Just watched this interesting debate on Bloomberg. You can watch the entire debate at http://www.bloomberg.com/video/64218982/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Is-Big-Government-Stifling-bw-215636396.html
Intelligence Squared U.S. Audience Says Yes
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Intelligence Squared U.S. (IQ2US), the Oxford-style debate series, an initiative of The Rosenkranz Foundation, hosted a debate last night that took on the timely issue of the proper role of government in a free and democratic society. Four experienced economists and former policy makers debated the motion, Big Government is Stifling the American Spirit at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Though the final results were close, the side arguing for the motion moved a large percentage of the audience and they were victorious.
At the beginning of the evening, prior to the arguments for and against, 29% of the audience was in favor of the motion, 44 % were against it and 27% were undecided. After the debate, the side arguing for the motion carried the day and ended up with 49% of the vote, 43% were against the motion and 8% remained undecided.
The evening’s winning team argued for the motion and included Phil Gramm, the former Texas senator and vice chairman at UBS Investment Bank, and Arthur Laffer, chairman of Laffer Associates and former Reagan economic advisor known as the “father of supply-side economics.”
Laura Tyson, professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley and a member of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and Nouriel Roubini, NYU Stern Business School professor and chairman of Roubini Global Economics argued against the motion.
Among the debate’s highlights:
“To me the American spirit is a belief that based on your own merit, based on your own hard work, no matter who your daddy was or who he wasn't, or who your mama was, that people are going to judge you on your ability, and that you have it within your power to succeed. Now, obviously it's better to be ---- it's better to be clever, and pretty, and rich. But being plain, and ordinary, and poor, those things are not insurmountable obstacles in America. And it's that belief of what we can do, but you can't have unlimited government and unlimited opportunity. You have to make a choice.” – Phil Gramm
“You will see that education…higher education, investments in technology, the things that build America's innovative spirit; these are big parts of what the federal government should and does do. You love social networking? Trace it back to DARPA. You love the latest biotech drug? Trace it back to the National Institute of Health. You like traveling on jet aircraft? Trace it back to the Department of Defense. There are many ways in which the U.S. government has spent over many years to build education infrastructure and technology which play into the spirit of America.” – Laura Tyson
“…if you tax people who work and you pay people who don't, do I need to say the next sentence to you? Help me; if you tax rich people, and you give the money to poor people, you're going to get lots and lots of poor people and no rich people. The dream in America has always been to make the poor rich, not to make the rich …poor.” – Arthur Laffer
"…if the American spirit is stifled today, it is because this is not a mental recession, this is a real recession, this is the worst recession we have had since the Great Depression with the unemployment rate now at 17 percent. We have nine million people out of work that have lost their jobs, and unless we address this problem, we're not going to resolve this mental, and physical, and economic, and financial depression." – Nouriel Roubini
John Donvan, correspondent for ABC News Nightline, is moderator of Intelligence Squared U.S. debates. Dana Wolfe is the executive producer.
To view transcripts and videos, download audio or video clips or learn more about Intelligence Squared U.S. please visit: http://www.intelligencesquaredus.org
