On December 17, 2010, the Aspen Institute Initiative on Financial Security (Aspen IFS) hosted a panel discussion, “Shared Sacrifice: Debating the Contours of U.S. Deficit Reduction.” Moderated by David Leonhardt, a columnist for the New York Times, the event featured panelists Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research; Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform; Andy Stern, Senior Research Fellow at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute and Presidential Appointee to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform; Gene Steuerle, Richard B. Fisher Chair and Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute; and Lisa Mensah, Executive Director of Aspen IFS.
Participants focused on their varying philosophical approaches to deficit reduction, discussing at length the merits of several tax reform proposals, suggested changes to the Nation’s health care system and Social Security, and the real-life impact the proposed changes might have on the American taxpayer and their financial security.
The event was covered by CSPAN. Additional footage of the event can be found at the Aspen Institute’s multimedia page.
View Aspen IFS’s Composition of Various Deficit Reduction Proposals chart.
View event one-pager.
