Book Forum 

# *Going for Broke: Deficits, Debt, and the Entitlement Crisis*

(Cato Institute, 2015)

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Date and Time 

June 16, 2015 12 - 1:30 PM EDT 

Location 

Hayek Auditorium 

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##### Featuring 

Featuring the author **Michael Tanner**, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute; with comments from **Maya MacGuineas**, President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget; and **James Pethokoukis**, DeWitt Wallace Fellow, and Editor, *AEIdeas*, American Enterprise Institute; moderated by **Nicole Kaeding**, Budget Analyst, Cato Institute. 

[[![Media Name: going-for-broke-cover.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/optimized/public/images/going-for-broke-cover.jpg?itok=UunJT5ky)](/sites/cato.org/files/images/going-for-broke-cover.jpg)](http://www.amazon.com/Going-Broke-Deficits-Entitlement-Crisis/dp/1939709741?catoinstitute-20)

Our growing national debt has dropped out of the headlines recently — but that doesn’t mean that the problem has gone away. The official national debt recently topped $18 trillion, and is projected to approach $27 trillion within 10 years. Worse, if you include the unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare, our real indebtedness exceeds $90 trillion. Yet, despite these undeniable facts and figures, politicians from both parties continue to avoid taking serious responsibility and action when it comes to the difficult decisions that must be made. 

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid alone account for roughly half of federal spending today, a portion that will only grow larger in the future and increase more rapidly with the government’s newest entitlement program — Obamacare. The simple truth is that there is no way to address America’s debt problem without reforming entitlements. 

Please join us for a discussion with other leading scholars on the subject — one that carries heavy implications for the future of the U.S. economy.

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