Earthquake Reconnaissance Team

Earthquake Reconnaissance Team

Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Radio Archive, Episode 682 , Segment 2

Episode: Balanced Budget Amendment, Truth About Trailer Parks

  • Nov 15, 2017
  • 15:55 mins

Guest: Kevin Franke, PhD, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Brigham Young University Sunday night, a major earthquake struck the border between Iran and Iraq. Devastation is substantial and urgent rescue efforts are still underway. In the weeks ahead, scientists will arrive in the area to try and understand what happened. Kevin Franke is a volunteer scientist for Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) and they recently worked on the big earthquake in Mexico a few months ago. He explains what scientists hope to learn in the aftermath of earthquakes.

Other Segments

Will We Ever Have a Balanced Budget Amendment?

19 MINS

Guest: Ernest Istook, Former Republican Congressman from Oklahoma, Lecturer at Utah Valley University For years, Republicans—and some Democrats—have called for a “Balanced Budget Amendment” to be added to the US Constitution that would make it illegal for the federal government to spend more than it takes in.  But, if Republicans manage to pass the tax cuts they’ve proposed, they’ll add an estimated one-and-a-half trillion dollars to the deficit over ten years. The hope is that cutting taxes will lead to economic growth to counteract that deficit increase. But what does it really matter if the federal government spends more than it brings in? Do we really want to force Congress to balance the checkbook every year? And is amending the Constitution of the United States really the way to go?

Guest: Ernest Istook, Former Republican Congressman from Oklahoma, Lecturer at Utah Valley University For years, Republicans—and some Democrats—have called for a “Balanced Budget Amendment” to be added to the US Constitution that would make it illegal for the federal government to spend more than it takes in.  But, if Republicans manage to pass the tax cuts they’ve proposed, they’ll add an estimated one-and-a-half trillion dollars to the deficit over ten years. The hope is that cutting taxes will lead to economic growth to counteract that deficit increase. But what does it really matter if the federal government spends more than it brings in? Do we really want to force Congress to balance the checkbook every year? And is amending the Constitution of the United States really the way to go?