latest proposal to combat the next recession in a fiscally responsible manner.
“Right now, the U.S. economy is still pretty strong … but there are signs that we could be heading into a recession,” Goldwein said. “We thought, instead of waiting until we are in the eye of the recession to figure out how to solve it, that it would be helpful if there were some ideas developed in advance.”
He added that, given the size of the national debt already, CRFB is presenting ideas that are fiscally responsible in an effort to not make matters worse.
“We call it “break the glass;” we wanted a plan that could, in the case of (economic) emergency, increase the near term deficits … but actually reduce the long-term debt,” Goldwein said. “The most important thing we wanted to do in this plan was to make sure there are some ideas out there to pay for stimulus over time.”
He suggested thinking of it like reloading the cannon when paying for stimulus and reducing the debt. We can likely borrow to make it through the next recession, but Goldwein is not so sure the nation can continue to borrow significantly to combat additional recessions in the future if policymakers do not take a more responsible approach to new stimulus.
Hear more on “Facing the Future.” I host the program each week on WKXL, NHTalkRadio.com (N.H.), and it is also available via podcast. Join me and my guests as we 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.
