商品詳細

Todays children and grandchildren are tomorrows taxpayers and social fabric, and this book contends that we are setting them up for economic disaster with our current policies of federal overspending. Former Representative Tim Penny (DMinn.) and political scientist Steven Schier take us inside the Capitol to show us the lobbying, arm twisting, and pork barreling that goes on to derail policies designed to reduce the federal deficit; and they offer students the opportunity to try out short- and long-term solutions, to better understand and confront the political, social, and moral payments now coming due. }The generational wars are about to begin: competing for entitlements, wrestling over taxes, dancing around the deficit. Todays children and grandchildren are tomorrows taxpayers and social fabric. The authors of Payment Due contend that we are setting those children up for economic disaster. Former Representative Tim Penny (DMinn.) knows how volatile the politics of the situation are; he retired because he couldnt locate in Congress at large the institutional will (or stomach) to deal with the issues squarely. Political scientist Steven Schier understands the way in which the politics work against economics to solve the problem. Together, they take us inside the Capitol corridors to show us the lobbying, arm twisting, and pork barreling that goes on to derail policies designed to reduce the federal deficit. We get to play the Washington Monument game along with the worst of the offenders and to see firsthand how three schools of deficit thoughtthe wolves, pussycats, and termiteseach approach the prospect of cutting back federal outlays and weaning the great middle class from its own welfare dependency.A hallmark of the book is its three-tiered set of long-term entitlement reform proposals, complete with careful documentation of the contribution each recommended item makes toward reducing the federal deficit (or at least slowing its increase). Along with suggested short-term plans, these proposals give students the opportunity to try to solve both short- and long-term problems. Students will appreciate the timeliness and relevance of the books argument to their generations future plight, and all readers will benefit from the clear presentation of complex economic concepts and arguments essential to understanding the federal deficit debateand to confronting the political, social, and moral payments now coming due. }