Led by senior fellow Michael Boskin, the Tennenbaum Program for Fact-Based Policy surveyed 2,000 American voters and asked them about their attitudes and knowledge on the federal budget and social safety net programs.
To read more about the results of that survey, click here: https://www.hoover.org/research/policy-knowledge-public
To see more from the Tennenbaum Program for Fact-Based Policy, click here: www.hoover.org/fact-based-policy-program
Show Notes: “Policy Knowledge in the Public” by Michael Boskin and Douglas Rivers (PDF): https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/Boskin_WebreadyPDF.pdf
Current Social Security Trustees Report summary: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/ Simpson-Bowles Commission: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Commission_on_Fiscal_Responsibility_and_Reform
Congressional Research Service summary of the Sequester: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45106
BEA National Economic Accounts: https://www.bea.gov/data/economic-accounts/national
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Historical Tables: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/historical-tables/
CBO Outlook for the Budget and the Economy: https://www.cbo.gov/topics/budget/outlook-budget-and-economy
The Boskin Commission Report of 1996: https://www.ssa.gov/history/reports/boskinrpt.html
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Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction
0:39 – Tennenbaum Program for Fact-Based Policy
2:11 – Survey of American Voters
4:26 – Informed, Uninformed, or Misinformed?
5:22 – Social Security
6:46 – Survey Question 1
7:57 – Survey Question 2
10:31 – Democrat v. Republican Knowledge
12:47 – Largest Spending Categories
13:39 – Is Defense Spending Half the Budget?
18:26 – Sources of Official Statistics
22:46 – Voter Self-Assessment
24:25 – Voter Assessment of Other Voters
26:09 – Inflation
30:13 – How to Change Minds
32:42 – Upcoming Tennenbaum Program Issues to Study
