The Financial and Economic Consequences of an Exploding Debt

At the Urban Institute
2100 M Street N.W., 5th Floor, Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Noon–1:30 p.m. ET
Lunch will be provided at 11:45 a.m. The forum begins promptly at noon.

To attend in Washington, D.C., RSVP here, e-mail paffairs@urban.org, or call (202) 261-5709.

If you’re not in Washington, D.C., or can’t leave your computer, listen to the audio webcast by registering here.

Panelists:

• Len Burman, Daniel Patrick Moynihan Professor of Public Affairs, Syracuse University; former director, Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute
• Mike Mussa, senior fellow, Peter G. Peterson Institute of International Economics
• Norman Ornstein, resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute
• Rudolph Penner, Institute fellow, Urban Institute; former director, Congressional Budget Office
• Robert Reischauer, president, Urban Institute; former director, Congressional Budget Office (moderator)

The Congressional Budget Office’s most recent long-term budget outlook declared that "current policies are unsustainable." Translation, according to tax scholar Len Burman: if we don’t change course, we’re doomed. America will celebrate its tricentennial with IOUs 6.5 times its total economic output if current policies continue, CBO says, and that is under implausibly optimistic assumptions about the economy.

Join the conversation as a panel of experts considers

• Is it truly possible the public debt will explode and the nation be reduced to insolvency?
• What does the debt cancer portend for today’s children, tomorrow’s seniors, and everyone else?
• What assumptions -- about interest rates, financial markets, foreign investments, recovery from the latest recession -- are behind CBO’s projections? How realistic are the assumptions?
• What must happen for Americans, Congress, and the White House to take the painful steps necessary to forestall a financial catastrophe?
• What can we learn from the experiences of other debt-ridden nations?

Webcast note:
You will need to register for the webcast on the same computer you will use to listen. You can register anytime up to and during the event. To access the webcast, you can go to the same link where you registered,http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=62295.