Discussing the federal government’s budget deficit, Dixie State University Assistant Professor of Economics Dr. Phillip Garner will present at the next installment of Dixie State University’s weekly lecture series Dixie Forum: A Window on the World.

Garner is set to present “The Worsening U.S. Government Debt Problem” at noon on April 9 in the Dunford Auditorium, located in the Browning Resource Center on the Dixie State campus. Admission is free, and the public is encouraged to attend.

During his Dixie Forum lecture, Garner will explore the causes of the U.S. government’s persistent deficits, potential future budget problems and the implications for the federal government, taxpayers and economy. Additionally, he will discuss how the nation’s debt has increased substantially in recent years and currently is over $16 trillion. Last year alone, the government ran a budget deficit of nearly $800 billion, with numbers projected to get worse in the coming decades.

Garner’s research focus is economic growth and development and he has published various articles within that field. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brigham Young University and a doctorate in economics from Brown University.

Dixie Forum is a weekly lecture series designed to introduce the St. George and DSU communities to diverse ideas and personalities while widening their worldviews via a 50-minute presentation. For the next installment of Dixie Forum, Bruce Blumberg will present on gene-environment interaction and the obesogen hypothesis at noon on April 16 in the Dunford Auditorium.