Just as one might wake up with a hangover after New Year’s, the government wakes up with a hangover at the beginning of a new fiscal year, said Heritage Foundation economic expert Alison Fraser.
Comparing the fiscal year to New Year’s Day, Fraser spoke about the current state of the economy at an AU College Republicans event Nov. 1
“Our hangover for the federal government is our debt,” she said.
Fraser spoke to an audience of around 15 students in the University Club. Her organization, the Heritage Foundation, conducts conservative public policy research.
Fraser also discussed specific economic problems facing the United States and potential solutions to these problems.
“We are seeing a dramatic increase in the size and scope of our debt,” she said.
America’s debt will only get worse with the direction the United States is headed in now, she said.
“Our lesson learned, if any, from the EU’s experiences is that we are just a couple of years behind having to deal with the same issues,” she said.
After explaining the issues, Fraser talked about solutions that the Heritage Foundation has supported in the past.
“I would do it all on the spending side without raising taxes,” she said. “Rather than taxing the rich, I would rather take away their benefits,” referring to Social Security and Medicare.
Taxes make economic growth more difficult, she said.
“We’ve got to do this in a way that makes everyone’s future brighter,” Fraser said.
Fraser encouraged the students in attendance to talk to their parents and grandparents about these issues over Thanksgiving.
She challenged students to ask them, “What are you going to do to help me?”
“A lot of these solutions are going to rely on us having a conversation,” she said.
The solutions Fraser proposed seemed to resonate with many of the students at the event.
“I really think she made a lot of sense,” said Ella Davis, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs. “She had some really good ideas for the economy in the long term.”
Charles Merrick, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, had a different opinion.
“I generally liked the speech,” Merrick said. “I didn’t necessarily agree with things, but they made their points well.”
Merrick said he was invited to the event by some of his Republican friends and attended because of his interest in economics.
“It’s important to be open to other opinions,” he said.
