NYU Stern — The Generational Theft Panel

Summary

On March 5, 2013 — three weeks after the WSJ op-ed — Druckenmiller appeared at NYU Stern alongside Ken Langone and Geoffrey Canada for a full-length panel on generational theft. The format moved the argument from print to room: data-rich slides on the entitlement ledger, followed by extended Q&A that drew out his most specific policy prescriptions of the era.

The NYU session is the first video document of the campaign and the template for the campus tour that followed (Stanford, Berkeley, Bowdoin's circuit). Its distinguishing feature is the audience: not investors but students — the constituency the framework named as the victims, hearing the math from the man who had made a career out of reading ledgers.

Full Text

Machine transcript (auto-captions / ASR), punctuation lightly normalized; wording as transcribed. Recognition errors possible — see sources.yaml for provenance.

file (verbatim-quote corpus) — a timestamped working copy exists at tmp/nyu-stern-2013-transcript.txt. Machine transcription contains errors (proper names, numbers, homophones) — verify against the video before external use.

Interviewer: Good evening everyone, it's gives me great pleasure to welcome you here for tonight's conversation, A Generational Theft: How Entitlement Transfers Are Robbing America's Youth of Future Opportunity? It gives me great pleasure to introduce our central host, Ken Langone, who really needs no introduction to this crap, but let me just say a brief word. Ken, as you know, is vice chairman of the NYU board of trustees, chairman of the Langone Medical Center at NYU, vice chairman of the Stern NYU board of overseers, and most importantly from my perspective, is just generally a generous, generous soul who is so generous, in fact, that he is here on his 78th birthday. Can we give him a round of applause?

So Ken, we have no gifts for you, but we're delighted that you're just a gift that keeps on giving. And the gift this evening is a very important conversation— pride ourselves in being a convening place for conversations about the big ideas that are shaping society, and thinking about how we as a school can convene a pan NYU body, because we have students here from, from Stern, from Wagner, from the law school, the college of art and sciences, tish, Steinhart, and I believe we also have in the crowded contingency of the can kicks back. So we have an important conversation here tonight about upset of issues that all of us should be concerned about. So without further ado, I want to turn it over to our host, Mr. Ken Langone.

Ken Langone: Much, and if there's any titles I haven't got, would you let me know what they are so I can get them to? Let me say this. Obviously at 78, you would expect I would have a point of view exactly opposite where my thoughts are. I hear tonight— I'm here tonight because I want to thank you all for letting me steal from you every month, and brag about it, and you do nothing about— absolutely nothing at all. And didn't that say it.

You're certainly the smartest generation in the history of this country. You've got the best technology going You've got everything going for you And right under your noses There's this horrible thing happening That can only result in big could only end up in bad results for you and more importantly For your children that aren't even born yet

Why is it happening because greedy old guys like me? Now think about this a medical center is named after me A night program at the stern school is obviously I'd like to think it's because of me, but the reality is without the wallet. I don't think those things would have happened. Okay So if I can do that Isn't there something wrong With my wife and me getting 35 hundred dollars a month every month From the united states government which is coming out of your pockets And you're doing nothing about You will be your generation and people your age older and a little younger It's the only way we can fix this problem But if you don't feel passionate enough about it It won't get fixed it'll get worse and one day when you're 78 You're going to wish that you'd listen to that old guy with no hair on his head telling you That because you didn't fix it The cupboard was bare

I am pleading with you. I'm pleading with you. There is nothing more important in your future and in your life then what you're going to hear Jeff and Stanley talk about tonight. We must figure a way out to fix this problem, and the only certain way is through the political process. Right now you've got all these old people belonging to all these organizations, this one and that one, and these people are calling up their congressmen and senators: give us more, give us more, give us more, give us more. And nobody's saying, hey wait a minute. What about us? If we can energize— I call you kids with respect— if we can energize, energize you kids to understand that if you aren't involved, it won't get fixed, and therefore you should be involved— if we can do that, we're on our way.

And what's being asked Of the old geezers like me Is really very little Very very little if I I heard simpson and bold last week at a conference out in california And they outlined the things they proposed They were effectively painless But because of the way actuarial charts work if we start now when you're 78 it'll be fixed So I'm urging you let this be a clarion call Mount up rise up You're being ripped off And you're only letting it happen because you're doing nothing about it Have I made my point? Okay, let's turn it over

Moderator: You started to— thank you so much for being here. Thank you, Ken, for having us. My name is Stephanie Rule. I'm an anchor at Bloomberg Television. I got involved in this mission because I met Stan last year, and I thought I was interviewing Stan, this titan in the investment industry, and I guess I listened to his investment ideas, but what really struck me was this idea of generational fact. And we all know that senior citizens have a strong lobby and they go out and vote, but you need to ask yourselves: are you out there voting? Do you have a voice— you have a voice, but are you using it? And it's not just extraordinary that Ken is here on his 78th birthday presenting to you. But again, here's a 78 year old man who's saying you need to do something or my generation is going to steal from you. So it's extraordinary that these three men are not just here speaking to you tonight, that they are taking on this mission and going across the country.

Because politicians might agree with everything they have to say— when you see Stan slides in a moment, you could be blown away just like politicians are— but politicians need to get elected every four years, and they might not feel like they're ready to get behind this, because not everyone in this room has a loud enough voice, and not everyone in this room goes out and votes. So I urge you to listen to what these gentlemen have to say tonight, because I think it's going to blow you away. Before we get to Stan and his extraordinary slides that he's very proud of...

I want to introduce you to Jeff Canada. Jeff is the founder of Harlem Children's Zone, and if you've never heard of him before, A, this is an incredible opportunity for you to meet the leading voice in the country, maybe the world, an education, and be, shame on you, because he's the best there is. So Jeff, first I'd love for you to introduce you and for you to just tell the group a little bit about your work at Harlem Children's Zone and how it has brought you here— how the work you've done with those students makes this mission so important to you.

Geoffrey Canada: Thank you. And I want to start off by saying that there are a couple of reasons i'm here One is because i'm still trying to get my money from ken Gripping us all off and I just you know, let him pull out his wallet and we can fix this So I'm going to some of you are not going to like me because i'm actually I don't actually worry About kids who go to nyu Somehow I feel like they're going to probably be all right, right? So great school and great education a lot of folks in here going to make a lot of money I worry about kids Don't don't be mad at me. Y'all are going to be all right I worry about kids at the opposite end of the spectrum what we're doing in harlem and and People talk about the work that I do, but I have been with these gentlemen doing this work for a couple of decades now We have gone into a community and really tried to change The set of outcomes for kids who for my entire life Have not had a chance To really live out the american dream

This is about young people just having equal opportunity, and I think that's all we wanted. We want to go into a place— while we thought we couldn't save everybody, we just drew a line around 97 blocks and said, all the kids in here are going to be our children, and we're going to make sure, starting from birth, we're going to stay with those kids. We're going to get those kids in the college. We're going to get those kids through college, and that's the work that we're doing. I think that people have given up on certain groups of young people in this country because they come from very challenging circumstances. But I think that this, this issue that we're here today, you know, you have folks who come from a variety of political, you know, arenas here who are very active in their political— I'm certainly active in my political life, and Kenny is and Stan is, and they're all different, and we wouldn't agree on lots of things that if you sat down and had a conversation, but the future of the young people in this country and all the young people is something we absolutely agree on, and this...

I don't think it's a minor issue. You know, there's there's a time that stan and Kenny and I Were Worried about the future of america and it was during right before the fiscal collapse And stan the charts you're going to see he showed me some charts that were very similar that showed to the month when our economy was going to come apart and When looking at this as americans, we said we have to do something about this and we went And quietly talked to folk including on capitol hill and everybody told us. Oh, yes, yes Yes, and they didn't do a thing and we almost watched the country get destroyed when I first saw these charts I said here's deja vu all over again That we have a crisis in this country That if we would go our regular routes and go talk to the congress in the senate We're probably going to have exactly what happened the last time which is no one's going to do anything

And so this time I think we're trying to do something different. So this is for me— this is all about whether or not my kids that I made this promise to, that if they play by the rules, if they go to school, that they're going to be able to participate in the American dream. This generational theft is taking it directly from these young people, and they're not going to have the same kind of future that those of us on this stage have had. So that's why I'm here.

Moderator: Can I just ask before we get to stan? What made you decide to make this your life's work to help these children fulfill the american dream? We're in a room filled with nyu students and have I asked How many of you in here are looking to have careers in education? Honestly? That's a pretty good number better than I thought it would be I take back what I said about you people I do worry about you But jeff the numbers aren't there yet. They're not big enough How did you make the decision to make this your life?

Geoffrey Canada: Well, I'll tell you I'll tell you and this is part of the problem We were talking about this offstage. So I went to bowden stan and I were there at the same time Pretty good school. I'm not going to get into that whole thing and I Decided I wanted to be in education and I had taken Science classes hard science my senior year at bowden and I received two a's and the professors came in and said You can get a's in science. Why are you going into education? And I said because I want to teach I want to say because they said no no no for real You can get a's you could become a doctor And I said, yeah, I don't want to be and they thought something was wrong with me for wanting to go into education now

They actually— they got the chairman of the chemistry department to come in, and they talked me into going into medical school because they made me feel so bad about going into education. What— what if you could do real work? Why would you do this? I mean, no, it wasn't even girls. It was like folks who weren't very smart went into that business. And the only thing— I'll tell you, the only thing that stopped me right when I was about to apply to medical school, I realized I didn't like sick people, right? So it's kind of— I don't— so it's kind of hard to be a doctor, right? So but this is— but so you asked this question about what I always wanted to do this: because when you see this from inside— people talk about poverty, I saw poverty from the inside out. I saw what it meant to grow up in a place where people just assumed you had no chance, to go to schools where the assumption was you would never make it, to watch your friends just sort of fall off the edge of a cliff as one obstacle after another after another tripped them up. And I said to myself, I ever got out of this, I was going to go back and make a difference, which is how I have to do this work.

Moderator: All right, you do like some sick people stand in kenny So stand I leave it to you

Stanley Druckenmiller: Okay, first of all, I want to thank everybody for the opportunity tonight Secondly, I want to say that I'm the geeky nerdy guy in the cloud. I can't talk to like these two These are two He does very well. I'll trade a few things with stand um Ken Langone happy birthday This is my mentor in life the most ethical man I've ever met. I've never learned so much from anybody this man on my right The work you do is just unbelievable and it's just been a great great thing to be a part of it

When Jeff and I were, uh, your age, the Vietnam War was raging. And I watched a group of young people who saw clear and present danger. Back then we didn't have a volunteer army; you got drafted. I'm sure Jeff remembers. And so you were literally looking at— if the draft number came off the wrong way, you were going to be in the rice paddies getting shot at for kind of a silly war that a lot of us didn't believe in. And I watched the young people at that time bring down a president and change the whole political spectrum and end that horrible war.

And what I want to say to you young people tonight is, while we're not talking about bullets flying, you are in clear and present danger in my opinion. And somehow the system has been able to hide that danger from you through a number of political maneuvers, an opaque system that I think... I'm going to go through some slides tonight, and once you see them you'll see exactly what has been happening. About 40 years ago our political system started transferring wealth from your generation to my generation, and it's been going on for 40 years. And it's not only unfair, it's borrowing from our future. And it has economic implications. 30 or 40 years from now, I'll tell you, the economic implications are alone, are enough, and the inequity alone is enough, the the unfairness. But you put the two together, is just astounding. And as I said, it's been going on for 40 years, and because of where we are politically— and we are— with the demographic situation in this country, it's about to accelerate, and accelerate in a big way. And can we go to the slides, please? One of my partners today told me I shouldn't put up too much of my chart porn. That's uh... this I, I got off the topic, and to go through these as quickly as possible. But uh, I mentioned... Let me see if I can operate the laser. Of course not. We don't need it.

I I mentioned what's been going on Quickly here. You see a chart. This is federal government entitlement transfers a percentage of federal budget outlays And you see back when Jeff and I started at Bowdoin. They were about 30 percent of all federal outlays They're currently 67 percent and these are transfer payments. These are payments to individuals who do not Perform a current service to get those payments. So there is no productivity going on here. Where do they come out of? They come out of things like education children Um investments in our future

So while that number was going, as you just saw, from 28 to 67 percent over 40 years, let's look at— let's break down where that, where that rising line has occurred. So look back to 1965, and you'll see that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid— and we've taken out the part for non children, which is in Medicaid— about 22 percent of federal outlays went to that, and about the same amount went to children back at the same time. You'll currently see that where we are today, over 50 percent of those outlays go to the elderly, and only 15 percent go to children. That massive wealth transfer could not be better illustrated than in this chart right here.

And I must say, when this was— when we found this in Federal Reserve data, it really astounded me. So what you're looking at here is the change in net worth from 1983 to 2010. That's a 27th year period in the United States. And you'll see a couple of very, I think, horrifying factors, which go to Ken's point about what's been going on with you and why you need to do something about it. If you are 20 to 28, or more importantly 29 to 37, but in that general age group, particularly if you're 30 years old, and you look at your net worth today— so 27 years, not today, but 2010 when we have the data, 27 years later— the average 30 year olds net worth was literally 20 percent less than the average 30 year olds net worth in 1983.

Now I want you to think about that. This is during one of the greatest bull markets in history, in a period of strong economic growth. 30 year olds in night in 2010 in current dollars are less, are worth less than 30 year olds were in 1983. Why? Because of the wealth transferred I showed on the chart before. And look where it's gone. If you're 65, you are not only worth what you were in 1983, you're worth over twice as much. And if you're worth 74, you're worth two and a half times as much as you were back then.

Moderator: before you go stand. How did this happen?

Stanley Druckenmiller: Well, how it happened— Stephanie was right here. We had transfer payments for 40 years rise and rise, to the welder, to the elderly. And as you'll see, they came out of the young. The young transfer payments not only did not rise, they went down as a percentage of federal outlays.

Now one of the results of this is if you look at the poverty rates— and let's start in the period we talked about, which is around 1965, 1970— and you'll see that back then poverty rates for the elderly were around 25 or 30. And currently they're down to 9%. And I think this is actually a wonderful achievement, and it's achievement we should all be proud of. No, but there's no more horrifying thought than an elderly person walking around without the means to support themselves. And I don't think anybody in this room would not, would not, applaud this achievement.

Unfortunately, if you look at children, you see the opposite. The poverty rate for children back then was in the teens, and it's currently in the mid 20s. So the entire drop in the poverty rate in the United States the last 30 or 40 years, which we're so proud of, has been totally concentrated in the elderly. And in fact, poor children have gone up. And I might mention, for minority children, this is 35 and an all-time high.

Now this is just— this chart's a little complicated, and this is really geeky and nerdy, so I apologize. Um, but let me take you through exactly what's going on here. On the x axis at the bottom is age, and on the y axis is the amount of money that people of those age groups would spend as a percentage of what a 45 year old at that time made. Why a 45 year old? That's sort of the crux of the workforce in their peak earning years, or when they're, they're really contributing in terms of earnings towards society. And if you look in 1950, in, in back in 1960, you'll see that the average 45 year old spent about 60 percent of what the average 45 year old made. And you'll see that the average 90 year old, which was about 65, 70 percent— and you'll see the average 90 year old spent 50 percent of what the average 45 year old made. But let's look at today.

Today the average 45 year old still spends approximately 60 to 65 percent of what he makes, but the 90 year old who doesn't have a job and his has not been working for years spends 140 percent of what the average 45 year old makes. If there's not proof of the fact that you've had a massive transfer of wealth from the youth in our society, or what I call the future seniors, to the current seniors, I don't know what it is, because this chart, I think, illustrates it perfectly. Now before I go into the demographics, I just want you to realize what I have showed you so far is where we've come in the last 40 years and where we are today. And what we're talking about is a massive wealth transfer that's been taken from future seniors and given to current seniors.

Let's just think about where we're going the next 10 years. And mind you, these people have already been at the trough and are doing pretty well in the next 10 years. According to the Urban Institute, if you look at OMB, the Obama budget, the next 10 years government spending is slated to grow a trillion dollars over 10 years. Not that biggest surprise: of that trillion dollars, 875 billion will go to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Now, with someone in the audience like to guess how much of that trillion dollars is going to go to children? And I've already netted out the person— the portion of Medicaid that goes to children will be in this figure. Anybody? Fair to guess. 875 for transfers and entitlements. How much for children? 6 billion. Less than 1 percent. 875 for the old guys who've been stealing from you for 40 years. 6 billion.

Audience: Is education included in that number

Stanley Druckenmiller: Education is included in the number for youth. Education actually goes down, Stephanie, the next 10 years, as no one knows more than Jeff. Now, this is a snapshot of where we are. They've already taken this money. Now one of the reasons the number I cited is so bad is not just because they're going to increase their share, which they are. There's about to be a whole lot more of them. Back.

When Jeff and I were born— long after Mr. Langone— for all the time after World War Two our soldiers came back, and maybe because of four years of abstinence or whatever the reason might be, the fertility rates skyrocketed. And it remained very high for about 20 years. At its peak in 1957, each woman was having three point children per woman. Currently that has come down to two. And to put that in perspective, in 1957 we had a hundred million less people in the United States, but we had more births in 1957 that we're going to have this year.

Now why does this matter to you? Because all those people born from 1947 to 1967 are about to become seniors. For those of you who can't add— although I know everybody at NYU can— 1947 plus 65 years is, bingo, 2013. From now, for the next 22 years, 11,000 people per day in the United States are going to become seniors. And they're going to get the benefits of all those transfer payments I told you about earlier that they're not getting. And here's the problem.

So if you take that demographic surge, I just mentioned What it results in is that little box up there, which is between now and 2030 The the 18 to 64 year old group is going to grow 17 percent. That's what I call your working age population The 65 and over is going to grow 102 To put it in perspective. I don't know how many of you go to florida But the average age in the united states in 2030 will be more than the average age currently is in florida You're going to see more walkers and you're going to see strollers moving around the country And what that's going to mean is in 2030 instead of having five Working people supporting every senior like mr. Langone Currently, you're going to be down to 2.3 in 2030 So you're not going to have the working age population that you have now to support all these entitlements and if you look at

This chart here is just shows you where the big bulge is, and to put this in perspective, I think current tax revenues are 18 percent a GDP. If you look at the projections, what's being promised, Entitements alone— this is Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security— will be 24 percent of GDP. So we're going to have 18 percent in revenues and 24 percent of GDP. I'm for Virginia. And what they see down there is that dog done hunt.

This is probably the most well, I'd say it's the second most bothersome chart. I'm going to show you tonight I do love charts. I'm a geek. I'm a nerd. I admit it. So This is Two different boxes for those of you who have heard Primarily republicans Ranting and raving about the debt in this country. You basically hear two numbers One is 12 trillion, which is the Stated amount of debt on the books in the united states. The other is 16 trillion Which is the portion that the federal reserve also Owns. So when you hear the number out there, the debt is 16 trillion. This is catastrophic The world's about to come to an end That is debt official debt that we've accumulated that is on the books in the united states

The problem is the way the government does their accounting When jeff turned 65 in a couple years and i turned 65 in a couple years We're going to start getting entitlements. But according to the government, that's not an obligation That's not a debt. So that debt is not on the balance sheet. But believe me, it's awfully hard to Eliminate or certainly to reduce medicare medicaid and social security payments It's never been done. In fact, as I just told you they're slated to grow over the next 10 years

Were that those obligations to be on the government balance sheet? So if you took the Income stream promised to seniors over the next Infant item and you took the tax revenues that you're going to pull in and you took the difference The present value of that debt is 200 trillion So what 200 trillion represents if you took the present value Of all the net obligations united states in other words, you put our debt on the balance sheet You know something that enron didn't do right now. We're running like enron. We're telling you about the 16 trillion We're not telling you about the stuff that's coming on the books In the future that debt is 200 trillion not 16 trillion And Here speaks to kenny's point earlier So what does this all mean? If you're 65 today And you look at that money that's been that's been transferred to you over the last 30 or 40 years Because of that and the current payment system You're slated to take in on average about 327 thousand dollars. Then you put into the system during your lifetime But if you're an unborn Because of this 200 trillion in debt that's piling up that's going to be paid to people like the three of us here um Over the next odd years You're are going to pay out 420 thousand more than you're going to get in benefits

So the way we are set up currently is if you're 65 and over You will have gotten a transfer or to use ken words ken's word stolen 700 000 from the unborn now. I ask you why Why why do the unborn? Why should they be getting 700 000 less? than current seniors you remember when the sequester happened last february march the republicans Because they couldn't get entitlements And because old people vote and young people don't so they weren't really interested in pushing entitlements hard started cutting Head start programs up in harlem. They started cutting education all sorts of things like that

What did president obama say? We're not going to balance the budget on the backs of seniors You've got to be kidding me. They're getting a 700 000 Benefit versus the unborn and we're not going to balance it on the back of him You look at all these horrible things you hear in the sequester and they are horrible What is the one thing that's remained untouched? Entitlement it's a joke and it's a pox on both their houses And as ken said if you don't do something about it It's going to continue and not only are you going to get ripped off The economy is going to implode because Everybody knows when you go engaging currents and consumption and you don't invest That's what happens now people ask me. Why don't I talk to congressman?

I've tried talking to congressman. They don't give a damn what I have to say They give a damn whether they're going to get reelected and old people vote and you don't and with all due respect I've got I've got a 20 A 22 and a 23 year old daughter and their main issues are gay rights Believe me, I'm for gay rights and their other big issue is the environment I'm on the board of the environmental defense fund and I'm big into the environment too But I'll tell you we're not going to have any jobs for any of their gay friends And you're not even going to be thinking about the environment Because if you don't deal with this clear and present danger And only the youth can stand up and do it the way jeff and I's generation did on vietnam You're going to get run over

Moderator: But stan is this strictly because these politicians are basically temp workers and in the next three years They're going to be out of a job. So they simply can't get behind this mission even if they believe it The politicians. Yeah, the politicians sit down with congress. Did they actually say to you, you know, stan I like your idea, but I've got to get elected in two and a half years, you know pick something else What's the response you've gotten?

Stanley Druckenmiller: It's a difficult problem It's politically difficult The answer being the aarp gives two of them and you guys don't Okay, I don't blame you. I didn't listen to any of this stuff when I was 20 years old either But I did care about the war and you you are at war. These people are stealing from you So Stephanie

Moderator: go ahead, jeff.

Geoffrey Canada: Yeah, I was just going to say, Stephanie, that that what Stan and I were watching when the whole sort of debate around the budget began was who was going to really speak up and tackle this issue. And as you know, the Republican said, well, the Democrats— we all said y'all were going to do it, and Democrats said, we might have said it, but we're not going to say it now, y'all make the cut. No one would touch seniors, and there's a good reason there's: if you cut seniors benefits, there's a almost a certainty that you are going to be put out of office. And unless both parties did it together— you could, which was some theory that they would both go behind closed doors and come up with the grand bargain, which didn't happen. So this became clear that the Congress had not the stomach for this fight, for very basic reasons. And so I think if you talk to Democrats, they blame the Republicans; if you talk to Republicans, they blame the Democrats. They say, when they do it, then I'll vote for it, and the truth is, neither side will do it.

Moderator: But does it disappoint you that the president has

Ken Langone: You you made a remark That two and a half years from now I won't be able to get reelected That's not leadership That proves to me. They're all a bunch of cowards. Pardon me. I'm being very blunt But don't expect these guys to be in line for a medal of honor. They won't be there

Stanley Druckenmiller: But can I don't care whether I don't care whether they're cowards The practical matter is unless you guys stand up Who cares whether they're cowards you can label them all you want. They're still going to be ripping you off You need to stand up to these cowards And you need to tell them that you're you're gonna vote and your vote counts just as much as the arp

I have to tell you Stephanie asked me on the show Um Was it wednesday? I can't remember that far about it Monday she asked me watch it. Don't you think the 60? Don't you think the 65 year olds will fight like hell for this? I actually don't I think their leaders would fight for it But maybe I'm an idiot, but I believe most 65 to 70 year olds don't know these numbers And if they knew these numbers, I don't believe they would tolerate ripping their grandchildren and their future great-grandchildren off I don't think they know the numbers I sure as hell don't think the young people know it because they're not doing anything

Moderator: But why aren't the young people standing up and asking more of their president? When President Obama was first elected, more young people and minorities went out and voted than we ever saw before. And many young people believe that President Obama was going to be the voice of hope, a leader of change, someone in the middle who would speak for their voice. And now that that's not their reality, why aren't we seeing more people stand out, because they stood up and voted for him at a time when young people didn't?

Ken Langone: Ask them that question. Ask them. We're I let me say this to you It's critical that you understand We have living examples in america today not not europe not italy not greece not portugal Detroit chicago Stockton california It's happening here And the reason it's happening in those places is because they don't have a printing press where they can print money to keep the game going But I will never understand as educated And as resourceful as your generation is Please I don't understand why you don't say wait a minute. When is enough enough

Moderator: Ken, let's give them a chance. I'm We've been here 30 minutes

Stanley Druckenmiller: My own theory is because of our political system And the opaqueness of generational accounting with the government entitlements is they don't know the facts That's why we're going to go around to 12 15 colleges and see if we can stir something up One of the big responses And I don't really get this it's particularly true of the left is they go well This is not a crisis yet. This isn't going to be a crisis for 10 or 15 years if you look at your own numbers What's your problem? The problem with that is it's just not true because i'm sure everybody here has had Learned about the eighth wonder of world the power of compounding And if you wanted to eliminate that 200 trillion fiscal gap right now You could do it But it would be very costly. Here's here's From the two sides of the political spectrum if they had their perfect world. Here's what it would take Number one if you like if you want to fix this by raising taxes You would raise every tax in america 55 percent the payroll tax the income tax the capital gains tax the tax on dividend You'd have to raise them all 55 percent and the problem would go away the economy would implode but you'd have your revenues

Or if you're an austerity Republican, you could cut all federal spending 36.2 percent. If you believe in that, you believe in the tooth fairy, that one happening. So at some point it's got to be some combination of the two. But look at what happens if you don't deal with a problem for 30 years and you go, well, we'll deal with this when the crisis hits— those numbers go from 55 percent to 72 percent, and the 36 goes to 44, because the debt is accumulating and piling up along the way as long as you don't deal with this problem.

One more chart. I swear and then i'm done And then we can just go get into discussions and maybe even some solutions This is the one that really really greats me and This goes back to our original chart, which is federal government payments to individuals in red and as you can see It goes from that 28 percent level. We talked about up to 67 percent What's that in blue? That's what we'll call investments That's education that's spending on infrastructure and that's r and d Okay, as you see back in 1970 They both were about 30 percent of the economy Right now This number is down to 15 percent for investments while we're paying out 67 percent for current payments Why does this matter?

Let me tell you what some of the investments in that blue line funded back in ads and hours time, just before that chart started. We spent a lot of money in this country through the government to build the interstate highway system. Can you imagine the United States today with the trucks and everything else going on without the interstate highway system? Anybody here over here is something called GPS. Even a 60 year old goes knows what it is. You know where that came out of? That came from a government funded— talking to a free market guy here— but that came out from government funded research. You ever hear of the internet? Al Gore didn't invent it, but it did come out of the government; it came out of government spending, and so, by the way, did the original semiconductor. So here we are spending this money, giving it, giving it to the elderly who've been increasing their share for 40 years, and it's coming out of education, it's coming out of R and D, and it's coming out of infrastructure spending. I'm done, Stefanie.

Moderator: How many people in this room? by a show of hands Had any idea that this was the current situation that what stan has outlaid for you in the last 13 slides Is what the grim reality is You all knew this That's not everybody raising their hands Well, the ones that raised their hands and what are you doing about it? Are you doubting stan's rock and roll? Good for you Seriously good for you

Audience: Um, the trick— I'm sure you understand, like, the use of statistics and how the manipulation of statistics can actually, you know, change the meaning and the story of whatever you want to portray. And you did portray a very interesting story with all the graphs and charts that you've done here. But I fear— I may be wrong, I, I don't pretend to know everything, as I don't think anyone here does— but there were certain details that were missed that could have changed a bit. For example, like, some of your graphs said, like, government spending; it didn't say, was it per capita of old people or total? Because technically, in the last 40, 50 years, the amount of people who have, like, gone old, or how long people have lived, has increased. Like, that's okay.

Stanley Druckenmiller: Excuse me one second I had a chart, but I had to cut them down because stefanie Are you really The more detailed they are the better because if they're very in 1970 Transfer payments to the elderly were 41 percent of per capita Okay, whatever 40 41 percent of GDP per capita They're currently 71 percent of GDP per capita on transfers for the elderly So you may be comfortable with that if I was your age, I wouldn't be ken and I love it Okay, but that's that's a per capita number and that's a federal reserve number. I did not make it up

Audience: I mean, am I supposed to keep on going? I can go on for a very long time, but I don't want to like just take all your time because this can go on forever

Moderator: We love it

Audience: Well, the thing is yes, that is the fact of a number But the thing is that's per capita across the board But what I'm saying is the amount of old has increased and therefore Spending on old people has increased as they live longer as medical costs.

Stanley Druckenmiller: No, they haven't increased they're about to increase now That's the point We haven't even the demographic problem starts in 2013 All this extra spending in the last 40 years. It has nothing to do with demographics The demographic problem is starting right now today 11,000 of us a day. Okay, the last 40 years. This is all Current seniors just feeding at the trough stealing from future seniors

Audience: But this is because, as you have said, baby boomers are getting to that critical age where a lot of them are definitely having to retire, or getting to that age we just definitely can't work. But the thing is, the baby boom is a one-time thing caused by an extenuating circumstance that was Second World War. Unless we have another world war and have another baby boom, once this bump passes— like, unfortunately, when, like, all the baby boomers die off, eventually when you guys all die off, right?— this should not actually be an issue, because we won't have that large, a lot of, like, as you've said, like, five working...

Stanley Druckenmiller: Dude, you know what's going to happen to the bond market if we don't do anything the next 30 years The interest rates that the government is paying for debt right now Which average about two and a half percent Once the bond market figures out that we have a 200 trillion dollar obligation That's going to go to 30 or 40 percent I haven't even gone into the the gloom and doom stuff the republicans talk about Because I don't know when it's going to happen, but it's going to happen within 40 years I can promise you that

Audience: When is the bond market, when our investors going to acknowledge this grim reality? You know, when Ken was talking about the printing press— investors have to know, they have to understand fundamentally the debt that this country is in, but they don't seem to care, because as long as that printing press is working, whether it's here or overseas, they're going to keep investing and getting richer. When are they going to acknowledge these grave issues and start to do anything about it? Or they just don't care, because as long as the markets are working, it works for them, they'll just keep getting richer.

Stanley Druckenmiller: I have no idea. In February 2010, Greek interest rates were locked to Germans and they were about 40 basis points, and everybody thought everything was fine. Two weeks later they were 13 percent, then they were 26 percent. It doesn't matter until it matters. Right now, one of the problems— or let me say, one of the unintended consequences of Federal Reserve policy— is by, by buying 70 percent of the debt that's being issued, they are canceling signals that the market may or may not be sending about this. My own view is it would not be, but how do I know? We have never had, I can remember, any, any political entity address a problem like this until the markets force them to. By canceling market signals— that's a tough, that's a pretty bad unintended consequences of the Fed policy. Now there are benefits, but that's a big deal in my opinion. 10

Moderator: If you were to advise these young people, if they believe this—

Ken Langone: I'd like to address something to that gentleman, because, you know, when you get involved in esoteric things like, like statistics and all this stuff, it's easy to have a rousing intellectual debate. But let's bring it down to something we should be able to agree on. My grandfather started out on Mulberry Street when he came here at 20 years old, living in a room with nine other men, and lived there for two years in one room until he saved enough money to send for his wife and his two young children. My father went to the eighth grade; my mother went to the seventh grade. My father was a plumber; my mother worked in a school cafeteria. I think I qualify as the American dream, at least I feel that. Help me out. I have all of what you could possibly expect for from this country. Explain to me the fairness of me getting— and my wife got, by the way— forget my 78, we're married 57 years yesterday. Isn't that great? If you talk about somebody that should get the Medal of Honor, she should get the Medal of Honor. But let me, let me make this point, sir. Fantas

Is what you dictate. No person in America, no person, should go to bed hungry. No person should go to bed with no heat or, or whatever else the amenities are of life, the basic amenities. But there's something inherently wrong with the system where I was so big, so huge, I could give 200 million dollars, the NYU, and I could give many millions more to Stern— and he's expecting more, of course, down a road. But tell me what society— is my— what a society would say this is fair? I, I asswedge my guilt by writing my check over every month. I made a promise that I would never cash a government check. I write it over to a charity every your role paying that charity

Geoffrey Canada: Let's talk about the reality. Let's start. We can make these numbers, you know On both those tests that addition can make numbers look that's the issue And it's not it's not just the basic fairness kin that that you and I think you made the perfect point a system that arbitrarily decides that The langones need this money while they're cutting head start and educate what is now that's a reality That's not a theoretical thing that is happening right now And that's what we're arguing against

it sounds like what we're saying is we want to take All of this from these seniors and leave them destitute. That's not and stand and get into the solution That's not what we're saying. We're saying there's some basic fairness here So that as this thing rises, it's not going to wipe out all of the support for these poor kids So they never get a chance to do this and and undermine I think the economic vitality in this country if you look at what's happening around our investments in education And other things this is we're eating our seed corn. This is really serious stuff And it's not just statistical uh gibberish that you can just come and manipulate some numbers They cut head start for real. That was not a joke. That is not a theory It is happening and that's the beginning of what's going to be I think a worse situation now behind it. Well, they there's a question. They had to do something They cut something that they knew that no one would pay a penalty. They wanted to do the ugliest stuff they could do So therefore it wouldn't happen But it happened

Moderator: Got a question here. Yes, sir

Audience: So, um, what has our generation been doing about it? Well, for some random reason, two days ago I was writing an article on generational theft, and I thought I'd mail it to the New York Times. I'll read the first paragraph of it. Every generation needs as chances at life. And while I'm sure that we do indeed have many opportunities, there has been quite some general generational theft from our, from my generation. We have high schools, but standardized testing steals our creativity. We have promises of higher education, but instead of afford affordability, we have student loans, which steals our financial security right from under our free. One economics press professor here said that Medicare and Social Security is a Ponzi scheme which our generation was paying for. It's bizarre a country which hurts its own young in so many ways. Should I go on?

Moderator: It's great. No, we get it. Um, did they did great. Did they publish first of all? I applaud you. Did they publish it?

Audience: I didn't send it yet. I'm I just

Stanley Druckenmiller: well if you get it published You're doing better than me. I'm 0 for 3 and Putin's one for one claiming I think I think that's terrific Um But I think you guys need to get a little rowdy. I mean we marched on washington I didn't put back But frankly A lot of you raised your hand and that's probably because nyu is an is an elite institution And you you've got figures that other students don't have But I can't believe Um, these figures are known That your children are going to pay in 400 000 more than they're going to take out And langone is getting in 325 000 more than he ever paid and by the way We can't even get washington to means test And by the way, if you think the millionaires should get it anyway, let me give you one more fact

You can't help with stefanie if you're wealthy in this country Your life expectancy is five years more if you're poor So you're not only getting at the trough. You're getting at five more years than a poor person. Why can't we means test People like me in a few years and ken now You know why they won't do it because they think it sort of cracks the crowed. It's like if you smoke pot You're going to heroin. It's it's the same theory

Moderator: But stan a few of us proved that has wrong, but we're not going to get it. We're not going to get into that All right, we're just leaving alone Stan if the if politicians aren't listening to three of you three of Some of the most influential people in this country Why are they going to listen to young people who need to focus on getting jobs paying rent getting gold

Stanley Druckenmiller: Because we have one vote. They got obama elected the last time I checked Okane went mccain was the old guy this guy was supposedly going to help out the youth Now the older I get i'm having trouble with numbers, but there's three here and there's hundreds there You tell me who they're going to listen to

Audience: I have a question for all of you What's our axe selfishly in this presentation tonight?

Ken Langone: What do we get out of... why am I here? Why are they here? We have great lives. We have beautiful homes, nice wives, too. Great. And my wife gave me my livestream. She gave me a jeep for my birthday today. I have a jeep. Yes, sir. I got a jeep, and I had, I drove all over the North Shore like it was Christmas morning. Please, please help me. Help. You have no idea how passionate I am about this. This is the greatest country on earth. We have to figure a way out to make it stay the greatest country on earth. And if there's people like me who don't need it, who get it, who take it, who have no sense of guilt, then the only way it's going to work is through the political process.

Moderator: We have a gentleman here with a question. Go ahead right here, sir. Please

Audience: My name is Robert Hawkins. I'm from the silver school of social work. I'm a faculty member I have a set of slides too, but I didn't bring mine um But I I I want to applaud you actually for what you're doing what you're talking about and something I've spoken about in my classes and um I I I expected actually to hate this talk but um But but actually I I really applaud what you're doing um I I have some issues with the framing though And and and I get it because just like uh, if you're gonna sell something It's got to sound good and generational theft sounds really good

But you could also be talking about how society is changing. You could be talking about the loss of labor market, how there are fewer investments going into the system, how, how the economy... Real income has declined over the years. So there's not as much money going into the economy. So that affects Social Security. It affects the outtake. One thing you left out that I thought you would include, um, but I think, I thought maybe you didn't want to scare the children too much.

So was that there's no real money there That the money that we're talking about people pay their social security taxes And they think it goes into that lock box that al gore talked about a few years ago or a decade ago However long ago that was and really it goes into the budget It's not money that they actually that that you you can't go to see your money You can't visit your money because it's it's just not it's not really there So you left that part out.

Stanley Druckenmiller: Well, we did not leave out. There's a chart on investments right there investments Yeah, that that would explain it. We couldn't agree more with what you just said about investment and eating our seed corn

Audience: But but it but here's the here's the thing that I understand Mr. Langeau you you get your 3500 or so every month and you give it away, which is great, but But the average payout is only about 1200 dollars. You're getting the maximum You're you're you're right there at the max

Ken Langone: isn't that sad?

Audience: And yes, and that that that is sad too And so what I what I'm very interested in in hearing is what do we do because if if You're getting when when when many of us retire, we're going to get 57 percent Of the money we put in of our income of our current income or whatever our retirement income is We're going to get back about 57 of that. So

I don't anticipate being able to to survive very very nicely on that If you never put that much into the system if you were low income, you're not going to get that much out of it At least on a monthly basis if you if you look out another 20 to 30 years Sure, you're you're you're going to take in Get back more than you put in but on a on a monthly basis It's going to be hard to live on 57 percent of what you used to me And then children get get another what 1200 1100 or so of that I left my charts at home So I can't I can't remember the exact figures anymore. So I'm really interested in hearing then What do we how do we move to a solution because this is scary stuff? But

The only way this will change is is for the politicians Someone it's got to be brave enough to say okay. I'm going to raise taxes here. I'm going to have means tests there Otherwise or you know or we'll have death panels that sarah pale and talked about we need because people are living longer We need some kind of workable Solution and I'm just wondering Where is and I know you keep saying you're going to get there So I'm happy to hear that but where exactly is that I'm a little confused.

Ken Langone: That's pretty simple to me If I'm a congressman and all I do is get calls from guys like me my age more more more more more And I don't hear from people like you That's easy I give you what you want There's got to be a risk reward component here We when I said we need you you need yourselves I need you because I feel strongly about what made this country so great Was to give a poor kid a chance To succeed I can't believe it happened to me But it did and it won't happen to that kid that comes out of rosson high school at 18 years old this past june This is simple stuff. That's not complicated Stanley is proving to you It will happen I am saying to you It's the political process That will only drive these people. I call them cowards. They are cowards. You may quote me I will give you the names of all them and I'll call them cowards cowards by name

Moderator: But can the professor asked I think a great question Is how do you start to get your arms around the problem? so

Stanley Druckenmiller: Let me tell you the first thing I wouldn't do, which is what even the brave souls out there supposedly, um, have recommended. And for example, Paul Ryan, who really cost his, uh, party when he came out and said we're going to do vouchers and we're going to do anything, but we're going to exempt anybody who is over 55 years old. Remember that? And then they ran the YouTube thing of him pushing granny over the cliff in the wheelchair, and the Republicans lost the seat in upper state New York that they hadn't lost in 100 years. So why are we exempting everybody, um, over 55? I just showed you, these people have taken in three hundred and twenty five thousand more over their lifetime then they put in. You just documented the fact that the unborn and the next generation is paying that tab. But it's not like we had the money to go away. They're going to be in debt. They're going to, they're going to get a negative thing. So, first of all,

Let's start with means testing What is wrong with with means testing? I don't bad word why why? Take me out But that's the whole point. It's a bad word politically because We vote And we pressure congress and the youth doesn't but I have seen the youth rise up Okay, we're now getting stuff done by the epa that wouldn't have been done except for the youth vote I have seen them rise up, but for some reason they're a wall on this topic

That's one thing as means testing. Let me give you another example of how the system is geared for the old. Let me say, current seniors to get transfers from future seniors. What was the biggest tax cut, um, going in the early 2000s? They cut capital gains and dividends. Let's just think about this: the average 60 year old has six times the net worth of the average 30 year old. Okay? So who pays capital gains and dividends tax? The elderly who are clipping coupons, not the 30 year old plumber. His former great-grandfather or whatever he was, I guess your father, my father. Okay. So, so here's just one way the system is rigged. That's a direct transfer of wealth from future seniors to current seniors. Why should their income be taxed at a significantly lower level then people who are earning current income? And again, they have five to six times the net worth seniors do of the average 30 year old.

Moderator: Sorry. We had another question Right here.

Audience: So sometimes I think these these numbers can Be hard to get our heads around so 200 trillion dollars of you know, the present value future outlays is kind of hard to understand um Thank you Can you give us an idea of how worse this problem has got from It's it here. I see 2007. It looks like we're at 60 percent and now we're at 67 so how far up has that number gone and Six years the the The 200 trillion

Stanley Druckenmiller: Are the, the, the Can Kicks Back guys here?

Right there.

Audience: Okay. Larry Kotlakov did some work. Wasn't this number only like 60 trillion like 10 or 15 years ago before all the tax cuts in medicare d

Stanley Druckenmiller: So the fiscal gap has grown rapidly But even the debt problem the 16 trillion was Jesus when I grew up it wasn't a trillion. I mean that thing but But the point Is we're about to hit the point where it really goes up because you talked about You put money in a lock box The government calls that I don't even know what they call it, but you know what it is. It's a debt Your the government is borrowing money from you that they're promising to pay back after your 65 By the way, it's about as good as subprime was 10 years ago in my opinion that you're going to get all that money back But that's a debt

But it's not on the government balance sheet because that's not what we call future entitlement payments And the point is in the next 10 or 15 years That debt is going to start coming on the balance sheet. Is the debt going to go to 200 trillion? No way No, that's a present value number and you're right. It's hard to get your arms around What I can tell you is in 30 or 40 years That debt at current payment is going to be a hell of a lot more than 16 trillion and it's going to be enough To really steal interest payments and everything else from the next generation

Audience: Quite sure we could solve the medical cost crisis and bring it under control, to what degree would this problem go away if medical costs were contained?

Stanley Druckenmiller: It wouldn't go away, but it's absolutely huge And we could make a percentage on it Well, here it is right here. There's medicare and Medicaid And the exchange subsidies. This is a congressional budget office estimate looking forward And so we're talking about 17% of GDP between now and 2080 Current tax revenues are 18% of GDP. That's everything. Defense has gone ahead start everything. So if you could Significantly dent medical costs It would not solve this problem, but it's one piece and probably the most important piece to this puzzle

Audience: So I mean for people in this audience are concentrating on yourself. It's concentrating a lot on social security It's testing social security

Stanley Druckenmiller: I'm not concentrating on social security

Audience: It seems to me, though, that the healthcare crisis would probably benefit more from our energies than the Social Security one.

Stanley Druckenmiller: But that's an accurate statement. We the medical one is Is the big banana and if you want to talk about it, we're happy to talk about it. That is There's a lot going on here That is that is the holy grail. That is the most important piece if you could stop that Statistically You're ready

Ken Langone: I would have been dead 30 years ago 75 years ago I'm living longer, but guess what comes with age Hearing problems site problems diabetes. I can go on and on and on We live in a society where we celebrate life. We do everything we can to extend it And by the way, I want to defend doctors. I think it's a tragedy How little doctors when I see our docs up at how little they're paid Compared to the effort a neurosurgeon Doesn't begin to earn an income until he's 36 or 37 years old and he's probably in debt Three or four hundred thousand dollars at that point We've got the best deal in the world with our healthcare system But if we're going to fix it, we've got to talk about tort reform We've got to talk about all these things that go into driving. That's a bigger issue The better issue for me is two questions. I got one for you How many people are worried about a job when you get out of here? How many people about worried raise your hands high Okay, so you're worried If you want to know what's going to impact jobs 50 years from now Think of what you saw here tonight How about 20 years from now better

Stanley Druckenmiller: Yeah, I can, I just comment one second? Let's look at current spending. This is 2007. Look at how much more the 90 year old is spending than the rest of society. Look at public health and private health. It's more than the 40 year old is spending, period. And this is all, this is all health care. Look, the health care problem, again, that's the biggest part of this, and in my opinion, but this has got to be worked out by politicians and by society at large. There's a couple things you could do right now that would start to attack, attack the problem. First of all, malpractice insurance is a direct transfer from doctors to lawyers, and I think we all know how much productivity the lawyers are contributing to that patient's welfare.

Secondly, it's more sinister than that Because in order to avoid suits What we do is If you're the hospital you run 13 or 14 tests It's called CYA So you don't get sued because you didn't run all the tests By the way, it doesn't hurt also because you're paid as a percentage of revenues So it's actually good for you to run all those tests And let me tell you how effective Those tests are So The red Is how much the united states Spends On health care versus the other Countries in the G20 And you could see we spent a lot more than any other any other country But look at where we rank in terms of medical outcomes among those countries. We stink Okay, so we are paying Much more money and getting less out of it. So that's one thing you can do the other thing you can do is Incentivize the consumer to look at his bill Um

We have such an opaque system right now in terms of third parties, fee for service, that nobody knows what they're paying and therefore they don't care. A former associate of mine pointed out an article to me in the New York Times three weeks ago, where a saline bag, the saline, cost like 44 cents to a dollar, and the hospitals are getting $595 for that. Now, that would not happen if there was copayment and a direct relationship between the consumer of health care and the product served you. But by the time it goes through insurance companies and all these other layers, and you don't have copayments, that's what's going on.

So my solution, which is not— that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to point out the problem to you. This has to be solved in the political arena. But you could go a long way toward denting the increase in medical costs if, A, you got rid of the opaqueness and you put copayment and consumer choice any occasion like it is in almost every other sector of the economy, and you were formed malpractice. Kenny, you have a medical center named after you. You probably know more about this subject anybody on the planet. Do you have a view?

Ken Langone: Yes Shocking I'm working on coming out of my shell. It's not easy what i'm working on You've got to look at the totality of the problem. You've got to bring This weekend I saw on television an ad That if you bought vioxx if you had a prescription You're entitled to a refund now vioxx hasn't been sold for seven years That ad was being paid for by a law firm that gets paid a percentage Of the amount of money that goes out of that fund to reimburse people they they weren't injured they weren't There was no medical malpractice. These people bought it and it was good and that was okay But because it was pulled from the market We need to look at medicine In every single way we can We are living better. We're living longer. Thank god

We had something called the NIH and tragically the NIH is getting hit more than any other government agency In what's going on with these sequestries. You guys are killed in the sequester. That's an example. I've showed it brought up. This is your seed corn This is your seed corn Thank god I'm bragging now our medical center our numbers absolutely keep going up. So our percentage is even getting better for us But you'll never know where you're going to find a yonville check who was here at nyu that invented renegade Or a salk and sabon Who invented the polio vaccines? I remember as a little boy growing up on long island You couldn't swim because if you're swimming the sound you'd get polio polio's gone But where did that money come from the NIH? These are the collateral cost That we have to take into account Stay on your right There's no need for example What the hell is a government paying 800 dollars for a toilet seat for the u.s. Air force and yet they caught them spending 800 Come to home depot. We'll give you one for 995 We'll ship it. We'll even have somebody put it on for it if you want but seriously This is Jeff tell them the battle your kids face with health care up there. It's just

Geoffrey Canada: It is absolutely brutal. And, uh, I think that this issue about whether or not we are trying to do anything other than make sure there's an equitable sharing, that's all. And I think that in lots of communities, we are disproportionately hit by all of these issues, and health care is clearly one of the ones that my kids are getting killed on. And I mean that literally.

Audience: I was just gonna say that Even with the spending it's definitely hitting those from low skilled Low skilled jobs definitely those that are that are in Poverty right now. It's hitting them hard. It's actually hitting them harder Because the policies that are happening and the spending that's going on They're not even taking to account of the working poor, but I think that at the end of the day It's affecting it's definitely affecting race. It's definitely affecting those that are poor without them even fully understanding it

But I think that right now we're just asking too many questions. I mean, they're here for a reason And they're really here to they've been referencing vietnam for like the whole the whole time We really need to try to create a movement through this and as young people I think that maybe even trying to use social media plugs or I don't know how you guys are promoting it Obviously, you're going around to other colleges to really try to start some form of a movement. I think that that's where This begins like the economics behind it. I have no clue what these numbers are, but it just doesn't look good It doesn't it's really scary And so I think that you know

These three very important gentlemen are here not necessarily they're giving us the bare minimum right now by giving us the numbers We all know the numbers don't look good. Whether it's like one billion two billion That's still a whole lot of money So I think that for young people right now that are here that are interested in this generational theft We need to start some form of Awareness of it, you know, that's that's just really where it starts.

Moderator: Well, then tonight you can you can hashtag This movement you can engage social media and it costs you nothing I can't imagine that every person in this room Doesn't have a twitter account And if tonight you go home and you share 140 characters worth of your thoughts on generational theft Or tonight you're going to start trending bigger and stand is probably a good opportunity for you to talk about They can't kick back. Oh see he's so good

Stanley Druckenmiller: So when Jeff and I were up at Bowdoin I got the question from the young people How do we start a movement and I said come on? I gave you the facts I'm a 60 year old washed up money manager. You got to be kidding me And interesting enough after the Bowdoin talking after Stephanie There are a couple young people here. Could you stand up please? From the can kicks back They have helped finance some of the studies we've showed And This is one way to get involved is through them. But again You can do it on your own. I don't know social media. I'm here to present the facts You figured it out. It doesn't look good. Okay. The movement has to be up to you guys and These guys are putting their hearts and soul into it. I don't know whether the answer But I that's where I'd start if I was trying to get this get this thing moving

Geoffrey Canada: And can I just say this, because I think your point is well taken? You all are going to be right in the middle of hearing about all of this, because all of this budget stuff is coming back up again. And just listen about what they're going to be cutting. Just listen to all of the services for poor people which are going to be on a chopping block, as if that's the only answer there is left. How much more in food stamps? How much more in, in support for, for food for the hungry? Health services for the poor, you're going to hear that. And you're going to hear no one, either on the Democratic side or on the Republican side, suggesting there's any money that could ever be saved that goes into this stuff.

So I think uh that those of you who are wondering where the pressure points are in this When this debate heats up and it's starting right now as we begin to talk about whether or not they're going to Up these spending limits and how we're going to deal with the sequester You're going to hear what's on the chopping block and I will guarantee you the one thing you're not going to hear Are any of these services going to uh the seniors that we've been talking about and we're not talking And again, I just have to say this because it sounds like we're saying we're against social security We're against medicaid we're against we're not we're saying let's do reasonable reforms So folks who don't need it don't end up getting it. Let's start there. Here's what we're against your children Are going to pay 400 000 more than they're going to get in and my generation you're going to get 300 000 out Surely Surely some of that 700 000 can be transferred back to you instead of cutting NIH food stamps Head start head start. It's ridiculous and this is untouched It's the one thing they didn't talk about and they're not talking about

Moderator: But if you hashtag generational theft and you include in your message to your local politician, to the governor, to the mayor, to the president, those politicians have teams that follow social media. So if it's not in your wheelhouse to figure out who your congressman is and call it, those politicians don't want their names in the middle of Twitter with a question mark: what are you doing about generational theft? That's a bigger issue for them. They're getting an answer that they're getting their secretary called, and they're not answering. You can engage politicians more than you realize you can, and it doesn't cost you any money. And you can follow organizations like they Can Kicks Back, and so many of your, your friends who are at other schools should show up when these gentlemen travel across the country to speak out. We should fill every auditorium, because your peers should want to hear this message, even if at the end they don't agree. Everyone should have a tremendous amount of respect for this group of men who are taking their time and their money to get behind this mission.

Ken Langone: Let me let me give you a thought Every once in a while a public hanging has a very positive effect I'm not associated with it The next thing he says I can't wait till i'm 78 so I can say I can say whatever I want at 78 and they let me do it and it's wonderful Spitzer took his shot and he whiffed He's going back

Let me say this to you. All it's gonna take is targeting one congressional district. And you people get mobilized. You want to pick a district that's a borderline district, and you make the difference in that election. You want proof? A lot of people in this room probably don't like the tea party. But guess what? The tea party is having an incredible impact— not necessarily in a positive way— an incredible impact on the political process in America. One pick one.

Stanley Druckenmiller: But I can't understand why you aren't all running out right now to go to the streets and staying Remember that movie broadcast I'm tired of it. I've had enough They're too they're too young What what do we need to do to get you to understand This is for you and about you, but you know stephanie made a point a light bulb went off in my old brain We didn't have social media and the tools you had back in the vietnam era You have tools you don't even need to march on wash and go down the street. You have tools that we didn't have Facebook you can bombard stand they can tweet at the president and it might be a less than one percent chance What does tweet mean just kidding? But we could if you tweet a politician you have more than a zero percent chance. He will respond You've never had an opportunity like that before seize it

Moderator: If you agree with them Jessica

Audience: I think uh, I'm obviously a huge fan of this. I'm really involved in the can't fix back organization. And just to talk about why people in our generation aren't getting rowdy: I think that when you think about other causes like gay rights, abortion, the environment, you have pictures of polar bears; you have education, you watch waiting for superman; you have the a very tangible notion that if abortion doesn't get, you know, pro-choice leaders don't get passed, then you can't get an abortion or have access to it. And I think that for this issue, because it's in this financial spectrum, that in order to get people rowdy and get people behind this movement, we need a polar bear. And I think we need, you know, that image of what is actually going to happen, because I think, you know, when we talk in this arena at Stern, everybody here understands the bond markets and we all care about that.

But when we really want to galvanize the average Joe, and even more importantly the average Jane, who definitely is not feeling comfortable with the bond market? I think we need something that is a tangible image of actually what the hell is going to happen if this blows up. And I think that talking about that and getting people really giving them the ability to wrap their heads around it in a really kind of easy to understand way is really important.

Interviewer: Jeff. Do you remember the welfare queen? Thanks

Ken Langone: It's your children's future and it's your grandchildren's future. Please Don't let this happen to this great country. This is the greatest country on earth. He'll never be another america ever in the history of mankind We can fix this problem We need to look at it and i'm begging you Not for me I've had a hell of a run. My wife and I are blessed beyond words I just want to make sure that the other kid that comes along someday the stan drunken mother the jeff canada The kids we have up in our charter school up in hall That that chance that we all had they have You got to get involved. I'm begging you. Please get involved And if you do it, trust me, it'll happen Works the political process works And we live in a society where we settle our issues at the ballot box Please get involved

Moderator: Stan jeff can thank you

Key Themes

The panel is generational theft in its first full public presentation — the op-ed's ledger with faces and questions attached. The audience strategy is the framework applied: the endgame's bill lands on the young, so the young get the briefing first. The willingness to take unscripted pushback on policy detail is the civic form of intellectual humility.

Context & Significance

The NYU panel anchors the 2013 advocacy cluster with the op-ed and the campus tour. Its Langone-Canada pairing shows the coalition he built around the issue: business credibility, education reform, and macro analysis in one room. A decade later, the USC address would present the same ledger to the same kind of audience — with the numbers doubled, and the messenger noting that the only thing that had changed was that the window he warned about had begun to close.