A nation of takers: Are Americans getting more than they paid for?

distributed by noodls on 06/17/2012 18:19

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America's national debt now exceeds $15 trillion, which is roughly equal to the value of all goods and services the U.S. economy produces in one year. If left unchecked, America's debt will have catastrophic consequences for the future of the nation. How did we arrive at this point?

At this event, Nicholas Eberstadt of AEI will delineate the debt trend lines, exposing how over time, Americans have increasingly stuck their hands in the government "cookie jar," voting for more benefits than they are willing to pay for. Along the way, they have confounded classic liberal theory, which holds that the government's behavior would be kept in check by the fact that citizens have to pay taxes for the services they receive. Why, and how, did this theory fail? And what can be done to remedy this flaw in American self-governance? Join Eberstadt, The Weekly's Standard's Jay Cost (author of "Spoiled Rotten"), New York University's Lawrence M. Mead and the Roosevelt Institute's Mark Schmitt for a discussion surrounding these questions.

This event is sponsored by AEI's Program on American Citizenship.

If you are unable to attend, we welcome you to watch the event live on this page.

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