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The Government We Deserve

Gene SteuerleThe Government We Deserve is a periodic column on public policy by Eugene Steuerle, institute fellow at the Urban Institute and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury.

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Viewing 1-10 of 46. Most recent listed first.Next Page >>

The Fight Over Fiscal Rectitude: Politics or Economics? (Series/The Government We Deserve)
C. Eugene Steuerle

Decades ago, my parents taught me a simple lesson: when something goes awry and its outcome remains uncertain, do what you can and should do to the best of your capability. The future may not be entirely in your control, but by setting some good things in motion you make tough issues easier to handle.

Publication Date: July 15, 2010Availability: HTML | PDF

How Social Security Can Costlessly Offset Declines in Private Pension Protection (Series/The Government We Deserve)
C. Eugene Steuerle

Publication Date: June 30, 2010Availability: HTML | PDF

How Middle-Age Retirement Adds to Recession Woes (Series/The Government We Deserve)
C. Eugene Steuerle

Expressed in various forms, the idea is that baby boomers' retirement isn't really a problem until the economy fully revives, that people in late middle age should quit to make room for younger workers, and that the multi-decade failure to adjust retirement ages for longer lives is a can we can keep kicking down the road.

Publication Date: June 02, 2010Availability: HTML | PDF

Why Economic Growth Isn't Enough (Series/The Government We Deserve)
C. Eugene Steuerle

Failure to understand the causes of today's historic impasse will stymie those budget reformers tempted to believe we can use the traditional pro-growth strategy to get our fiscal house in order.

Publication Date: May 12, 2010Availability: HTML | PDF

How the President's Budget Commission Can Increase Its Probability for Success (Series/The Government We Deserve)
C. Eugene Steuerle

Few commissions change the world, and most fail. Yet, too often, blame is heaped solely on circumstances outside the commission's control, as though how well the commission conducted its business didn't matter. Steuerle outlines six ways that the president's budget commission—particularly its chairs—can up the odds that it will succeed.

Publication Date: May 06, 2010Availability: HTML | PDF

Individual Health Mandates and a Silly Court Battle (Series/The Government We Deserve)
C. Eugene Steuerle

One of the most frustrating aspects of the health reform debate has been the extent to which many legitimate questions about what might work were ignored in favor of fights over ideology. As advocacy triumphed over expertise, those who promised more than they could deliver fought with defenders of an unsustainable status quo. One result is that the new health reform still needs a lot of fancy structural work to stand and extensive plumbing to be usable.

Publication Date: April 06, 2010Availability: HTML | PDF

And Now Something for Our Most Recession-Weary Workers (Series/The Government We Deserve)
C. Eugene Steuerle

With economic recovery from the deep recession in view, a double-headed challenge remains. Reducing the deficit requires cutting back government spending, but we still need to promote employment and work, and that won't come free. Given this administration's progressive leanings, its attention to low- and moderate-income workers is surprisingly modest.

Publication Date: April 01, 2010Availability: HTML | PDF

Lessons Unlearned? Who Pays for the Next Financial Collapse? (Series/The Government We Deserve)
C. Eugene Steuerle

It's an old story. Come a financial collapse, somebody's got to pay to get the nation's financial house back in order. While many on Wall Street made millions losing money for their companies, every young American is now saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of additional government debt. While buyers walked away from homes when they went underwater, others who had mustered large down payments simply absorbed their losses—in some cases, wiping out years of saving. While speculators who borrowed to buy stock or real estate shrugged off debt by declaring personal or corporate bankruptcy, those who invested in their 401(k)s helplessly watched their retirement savings erode.

Publication Date: January 11, 2010Availability: HTML | PDF

Bernanke's Double Bubble Bind (Series/The Government We Deserve)
C. Eugene Steuerle

In a speech to the American Economic Association on January 3, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve System, took on the question of whether easy monetary policy led to the recent bubble in housing prices. I don’t disagree with his broad conclusions about the importance of regulatory policy. But it wasn't until the end of his speech that he dabbled briefly with the far more important question: whether new types of monetary, fiscal, and regulatory actions are required to contain bubbles in all major assets, not just housing.

Publication Date: January 04, 2010Availability: HTML | PDF

How Democrats and Republicans Unite Behind Unsustainable Medicare Cost Growth (Series/The Government We Deserve)
C. Eugene Steuerle

Should Medicare set prices for what it covers? Should it determine what services it will cover? During the health reform debate, these questions have dogged attempts to reduce unsustainable Medicare cost growth. At the most basic level, the questions are silly. Of course Medicare sets prices. Of course it determines what services it will cover. It just doesn't do it very well—for reasons ranging from limited administrative power to constant political interference.

Publication Date: December 09, 2009Availability: HTML | PDF

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The views expressed are those of the author and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.