30 Issues in 30 Days is our election year series on the important issues facing the country this election year. Today: The current state of Medicare and Social Security, and how they might change. Visit the 30 Issue home page for all the conversations.

Open Prep: Questions, Articles, and Links to Get You Started

Key Questions

• What do taxpayers owe their grandparents, and what do grandparents owe the future?
• What is the distribution of government spending between the elderly and the young?
• How do the Obama and Romney/Ryan plans differ?

What are your key questions on this topic? Post them below and get the conversation going!

Guests

• James Galbraith, professor of Government at University of Texas at Austin Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World Economy Just Before the Great Crisis (Oxford University Press, USA, 2012);
• Jim Kessler, senior vice president for policy at Third Way;
• James Capretta, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center

Links and Articles

Third Way's report, "Collision Course: Why Democrats Must Back Entitlement Reform" inspired a Bill Keller column in the New York Times, "The Entitled Generation" and a response from James Galbraith.

James Capretta defends the Romney/Ryan proposal in “The Medicare Distortions”

See also Esquire's "The War Against Youth" and Next Avenue's response, "The War Between the Generations Is Nonsense"

Got a Follow Up?

Each Friday we'll be following up on one of that week's issues. Got a particular follow-up question from this conversation? Comment below or tweet us. Tweet to @brianlehrer