Kent Conrad: “Absolutely. That would reduce interest costs over time. Of course, we are burning up a lot of money in the Federal…”

“Absolutely. That would reduce interest costs over time. Of course, we are burning up a lot of money in the Federal budget in interest costs. The other thing I think is often missed in this whole question of debt reduction, Lloyd Bentsen when he was Secretary of the Treasury came to a meeting of the Finance Committee and said the best bang for the buck, the biggest bang for the buck is to take measures that reduce debt, that reduce deficits, that as a result take pressure off of interest rates. For every 1 percent we save on interest rates, we lift a $128 billion debt burden off this economy, every year--every year. That is bigger than any tax cut anybody has come up with, in terms of relief to our economy, by lifting the debt burden on this economy. The proof is in the pudding. What happened in 1993, when we cut spending and, yes, raised income taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent so we could reduce the deficits, balance the budget, and get us on a course that could be sustained financially? We triggered reduced interest rates, increased rates of savings, societal savings that made more money available for productive investment that kicked off the longest economic expansion in our history. That is what is working. We ought to continue that course.…”