Laurence Kotlikoff ~ A Balanced Discussion on "Too Big to Fail"

Professor Laurence Kotlikoff. Prof. Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Brown University and President of Economic Security Planning, Inc., a company specializing in financial planning software. Prof. Kotlikoff is author or co-author of 16 books and hundreds of professional journal articles. Professor Kotlikoff also sought the nomination for President of the United States in 2012 for the advocacy group Americans Elect and the Reform Party of the United States.


Systemic risk and "TBTF" are again the subject of intense debate on Main Street, Wall Street and in the halls of Congress. This panel discussion provided a well-balanced presentation of the "TBTF" problem, and various ways to address it.

Panelists include Harvey Rosenblum, Paul Saltzman, Laurence Kotlikoff, Cornelius Hurley and William P. Mayer

Hosted by the Center for Finance, Law & Policy on March 26, 2013.

European Bank Runs Could Spread Like Wildfire Due to Cyprus Banks - Laurence Kotlikoff

Laurence Kotlikoff is professor of economics at Boston University, fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, fellow of the Econometric Society, and former senior economist of the Presidents Council of Economic Advisers.


Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff says banking problems in Cyprus "could spread like wildfire throughout Southern Europe and Northern Europe and into the U.S. because we have a banking system that's built to fail." Dr. Kotlikoff also says, "It's going to happen in the form of a crash in the bond market. Interest rates are going to skyrocket, and we're probably going to have high inflation because the government is printing money out the wazoo." Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University.

Laurence Kotlikoff ~ Debt Crisis looming as Washington 'hides the real fiscal cliff numbers’

That's $200 trillion over next 75-years if severe changes are made. We are going to have to address the military budget, but we must also address the welfare and bureaucratic states. The over-65 demographic is wealthiest in the country. The avg. person over-65 has 14 times more assets than an individual that is 34 or younger. While there are older people that have been made totally dependent on these programs, there are millions of seniors that can pay their own freight.

Laurence Kotlikoff: Well, we economists look at all the bills the government has to pay, and in the US case we have enormous bills that have been kept off the books. They’re not the official debts, but they are very real. For example, paying me my social security benefits, my old-age pension – that’s a real obligation. It’s not part of the official government debt, but it’s very important because there are 78 million baby boomers who’re going to get their social security payments, and, in addition, medical payments from the government. If you look at all those payments, they are about $3 trillion a year. So we have these huge bills, nobody has thought about paying for them, and Congress and the presidents over the years have just focused on official debt, and basically have not told the public about these big bills.

Professor Laurence Kotlikoff - Bernanke Playing With Fire

Economist Laurence Kotlikoff says, "We are actually in worse shape than any developed country. . . We are using accounting that would make Bernie Madoff blush." Kotlikoff thinks the Federal Reserve could easily lose complete control of inflation and warns, "Ben Bernanke is playing with fire here because we could have a tripling of the price level." Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with Boston University Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff.