Facing the Future

44:56

Debt is an Affordability Issue

Facing the Future ·

2026/10/07

This week on Facing the Future, Ben Ritz of the Progressive Policy Institute explains why the rising national debt has become a big cost-of-living problem.

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44:56

Debating Social Security's Future

Facing the Future ·

2026/09/30

This week on Facing the Future, we discuss two very different visions of how to keep Social Security solvent over the long-term without a bailout from the U.S. Treasury. Wendell Primus of the Brookings Institution and Romina Boccia of the Cato Institute debate the options.

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44:14

Is There a Fiscal Doomsday?

Facing the Future ·

2026/09/23

This week on Facing the Future, we hear from a prominent group of former elected officials and economists who describe what a debt-induced fiscal crisis would look like in the United States, what could trigger such an event and how to avoid one.

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44:56

Dividend Checks With No Dividend

Facing the Future ·

2026/09/16

This week on Facing the Future, we discussed President Trump's promise of $5,000 checks, tariff income, war spending and the economy with Jim Capretta, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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44:54

The Bond Market Is Sending A Warning On Debt

Facing the Future ·

2026/09/09

This week on Facing the Future, Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, explains why the cost of borrowing is going up and the implications of higher interest rates for families, businesses and the federal budget. She also discusses inflation, tariffs and Social Security reform.

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44:24

Walking on a Fragile Fiscal Cliff

Facing the Future ·

2026/08/26

This week on Facing the Future, former CBO director Doug Elmendorf discusses the $40 trillion debt and why it matters now, not just in the future. He also gives his assessment of what artificial intelligence could mean for the economy and the federal budget.

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44:47

Social Security Needs Reform, Not A Bailout

Facing the Future ·

2026/08/20

The week on Facing the Future, former Public Trustee of Social Security Dr. Charles Blahous describes why the program is in need of reform as it approaches trust fund insolvency in 2032. He also looks at the generational impact of various reform options.

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44:53

Congress Needs To Do Its Job

Facing the Future ·

2026/08/12

This week on Facing the Future, we discuss why Congress never does a budget and why that matters for the Constitutional process, the growth of the debt and the fate of younger generations. Our guest is Thomas Kahn, Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University.

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44:59

Mark Zandi on the Economy and Corrosive Debt

Facing the Future ·

2026/08/05

This week on Facing the Future, Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics, examines the state of the economy, the effect of artificial intelligence and what a debt-induced crisis might look like.

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44:38

The Debt Moves Closer to $40 Trillion

Facing the Future ·

2026/07/29

This week on Facing the Future, we get a status check on the federal deficit and debt from Gordon Gray, Vice President of Budget Analysis at the Peter G Peterson Foundation. Spoiler alert: The debt may hit $40 trillion sooner than anticipated.

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44:01

Fiscal Policies Have Abandoned the Young and the...

Facing the Future ·

2026/07/23

This week on Facing the Future we considered how both political parties have deserted the working class, the young and the American Dream. That's the conclusion of our guest Eugene Steuerle in his book Abandoned. Steuerle is an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute and one of Washington’s most respected experts on the federal budget, tax policy and Social Security.

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44:49

Delaying Social Security Reform Increases Fiscal and...

Facing the Future ·

2026/07/15

This week on Facing the Future, Veronique de Rugy and Jason Fichtner explain why Social Security reform is not only a retirement policy imperative but also a fiscal and market-stability imperative. They are the co-authors of a George Mason University Mercatus Center paper titled, "Social Security's Fiscal Gap and the Risk of Bond Market Strain."

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44:49

The Hard Choices of Health Care Reform

Facing the Future ·

2026/07/08

This week on Facing the Future, Joshua Gordon, a Vice President of Health Care at Arnold Ventures, explains why growing health care costs are a challenge for family, business and government budgets. He also suggests some bipartisan cost control ideas.

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44:28

Deficit Dove Says The National Debt Matters More Than...

Facing the Future ·

2026/07/01

This week on Facing the Future, Bobby Kogan of the Center for American Progress explains why the national debt matters more than it used to and why artificial intelligence is not likely to fix the problem.

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44:31

GAO Warns on the Nation's Fiscal Health

Facing the Future ·

2026/06/24

This week on Facing the Future, we hear why the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) is warning the President and Congress that urgent and sustained action is needed to improve the nation's fiscal outlook. Jeff Arkin, Director of Strategic Issues at GAO, is our guest.

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44:31

Social Security's Turn For The Worse

Facing the Future ·

2026/06/17

This week on Facing the Future, Mark Warshawsky of the American Enterprise Institute explains why the projected finances of both Social Security and Medicare were substantially worse in the 2026 trustees report than they were last year and why early action is the best way to prevent sudden cuts.

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44:15

Big Budget Decisions Require Public Input

Facing the Future ·

2026/06/11

This week on Facing the Future, G. William Hoagland, Senior Vice President of the Bipartisan Policy Center, lays out the case for public engagement on major budget decisions, gives an update on the federal budget and reacts to the new Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports.

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44:59

Mobilizing the Public on the Deficit and Debt

Facing the Future ·

2026/06/03

This week on Facing the Future, host Bob Bixby joins Maya MacGuineas of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Jonathan Silver of Affinity Solutions and Andrew Lewis of the University of Cincinnati's Portman Center in a panel discussion on strategies for getting the public to put deficit reduction on the political agenda.

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44:11

Defense Increase Ask Is Short On Details

Facing the Future ·

2026/05/20

This week on Facing the Future, Todd Harrison of the American Enterprise Institute lays out the pros and cons of the president's request for a 50 percent increase in the defense budget.

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44:27

Congress Should Stop Fast-Tracking Higher Debt

Facing the Future ·

2026/05/13

This week on Facing the Future, former U.S. Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) explains why he supports a new fiscal commission as a way of finding solutions to the nation's growing debt and how reinstating the "Conrad rule" in the Senate would help.

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