Monday, June 17, 2019

Resolution

Given Social Security's nearly $3 trillion trust fund, the system cannot add to the federal deficit*

For the affirmative:

Teresa Ghilarducci holds the Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Analysis at the New School in New York. In books published by Princeton University Press, MIT University Press and in a new book by Columbia University Press, co authored with Tony James (Blackstone Group) she has argued the current financialized pension system destabilizes the macro economy and fails to provide equitable, adequate and efficiently delivered retirement income. Her research areas concern automatic stabilizers, financialization, and labor market dynamics. Ghilarducci holds a Ph.D from the University of California Berkeley. And 2007 to 2009, Wurf fellow at the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School. Ghilarducci has been a court appointed trustee to the UAW Medical Trust Board which manages $60 billion for over 800,000 members since 2009.

For the negative:

Gene Epstein has recently stepped down from a 26-year stint as Economics and Books Editor of Barron's, with plans to write long-form articles and books. His last published book was Econospinning: How to Read between the Lines when the Media Manipulate the Numbers. He has taught economics at the City University of New York and St. John’s University, and worked as a senior economist for the New York Stock Exchange. He's appeared on podcasts that include Russ Roberts’ “EconTalk," "The Tom Woods Show,” and the Reason podcast, and has delivered lectures in venues that include the International House in Tokyo; Loyola University in Baltimore; Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City; the Romanian-American University in Bucharest; and the American Center in Moscow. He is Executive Director and moderator of the Soho Forum, and also an occasional debater.