Peter Orszag
Peter Orszag
Peter Richard Orszagis an American banker and economist, and a Vice Chairman of investment banking and Managing Director at Lazard. He is also a columnist at Bloomberg View and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEconomist
Date of Birth16 December 1968
CountryUnited States of America
capacity dollars far income opportunity producing states trillion united
It is a foregone opportunity that we could have a trillion dollars more of income for the United States if we were producing at capacity rather than falling so far short of it.
faces security social
Social Security faces a long-term actuarial deficit, yes.
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My mom is a very warm, typical sort of Jewish-mother type. And my dad has a somewhat, um, different personality.
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The most important thing for small businesses is getting the economy back on its feet. That - the key driver of small business activity is demand for their product, and that is what we are trying to do, getting the economy back on its feet. That's far more important than other factors.
along balanced defense dropped early economy path policy share spending
Defense spending as a share of the economy dropped significantly during the early 1990s, and that was one of the things, along with other policy changes, that put us back on the path to a balanced budget.
deficits
Well, I think what we need to remember is that budget deficits can impede economic activity.
borrower department private total treasury
Total borrowing has imploded. Private borrowing has collapsed. And, in effect, the Treasury Department is the last borrower left standing.
clinton finished privileged
For example, I was privileged to be working at the White House under the Clinton administration and had not finished my Ph.D., and I thought I was the cat's meow.
companies doctors fact insurance matter saying system time
The fact of the matter is right now politicians and insurance companies are making decisions. We're saying we want doctors to be making decisions. And I think that will lead to a higher-quality, lower-cost system over time.
education whether wondered
There've been times where I wondered whether it was worth continuing in my own education.
Every day is like that, eight successive meetings on eight different topics, every one really important and interesting.
reflects requires spending
Well, a deficit reflects an imbalance between spending and revenue, and so narrowing it requires acting on one, the other or both.
associated burden costs depend fiscal health higher imposed key primarily problem rising system tackle whether
I have young kids. The fiscal burden that will be imposed on them is going to depend primarily on whether we tackle this looming problem in our health care system - with rising costs that don't seem, by the way, to be necessarily associated with higher quality. That is the key burden that they will face.
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The accounts are not sugar; they're like trying to get your kid to eat the spinach by offering a turnip for dessert.