Thinking Forward In The Deficit Debate

The campaign that the Peterson Foundation has launched around what it calls the $56 trillion "threat" of unfunded health care and Social Security obligations is "misplaced and much too narrow," says Miles Rapoport, the president of Demos. It's imperative that progressives start presenting a different side of the argument, and Rapoport says in this interview that there are good examples beyond our shores of countries that are using the right approach.

Rapoport cites as one example France, which does have higher taxes than the United States but provides a more secure economic foundation in which both workers and businesses can thrive. This, Rapoport explains, is "a high road to fiscal responsibility" in contrast to the road that would invariably lead to greater economic insecurity and less shared prosperity.

As for the United States, Rapoport explains why "we don't need just a stimulus package...we need a fundamental economic restructuring" that enables our economy to evolve into "a public purpose economy."

Rapoport is one of the panel moderators at the "Thinking Big, Thinking Forward" conference in Washington on February 11.