Robert Reischauer Quotations

There are few incentives in the current system for participants or providers to be cost conscious.

Medicare spending has slowed dramatically in the last year. It's now growing at less than 2 percent, which is the slowest rate of growth since the program started in 1965.

Without any symptoms, it's hard to say that one has an illness.

To a startling degree, the political capital and momentum that he had at the start of 2005 have been dissipated almost entirely. The administration is reactive and in a defensive posture, really. You have a Congress that is splintering and rebellious. ... Republicans are in a survival mode.

What the Democrats have is a good point that we probably decided on this tax cut in a hasty fashion. We should have waited to see how the economy was going to unfold over the course of this year and what other demands were going to be placed on the budget.

It would be very surprising if we went through the next five years without some contractions or sluggish growth.

The tax cut we put in place for next year is relatively modest. We probably can swallow that OK, but over the years the size of the tax cut grows exponentially.

The Republicans would lose the cover they have from the President being on board. They'd have to fashion a budget resolution on their own.

In the end, CBO and others are no more than speed bumps on the highway of fiscal irresponsibility.

This has to be viewed with some skepticism,

Any substantial tax reform would involve substantial redistributions of tax burdens and substantial changes in asset values, and you need some 'lubrication' (i.e., transition rules).

There is no perception among the American people, nor their elected representatives, that there is a serious problem that needs fixing.

They fight so much for two reasons. One is they don't want to be blamed for breaking the spending caps. And secondly, they don't want to be blamed for spending the Social Security surplus on non-Social Security problems.

We'll have a different set of values, and society will adapt. That doesn't mean these changes are all good, just because we will accept them. But the 'Chicken Little' view of history isn't correct. Changes take place gradually, and people and institutions adapt.