Face the Facts USA delivers provocative facts about big issues to help Americans debunk myths, hold better conversations, get involved, and make choices as smarter citizens. http://facethefactsusa.org

1. Debt and Deficit

2. Hangout Instructions
• If you have any background noise, please put yourself on mute by
clicking the microphone icon in the Hangout.
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person talking, unless you have selected a different video feed.
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feed, and unselect them by clicking again.
• When asked, please click on the video feed with text in it like this.
• Click on the Chat tab in the upper left. If you have any technical
problems, please report them here.

3. Introductions
• What is your name?
• Where do you live?
• What do you think is the main reason most people
aren’t more involved in our political process?

4. Statement on Citizenship
• We need to face the fact that our country has serious
problems that threaten our future and our political
system is not doing a good job dealing with them.
• To help our political system function effectively, we need
a big increase in the number of citizens who are:
• More engaged
• Better informed
• Willing to work across different points of view

10. One approach to dealing with debt & deficit
• Many feel that that the national debt is a crisis that
requires immediate action. People who hold this belief
generally believe that:
• Government spending is too high and significant cuts
should be made in government programs
• Immediate reforms to entitlement programs are
necessary
• Spending cuts should be favored over tax increases

11. Another approach to dealing with debt & deficit
• Others are concerned about the debt, but believe that a
sharp reduction in government spending will cause more
short term economic problems. These people believe:
• At this time, the size of the national debt does not
require drastic budget cuts
• Social Security, Medicare and other programs must be
protected, but some changes will need to be made
• Some cuts will be needed, but tax increases –
especially on wealthy Americans – are also needed