Fiscal Therapy

Curing America's Debt Addiction and Investing in the Future

William G Gale author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:2nd May '19

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Fiscal Therapy cover

Fiscal Therapy shows how to make America's economy stronger and fairer by meeting long-term budget challenges while also addressing its short-term need for more investment and better social policy. America is facing a double-edged sword of budget challenges. In the coming decades, rising public debt will hurt our economy, threaten our global leadership, and reduce the living standards of our people. It will require tax increases and spending cuts to bring about a sustainable outcome. At the same time, however, America has pressing needs -- from improving our schools and making child care more available to rebuilding our infrastructure and investing more in scientific research -- all of which require upfront investments right now. In Fiscal Therapy, William Gale diagnoses these two set of challenges and explains why we must address them simultaneously. Fiscal Therapy shows that we can address our long-term budget challenges in ways that also help us meet our short-term needs, and we can do so without radically transforming our current institutions and existing programs. Gale draws lessons from the nation's history; takes guidance from the experiences of other advanced nations; reconciles the twin demands of economic growth and social fairness; and addresses the obstacles that America's poisonous politics and fickle public opinion present. Fiscal Therapy provides a clear, comprehensive, and optimistic approach around which liberals and conservatives can rally. One that will leave the United States a stronger, more prosperous, and fairer nation.

Dealing with fiscal deficits and government debt is important, but the discussion is so discomforting that it risks turning people off. Fortunately, Gale does a better job than I did, and he kept me engaged until the endGale does a great job of laying out what's likely to happen if we allow deficits and debt to grow on their current paths. * Robert C. Fry, Jr, Business Economics *
Bill Gale provides a thoughtful and balanced assessment of America's fiscal challenges and what we can do about them. * Ben Bernanke, former Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; President, American Economic Association *
Bill Gale, one of DC's most respected minds on public policy, takes on one of its biggest challenges putting our fiscal house in order. Our nations leaders would benefit from reading his analysis and ideas. * Mark R. Warner, United States Senator for the Commonwealth of Virginia *
Bill Gale's tour de force draws on his decades of research and engagement with public policy to prescribe the fiscal therapy America needs so badly. Gale offers compelling solutions that draw on a wide range of economic research but never lose sight of the ultimate goal of building an economy that is stronger, more resilient, and more fair. * Jason Furman, former Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers; Professor of Practice, Harvard Kennedy School *
Fiscal reform is essential to generate strong growth and widespread economic well-being. Bill Gale, one of the countrys most respected and thoughtful experts on fiscal matters, provides an excellent and highly readable primer on the challenges we face. * Robert E. Rubin, former Secretary of the Treasury *
If you think America cant control its exploding national debt while enhancing shared prosperity, read this book. When politicians are ready to stop fighting and start developing pragmatic policies, Gale has given them a great menu. * Al ice M. Rivlin, former Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office *
Everyone interested in understanding the most important issue affecting Americas economic future should read Bill Gales Fiscal Therapy. Whether or not you agree with his proposals, the book is full of thoughtful and insightful discussion of our fiscal, economic, and social challenges. * Michael J. Boskin, former Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers; Professor of Economics and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, Stanford University *
This remarkably clear and comprehensive book provides a road map for how to address one of the biggest policy challenges of our time: getting deficits under control without sacrificing our values. Gale proves that fiscal responsibility and expanding economic opportunity need not be mutually exclusive. * Catherine Rampell, Washington Post opinion columnist and CNN political and economic commentator *
No one is satisfied with America's fiscal prospect. Much of what is proposed does not stand up to serious analysis. Bill Gale and this important book offers a set of well thought out, humane proposals for our fiscal future. His ideas should be very seriously considered by whoever is the president of the U.S. on January 20th, 2021. * Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus, Harvard University; former Secretary of the Treasury *
Great nations do not stay strong if their debt gets out of control. Fiscal Therapy is the perfect book for a moment when glaring problems are ignored and toxic partisanship has replaced responsible governing. Fiscal Therapy explains the issues fairly and with great insight and proposes immensely sensible and achievable solutions. Let's hope our political leaders read this book-and you should too. * Maya MacGuineas, President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget *
America's debt burden is enormous and growing. Finding sensible and balanced ways to reduce it has been an immense and intractable problem. Bill Gale, one of America's finest economists, has given us a roadmap that problem-solving people of every political coloration could and should embrace. Gale both analyzes where the problems are in both revenues and expenditures and provides solutions that preserve the safety net, maintain and even expand programs essential to growth, and provide the best ways of reforming our tax system, improving fairness and reducing inequality. Fiscal Therapy should be read by every concerned citizen, but especially by the members of Congress who need to act. * Norm Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute *
Bill lays out a roadmap to achieve our fiscal health, based on economic facts instead of ideological fictions. The economic challenges we face are not easy but they are doable. It is a must read for anyone who cares about the future of this country - it should be required reading for anyone entering political office. * Diane Swonk, Chief Economist, Grant Thornton LLP *
"Deficit reduction is certain to return to the center stage of political debate in Washington at some point. Bill Gale is a veteran of past debates and is well equipped to guide the public and policymakers through a jungle filled with traps involving taxes, health policy, retirement programs, national defense and many others. Those wishing to separate real, long-term solutions from those that promise more than they can deliver will find an objective, nonpartisan map in Fiscal Therapy." -Bruce Bartlett, former economic policy adviser to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush and author of The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform-Why We Need It and What It Will Take.

ISBN: 9780190645410

Dimensions: 163mm x 236mm x 28mm

Weight: 635g

352 pages