Dave Walker and Bob Bixby: National Fiscal Dialogue Needed

Today, Comeback America Initiative founder and CEO Dave Walker (former U.S. comptroller general) and Concord Coalition executive director Bob Bixby published an op-ed in POLITICO. They write that the nation has some very difficult fiscal choices ahead, and that the only way policymakers will ever truly be able to put the big ticket items on the table is if there is greater public understanding of the nation's fiscal challenges and the kinds of significant structural reforms we will need to make to solve them.

"Whether you agree with President Barack Obama’s vision of the size and role of the federal government or the alternative put forward by House Republicans, both would require substantial changes in popular programs.

The status quo doesn’t add up. This is not ideology. It’s basic math.

Such sweeping reforms are likely to be politically difficult, so the American people’s active involvement is essential. We need a real national dialogue about the massive fiscal challenge, related risks, possible options and the inescapable trade-offs among those options.

Without greater public understanding, elected officials are unlikely to break away from their comfortable partisan talking points to find sensible solutions."

One initiative CRFB has launched to help foster a national discussion is our budget simulator "Stabilize the Debt," which offers a simple way for everyone to get a sense of how big our problem is, the options we have available to fix it, and the necessary tradeoffs we as a country will have to face.

Click here to read the full op-ed from Bixby and Walker.