CHARLOTTESVILLE -- It may pull us out of recession, slam us into depression, stimulate the economy or choke off recovery, but it's sure to keep us talking until it has been paid off.
Exactly what impact the growing national debt will have on Americans is a topic of raging debate on Wall Street and in Washington -- and a primary reason why the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia is sponsoring a two-day conference on governing in an era of debt and deficits. The event, part of the 2009 Caplin Conference on the World Economy, concludes today.
"We're told time and time again that the debt is enormous, that the debt is huge and the sky is falling, but no one says why it's falling or what to do about it," said David Leblang, the J. Wilson Newman professor of governance at the Miller Center. "Given the possible consequences of debt, and the fact that we have so much of it, the next question is: How do we develop policy to manage the debt?"
Former government officials, including former White House Budget Director Alice Rivlin, members of the Federal Reserve, economists and scholars will discuss debt and its impacts on health care, global trade, investment, and state and local governments.
"The conference is designed expressly to engage different groups that don't normally have a dialogue: the private sector, the public sector and academia," Leblang said. "There are people who have firsthand experience from government, there are people who study it from an academic standpoint, and there will also be time for questions after the panel discussions so that the general public can also participate."
The conference is looking at impacts of federal debt on local governments, impacts on the country in the long run, how it will affect entitlements and information technology, what impacts debt will have on future legislation, and philosophical discussion on how much debt is too much and whether it actually matters.
"There have been lots of panels on debt, but what's different about this one is the people involved," Leblang said. "It will be interesting."
Bryan McKenzie is a staff writer for The Daily Progress in Charlottesville.
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