Robert Reischauer
Robert Reischauer
Robert Danton Reischaueris an economist and one of the two public trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust fund. He is a nationally known expert on the federal budget, health reform, Medicare, and Social Security. Most recentlyhe served as president of the Urban Institute, a think tank based in Washington D.C. He is the son of Japan scholar Edwin O. Reischauer...
growing growth last less medicare program rate since spending
Medicare spending has slowed dramatically in the last year. It's now growing at less than 2 percent, which is the slowest rate of growth since the program started in 1965.
bumps fiscal highway others speed
In the end, CBO and others are no more than speed bumps on the highway of fiscal irresponsibility.
five growth next sluggish surprising
It would be very surprising if we went through the next five years without some contractions or sluggish growth.
cut grows next relatively size swallow tax year
The tax cut we put in place for next year is relatively modest. We probably can swallow that OK, but over the years the size of the tax cut grows exponentially.
course cut decided demands democrats economy good hasty placed point tax unfold waited year
What the Democrats have is a good point that we probably decided on this tax cut in a hasty fashion. We should have waited to see how the economy was going to unfold over the course of this year and what other demands were going to be placed on the budget.
hard
Without any symptoms, it's hard to say that one has an illness.
needs transition reform
Any substantial tax reform would involve substantial redistributions of tax burdens and substantial changes in asset values, and you need some 'lubrication' (i.e., transition rules).
cost current few incentives providers system
There are few incentives in the current system for participants or providers to be cost conscious.