Taxing the Rich | Munk Debates

George Papandreou

"We have created an uber-class, a super-class, that is beyond democratic control of our nations."

As Prime Minister of Greece from October 2009 to November 2011, George Papandreou has been at the forefront of the recent global financial crisis. He was named one of Foreign Policy magazine’s ‘‘Top 100 Global Thinkers’’ in 2010 for ‘‘making the best of Greece’s worst year.”

Papandreou also held the portfolio of foreign minister from 1999 to 2004. His administration spearheaded “Agenda 2014,” an initiative that seeks to integrate the Western Balkan states into Europe by 2014. As foreign minister, he was instrumental in the successful negotiation of rapprochement with Turkey, which had been an old rival of Greece. Papandreou was also a key player in the negotiations that led to Turkey’s candidacy for membership in the European Union in 1999 and Cyprus’s entry into the EU in 2004. He has also held other government posts, including under-secretary for cultural affairs and minister for education. Following his grandfather Georgios Papandreou and his father Andreas Papandreou, he was the third member of the Papandreou family to serve as the country's prime minister.

Born on June 26, 1952 in Minnesota, Papandreou spent his childhood in the United States and Canada, until his family returned to Greece in 1961. After completing his university studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts and graduate studies at the London School of Economics, Papandreou won a parliamentary seat for the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) in 1981. He was elected leader of the party in 2004, a position he kept until March 2012. Papandreou is also president of the Socialist International, an international association of political parties, of which PASOK is a member.

Paul Krugman

"The simple analytics say that we should soak the rich, hard."

Paul Krugman is one of the preeminent economists of our time. A renowned columnist for The New York Times, Krugman won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics for his groundbreaking work on international trade and economic geography. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Krugman’s work in economics has earned him broad acclaim from the economic press and several prestigious awards, including the John Bates Clark medal for his work on international trade and the 2011 Gerald Loeb Award for commentary. Foreign Policymagazine named Krugman one of its 2012 Foreign Policy Top 100 Global Thinkers "for wielding his acid pen against austerity."

A gifted observer and contributor on policy and economics, he has published over 200 scholarly articles and 20 books including the most recent call to action End This Depression Now! He is also the author of the bestsellers, The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 and The Great Unraveling. Professor Krugman teaches economics and international affairs at Princeton University.

Arthur B. Laffer

"If I could figure a way to stop future Congresses from ever raising taxes I'd do it every day of the week and twice on Sunday."

A rthur B. Laffer is the founder and chairman of Laffer Associates, an economic research and consulting firm . Dr. Laffer has distinction in many publications as “The Father of Supply - Side Economics.” Dr. Laffer was a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board for both of his two terms (198 1 - 1989) and was a founding member of the Reagan Executive Advisory Committee for the presidential race of 1980. He also advised Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on fiscal policy in the UK during the 1980s. In 2019, Dr. Laffer was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Presi dent Donald Trump. Dr. Laffer currently sits on the board of directors or advisors of a number of private and public companies and has authored numerous books including An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of States (Wiley 2014) and, most recently, Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy (All Points Books 2018).

Newt Gingrich

"The effort to finance Big Government through higher taxes is a direct assault on civil society. "

Newt Gingrich is a former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, bestselling author and Time magazine’s 1995 Man of the Year. He’s best known as the architect of the Contract with America, which led the Republican Party to victory in 1994 by capturing the majority in the U.S. House for the first time in 40 years.  

Gingrich received his bachelor of arts from Georgia’s Emory University and a master’s and doctorate in modern European history from Tulane University in New Orleans. Before his election to Congress, he taught history and environmental studies at West Georgia College for eight years. 

As an author, Gingrich has published 40 books, including 17 fiction and non-fiction New York Times bestsellers. His latest book, published in June, is Trump and the American Future: Solving the Great Problems of Our Time. He is also the author of a series of historical fiction books, including Gettysburg and Pearl Harbor.  

Gingrich has founded and chaired several policy think tanks, including American Solutions for Winning the Future and the Center for Health Transformation. Today he is the chair of Gingrich 360, a full-service American consulting, education, and media production group  

He is married and has two daughters and two grandchildren.