Today on Uncommon Knowledge, Hoover Institution economists Michael Boskin and Edward Lazear, both former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. Having spent the first four days of this week explaining how we got into the present mess, Boskin and Lazear explain what we need to do to get out.

Edward Lazear: One, we need to reform our tax code, and, two, we need to keep taxes low. When I say “reform our tax code,” it’s an issue of what the appropriate tax structure is. Right now, we’re far from the optimal tax structure. As for keeping taxes low, there is only one way to do so. We have to get control of the budget.
Michael Boskin: The reforms we need are much easier than those in the administration are letting on. All these new programs, all this big expansion–we should reverse much of that. Our attention should be on controlling the rising health care costs, indexing social security benefits by prices rather than wages, scaling back on government programs. We’ve had a whole slew of spending on things from education to infrastructure that has taken place as if resources are free. They’re not.

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