Keynote Alice Rivlin, American Fiscal Sustainability
Former Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and current visiting fellow Alice Rivlin, was gracious enough to address NARC’s members on what many Beltway insiders refer to as “budget Monday”, the day on which the Federal Budget is released. Ms. Rivlin’s vast experience and unique perspective were invaluable as she laid out her insights and predictions for the future of the U.S. Economy.
Long summary:
Ms. Rivlin, former head of both the Office of Management and Budget, as well as first ever Director of the Congressional Budget Office, began by speaking about the pending (now enacted) economic stimulus package. She reviewed the points she illustrated in her January 29th testimony before Congress with respect to different types of targeted stimuli and their potential impact on short term economic activity. Ms. Rivlin explained to NARC’s members that investment in transportation infrastructure took longer to realize than economists thought would be required to bring American’s out of the current down turn in the economy.
Ms. Rivlin’s presentation detailed the inequality between the level of Federal investment in the U.S.’s metropolitan areas and the amount of economic activity produced by the same metropolitan areas. She also linked the future mandatory spending obligations to a possible future financial crisis on the State, regional and local levels.
Much of Ms. Rivlin’s background information as well as additional resources for metropolitan policy can be found at the Brookings’ Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program website, http://www.brookings.edu/metro.aspx.
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