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Up To Date

Seg. 1: Federal Spending & America's Future Debt. Seg. 2: Top Ethics Issues Of 2018.

Nic McPhee
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The Concord Coalition's Executive Director Bob Bixby says the U.S. is projected to have a trillion-dollar deficit by next year.

Segment 1: Focus on government shutdown has drawn attention away from expanding national debt and deficit. 

The ongoing battle between political parties has highlighted the dysfunction in our goverment. Meanwhile the national debt continues to accumulate, and is burdening the future economy. We heard why one fiscal policy advocate believes the conflict will end "with both sides declaring victory," and no real winners.  

Segment 2, beginning at 24:42:  Moral issues of 2018 unlikely to go away anytime soon.

The Ethics Professor shared their top issues from 2018, including the need for free speech to also be responsible and true speech. They also discussed access to health care as a moral issue that will continue into 2019. As Wayne Vaught noted, "there is no more humanitarian crisis or threat to national security in the United States ... than the lack of health care."

When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.