The Campaign to Fix the Debt

I turned on CNBC's Squawk Box on Thursday morning, July 12, and watched Becky Quick interview Warren Buffett, Alan Simpson, and Erskine Bowles in Sun Valley, Idaho. The group discussed a critical issue for the United States, fixing the debt problem. During the discussion Erskine Bowles mentioned the formation of FixTheDebt.org. Mr. Bowles asked viewers that are interested in this critical issue to go to the web site and sign up to support them. And that is exactly what I did!

On Monday, July 16, I received an email invite from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget to attend The Launch of The Campaign to Fix the Debt at The National Press Club in Washington, DC on Tuesday afternoon, July 17. I decided to accept the invitation and show my support for this important initiative and receiving a confirming email on Tuesday morning. I decided to participate in the press conference in my role as a citizen journalist representing www.thepurplemuse.com.

The National Press Club conference room was very small but it was filled with 8 TV cameras and a standing room only crowd of participants, supporters and members of the press. Luckily, I arrived early and got a end seat in the third row with one of C-SPAN's cameras right in front of me. There was so much interest in the event that one of the organizers asked some attendees to move to an adjacent room to watch the event via TV.

Maya MacGuineas, President, The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget kicked off the press conference and outlined the objectives of the group. I was very impressed by the Committee's straight forward approach and objectives. She was followed by ten speakers that stood together behind the speaker on the stage. Dave Cote (Chairman and CEO of Honeywell), Senator Judd Gregg, Senator Sam Nunn, Pete Peterson (Founder, The Peter G. Peterson Foundation), Steven Rattner (Chairman of Willett Advisors), Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Alice Rivilin (Former Director, Office of Management and Budget), Paul Stebbins (Executive Chairman, World Fuel Services), Ambassador Robert Zoellick (Former President, The World Bank Group) and Erskine Bowles (Co-Founder, The Campaign to Fix the Debt) spoke for a few minutes about their concerns about the United States government's escalating debt and the inability of our political leaders to make any progress with the reforms that are necessary to return the US government to a sound fiscal policy. I had watched TV interviews with most of the participants in the press conference in the past. I found it very interesting that the partisanship that I had seen in some of the interviews with the individuals on the stage was non-existent during the press conference. Everybody, no matter their political affiliation, was on the same page regarding FixTheDebt.

There were a few specific comments made by the participants that I found very interesting. People around the world are asking the question; does the United States have the will to make the decisions needed to solve its fiscal crisis? After almost 70 years of world leadership since the end of World War II many people in other nations doubt the US will act! It was specifically stated that some Asian nations believe that the US has lost its will.

Erskine Bowles made the point that the $4T debt expansion reduction over 10 years recommended by the Simpson-Bowles Commission is the minimum amount of "cuts" that are necessary to return the US to a rational fiscal plan. He made the point that the reduction should be larger! The Committee is not recommending any specific plan but recommends that the Simpson-Bowles Commission plan and other plans that have been developed over the past several years be used as a framework for a plan the Congress must develop and pass and the President must sign into law. The Committee specifically states that "In order to develop a fiscal plan that can succeed financially and politically, it must be bipartisan and reform all areas of the budget". "The plan should: Reform Medicare and Medicaid, improve efficiency in the overall health care system and limit future cost growth", "Strengthen Social Security", "include comprehensive and pro-growth tax reform, which broadens the base, lowers rates, raises revenues, and reduces the deficit." It was acknowledged that in our current political climate that politics overrides common sense! Mr. Bowles made the point several times that we should not expect the Congress to act before the November election. The Committee is preparing to work with legislators during the upcoming lame duck session in late in 2012 and during the early months of the new Congress in 2013 to prepare a plan that can be enacted into law.

You can watch the video of the hour long press conference and Q & A on C-SPAN. During the morning of the press conference I watched part of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to the Senate Banking Committee. Senator Schumer of New York stated during his questioning of Chairman Bernanke that the Senate would not be able to take action to help revitalize the US economy due to the current political conflict and asked the Federal Reserve to take responsibility for further stimulating the economy. I asked the group how this would impact their work. Apparently, the Committee is getting very strong interest in their ideas from more than 30 senators from both parties and it was stated that the Senate may take a lead role in resolving the fiscal gridlock. We will see if what happens in the months to come. My question and the answer was recorded as part of the hour long C-SPAN video. It starts at the 45:00 minute mark.

After the end of the press conference and Q&A I was able to speak to Mr. Bowles for a few minutes and thank him for all of his efforts to get the US government's fiscal crisis under control. I hope that Mr. Bowles and the other members of the Committee are successful in their efforts. I hope every American will step forward to help them achieve their objectives. I know I will raise my hand to volunteer. We must be successful in this effort. The future success of our nation is at stake.