Entitlements

The Ivory Tower: Are Democrats Serious About Budget Cutting?

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Ivory Tower: Are Democrats Serious About Budget Cutting?

This was one of the questions being discussed on WCNY’s The Ivory Tower.

This edition of The Ivory Tower, hosted by David Rubin, Dean of the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, featured a powerhouse panel including of Lisa Dolak (Syracuse University College of Law), Bob Spitzer (SUNY Cortland), Bob Greene (Cazenovia College), Tara Ross (Onondaga County Community College), and Kristi Andersen (Syracuse University).

The panel also discussed a program proposed by Governor Cuomo aimed at boosting tourism in Upstate New York with adds in New York City.

Here is a description of the program:

The panelists assess whether Democrats want to strike a budget-cutting bargain with the Republicans. The the panelists provide suggestions to Gov. Cuomo for how to spend tourism money to attract New York City residents Upstate.

 

The Disability Boom: America’s De Facto Welfare System

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

The Disability Boom: America’s De Facto Welfare System

After a half of year of investigation, Planet Money’s Chana Joffe-Walt reports a disturbing trend in the American economy-the constantly increasing number of of Americans receiving federal disability payments. The number Americans on disability has doubled in the last fifteen years. Currently, there are fourteen million people receiving disability payments, nearly a quarter of all adults in some towns and counties. The Planet Money team argues that the disability system has become a de facto welfare system and an economically inefficient one at that. The causes of this startling trend include the changing economy, lawyers, and, surprisingly, kids.
The results of Joffe-Walt’s findings will be on NPR all week this week. The full story was the focus of This American Life (59:17 minutes). A preview of the story is available on the Planet Money Podcast (13:38 minutes). The Planet Money website includes some fairly startling graphs about the problem. Finally, parts of the story will also be featured on All Things Considered.