Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty. I'm your host Russ Roberts

of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Our website is econtalk.org where you can

subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find links and other information related to today's

conversation. We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever

done going back to 2006. Our email address is mailadicontalk.org. We'd love to hear from you.

Today is January 6, 2014, and before we get started, I want to encourage you again to send me your

favorite episodes of 2013. Send me an email at mailaticontalk.org with the word favorites in the

subject line. List five favorites. You can find all the 2013 episodes listed in chronological

order by going to econtalk.org. In the left hand margin of the page, you'll see archives,

and you can choose date, and that will list them all. That will actually list all 400 plus

episodes of econtalk. They're all available online, despite the fact that some of them are when

I was a, I hope, less skilled interviewer, but they're all up there going back to 2006.

My guest today is Lawrence Kotlickoff. He is a William Fairfield Warren professor and professor

of economics at Boston University, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,

a fellow of the econometric society, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic

Research and President of Economic Security Planning, a company specializing in financial

planning software. Larry, welcome to econtalk. Thanks for having me, Russ.

Now, you've been writing for some time about America's fiscal problems. A lot of people disagree

about how serious those problems are. You argue that they're serious. How bad is it?

I think it's terrible. I think we're probably in more fiscal shape than any developed country.

The reason Russ is that we've been piling up debts for over six decades, and when I say we,

I'm referring to both Republican and Democratic administrations and Congresses,

...