Undergraduate students at the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business created a 15-page plan to reduce the US federal deficit by $500 billion annually. The plan was developed over a semester for a finance class and proposes spending cuts, tax reforms, and entitlement reforms. Examples include energy policy based on Pickens' plan, pension reform to align public and private sectors, and placing a moratorium on unfinished financial regulations. The students have promoted the plan aggressively to political leaders and it has received positive reviews from experts. Their professor is proud of their initiative to address the deficit issue.

1. Smith School Undergrads Challenge Nation’s Leaders with Deficit Reduction Plan Page 1 of 2
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Books for Leaders While Occupy Wall Street has attracted growing numbers of college students with encampments emerging
Faculty Opinion Articles on several campuses, its economic-reform motive has prompted a radically different action by undergrads
Smith Blogs in a Robert H. Smith School of Business finance class at the University of Maryland.
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Calendar The resulting 'New' New Deal: A Pragmatic Approach for Stabilizing an Ailing Economy is a 15-page white
paper to reduce the near $15 trillion federal deficit.
Spending cuts "with a scalpel" and determined with "empathy and fairness," plus a "simplified" tax system
focused on repatriating lost U.S. tax revenue help frame the plan its developers say would trim $500
billion yearly from the largest national deficit in the history of the world.
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About 60 students from twin sections of adjunct professor Joe Rinaldi’s Futures, Options and Derivatives
Like course contributed to the semester-long project, which was finalized by seniors Seth Rabinowitz, David
Kigel, James Fayal, Christina Goffe, Michael Sue, Jacob Asquino, Gabriel Girma and Brittany Ursini – the
credited authors.
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The work has attracted national coverage by Reuters and the students have aggressively promoted the
plan to national opinion leaders, the congressional Super Committee, GOP presidential candidates,
members of Congress and President Obama.
Rabinowitz and Goffe attended the Nov. 22 GOP presidential debate in Washington where they pitched and
handed the paper to the likes of Newt Gingrich, MSNBC host Chris Matthews and several CNN
representatives.
No novelty, the paper has passed the scrutiny of advisers from Barron’s magazine, and Millan Mulraine,
senior U.S. macro strategist at TD Securities, described the plan, in the Reuters story, as “a valiant effort”
and “emblematic of the discussion that is going on nationally over the kitchen table across the country.”
"For policymakers, this paper is detailed, plausible and significantly represents the next generation's idea
for reducing the deficit," said Rinaldi, also a managing partner, CIO and financial advisor with Quantum
Financial Advisors in Washington. “I am certain that a good portion of it can be used as a guide to get our
fiscal house in order.”
The plan calls for "many minor adjustments" and avoids "radical" tax hikes and spending cuts, which have
contracting effects on the economy. The Smith School students say their plan addresses social changes of
recent decades and also would boost the economy and grow jobs.
Some of the details are:
A national energy policy based on the T. Boone Pickens plan emphasizing domestic energy
production to reduce reliance on foreign oil and offering a tax credit for firms that switch to
natural gas tractor-trailers or buses
Pension reform via streamlining public service pensions with the private sector and raising the
minimum retirement age by two years.
Entitlement reform based on a $1 million per year income threshold for social security benefits for
that year.
Placing a moratorium on all Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley regulation and healthcare reform yet
to be implemented to allow small businesses to prosper.
http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/news/stories/2011/DeficitReduction.aspx 12/10/2011

2. Smith School Undergrads Challenge Nation’s Leaders with Deficit Reduction Plan Page 2 of 2
The plan also covers military and prison reform, and mortgage market standardization. Moreover, the
student authors wrote: “These adjustments will represent a paradigm shift towards efficiency among
programs and values that have become static relics of former eras. The American society, dynamic by
nature, is not synonymous with the America of prior decades and federal policy should keep pace with this
discrepancy.”
Rinaldi said he is proud of the students’ initiative and dedication to the project. “The students decided to
take the higher road and use their pens instead of protesting,” he said. “They want to take this
opportunity to assist our politicians in defining the massive paradigm shift that our economy and our
culture will undergo.”
The entire proposal can be read online.
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http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/news/stories/2011/DeficitReduction.aspx 12/10/2011