{"id":1791,"date":"2025-12-09T15:13:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forwardfest.be\/?post_type=sessie&#038;p=1791"},"modified":"2026-03-09T16:38:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T15:38:58","slug":"budget-myths-debunked","status":"publish","type":"sessie","link":"https:\/\/forwardfest.be\/en\/sessie\/budget-myths-debunked\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget Myths Debunked"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBelgium is a sick country.\u201d For years, the public debate has been dominated by narratives about runaway budgets, unsustainable social security, and sky-high taxes on labour. But what assumptions lie behind that discourse? And are they actually correct?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this session, we dissect a number of persistent budget myths. We examine how certain diagnoses\u2014such as the idea that \u201cexcessively high labour costs\u201d lie at the heart of the problem\u2014have shaped policy for decades. What do these choices mean for the state\u2019s revenues and expenditures? Which alternatives remain underexplored? And how does this narrative shape our view of solidarity, work, and prosperity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A critical short talk on what is at stake when economic myths become policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"type-sessie":[3],"class_list":["post-1791","sessie","type-sessie","status-publish","hentry","type-sessie-short-talk"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Budget Myths Debunked - Forward Fest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/forwardfest.be\/en\/sessie\/budget-myths-debunked\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Budget Myths Debunked - Forward Fest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cBelgium is a sick country.\u201d For years, the public debate has been dominated by narratives about runaway budgets, unsustainable social security, and sky-high taxes on labour. 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