White House Burning: Simon Johnson's Take on the National Debt

How to manage America's national debt—certainly a burning issue in politics these days—drew hundreds of people to an April 10 campus talk. The speakers, MIT Professor Simon Johnson PhD '89 and James Kwak, who are coauthors of 13 Bankers and cofounders of the influential blog, the Baseline Scenario, described the problem and solution detailed in their new book, White House Burning: The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters to You.

The good news—the debt situation is not as dire as media reports. The bad news—it's not clear if national leaders can muster the resolution and collaboration needed to fix the problem before it escalates into crisis proportions. And part of the solution, they say, is substantial tax increases.

Johnson and Kwak, a law professor at the University of Connecticut, named their book for the 1814 torching of the White House by the British during the War of 1812, when Johnson notes, the country suffered from a “mismatch between what they wanted the government to do … and the revenue they were willing to provide.”

To learn more, read coverage of their book talk, a recent 3 Questions interview, and go to the Baseline Scenario website for current commentary and book information.