in europe and the like. but i don't think that greece, for instance, is raising a specter of competition so much. it raises a warning flag to us. but when you think about the emerging high energy productive culture that will be challenging in terms of the ability to match their productivity like china and obviously india has great potential as well. we have to be careful that we do not find ourself so burdened with debt that we inhibit our capacity to exercise the leadership that the world expects from us and that we deserve to provide for the next generation in terms of securing freedom. so i am very concerned about our finances. i don't think that the american people are so ignorant they don't want more government. i think they are so intelligent that they don't want to buy more government. i think they understand that being in debt impairs the ability of one to be as free as one would otherwise aspire to be. [applause] >> if confirmed he will replace dennis blair who resigned last month. he would be the fourth director since congress created the office to oversee the natio

. countries like greece were able to borrow at relatively low interest rates, not much higher than very strong credit countries like germany. the result was that they over borrowed and they were not completely clear about what their debt situation was recently, it has become clear that they have in fact very large outstanding debts which are difficult for them to service. this is a problem because even though they have a single currency, they don't have a single fiscal authority. f to move tax money from one country to another within the european zone like we can move money from state to state in the united states. providing help to greece has proved to be a difficult proposition. nevertheless, the europeans are committed to avoiding default increase and in other countries on the periphery because they fear that the default of greece, even though it is a small economy, would encourage defaults and other country. that in turn could put pressure on their banking system which holds many securities from those countries and the banks and other businesses in those countries. it has been a relatively

crossroads now, and we've seen very different reactions on the part of the people in, say, greece, that is experiencing enormous financial problems, huge debts and deficits, and the people there who are demonstrating and rioting and out on the streets are those who receive the benefits of government in greece, those who are living off the very, very small private sector that's trying to fund this behemoth of a government with all kinds of social services and entitlement programs that they can't afford because they're unsustainable. sending, plummeting their country into the kinds of debts and deficits that have gotten them into such deep financial trouble that all the world is horribly concerned. take that image and compare it to the image of the united states in the last 18 months where you have so-called tea partyiers who are out on april 18 -- partiers who are out there on april 18 protesting big government, protesting later in the year this enormous health care bill that the congress passed over their objection. these are the kinds of people that are up in arms in america, tha

is pi, stands for the countrieof portug, italy, spain and greece. i' forgetting one i, but in anyegard, the -- grce got this masve bailoutf somethingike $1 billion and the euro zone from the internationamotary fund work the pledged, i think, another $750 bilon worth of bailout becausthese counie that constitute that acm piigs, their debt ratio to e gross domestic product is so high. when u look, look in your own eye, don't curse the speck in someby else's eyewhen off plank in your own, as e bible says. that's essentlly what we are doing, the united states of america, that's whawe're doin our debt so g.d.p. is what, olags, you can tell meit's close to 90% and by 2020, it will be well over 100% ifot 150%, i'll yield back to let y discusshat further. mr. ak: actuallyi you a few dollars for helping me get tough the slide because i have a picture of where greece and itsly and some othe nations -- and ily and some of the other nations are. before you joined us, my good friendrom new jersey mentioned the level of the defici spending. and i think it's important to take a lk at the bar

. greece at 9.4%. greece is in the news and causing a whole lot of trouble in the european union and its deficit as a percentage of g.d.p. is 9.4%. these are not good numbers. it's healthful to compare to -- united kingdom is worst off. if you go debt, this is the larger term, year after year after year, united states is at 99% and you got greece and italy that are worst off than we are. that is not a good sign when we are in third place. this rate of spending just does not work. this is a path -- this is a glide path. i use the analogy of the old -- the guys of world war i that used to fly those airplanes, whatever it was that snoopy. they get in their spiral and head down to the earth and what happened is -- because of lousy economics, we're in essentially a grave yard spiral in economic and you, my friends, know what the solutions are to fix this. and there was a solution to the graveyard spiral. but from a pilot's point of view, their instinct is to pull the nose up but the counterintuetive thing is to pont the nose down. and there's the same kind of thing in our economy which we

world. as the exit of greece has shown the market forces and sentimental novel for the luxury of time and the lead promises to get their fiscal house n order. the rhetoric is no substitute for results. foreigners own half of the u.s. publicly held debt and their willingness to fund the borrowing at record low interest rates will not continue forever. the size of the current and future needs makes us quite vulnerable to a shift in market sentiment and a higher than expected interest rates. the emergence of the bond vigilantes and exposure to the justice marketplace would meet the bad fiscal situation even worse. the main point here is the need for policy makers to reassure the credit markets that the u.s. is engaged in charting a clear course back to sustainable deficit and debt levels of some. it's clear that this means running in government spending not simply ramping up taxes. in particular we need to reform our entitlement programs that threaten to throw themselves into extinction, collapse the safety net, overwhelm the entire federal budget and sink the economy in the process

financial stress. >> what is happening in europe, to greece, to spain and perhaps portugal and the euro and the effects there? >> we are watching that whole situation very carefully. it was very complicated -- is a very complicated phenomenon. as you know, the europeans have a broad based -- call the european project. it essentially restore peace and unity to europe after many years of conflict. and an important part of that project was the creation of the euro, currency, which not all european countries but any european country share. it had a lot of benefits in the beginning -- at lower interest rates because people fear that the valuation of the currency that they all shared. so countries like greece were able to borrow at relatively low interest rates. interest rates not much higher than strong credit nations like germany. the result is that they over borrowed and they were not clear about what their debt situation was. recently it has become clear that they have in fact very large outstanding debt, which are difficult for them to service. this is a problem because even though they have

existing government programs. we just can't go on like this. this week greece just had another debt rating agency slash their bond rating to junk. now, europe is putting together a bailout package for spain. ireland and portugal may not be far behind. the warnings are numerous but i fear that they are being ignored. we have to get control of our federal budget or there's not going to be anyone big enough to bail us out. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. perlmutter: thank you, mr. speaker. listening to my friend from pennsylvania i'd remind him as well as others that the last month of george bush this country lost 780,000 jobs in one month. ok. 14 months later, 15 months later we gained some 400,000 jobs in this country, but in the process down here in the recession after the bush administration we lost eight million jobs. we have a long way to go to put thos

acronym that as portugal, ireland, italy, greece, and spain. they are close to the breaking point. if you look at g.d.p. and put america in with the trajectory of where we are going, we are very close to where it should be. the imf recently said in 2015 america will be were greece is, and it will actually be worse. the president put together this debt commission where there are people on both sides of the aisle. the recently had an economist in. he took the entire amount of deaths from governments and others. -- of debt from government and others. his numbers came out when he said you hit 90%, you lose 1% of growth. you may think 1% is not enough, but if america is projected to only grow at 3%, you're losing only 1/3 of your entire percentage abroad. in march they had over 18% unemployment. you need job growth. before we had our town hall, i wanted to give you exactly where rearm. i believe this is an biggest crisis before us, and we cannot ignore it. we want to do a lot for everybody, but there comes a point when you cannot do anything for anyone, when you get this high a debt. you may h

alliance. our stock market is crumbling partly because of the problems in greece. it is important for members of congress to go overseas and meet with lawmakers over there. what we found was that on a lot of these trips, they are bogus. you say you are going on some good government trip, but then you bring your spouse. you are partying and staying in expensive hotels, flying on government planes. they are pretty fancy trips. i have gone on a whole bunch of work trips myself, and have never brought my wife. as soon as i am going on a trip where i am bringing my wife, i am probably not working that hard. >> in october, representative cramer spent two weeks in europe on business. he spent $5,700 on hotels. how can you do that? >> that is entirely legal. there is a good reason for members of congress to travel, but if you are retiring or have retired or lost reelection, there is just no reason the taxpayers should be paying for you to travel. >> you seem to find a lot of that. >> it happens all the time. >> do you call them and ask them about it, and how often when you call somebody are t

, fair, and irresponsible. even more worrying is the example of greece. a sudden loss of confidence and a sharp increase in interest. that me be clear. we are not as bad as greece. our underlying position is much stronger than theirs. are week -- we now have a government, that are would argue, that has the ability to deal with the problem. let greece stand as a warning of what happens to countries that lose their credibility. thankfully, this is a warning to focus the into it -- the focus of the international community. we need to take immediate and decisive action. we have completed a spending review to save 6 billion pounds of public spending. we have a new independent office of budget responsibility. it will send out independent forecasts so that never again can this country slip into another massive debt crisis. our actions have already been noticed around the world. i am a glassg-de20 -- i am glad the g-20 endorsed this. this is the sober reality i have to set out for the country today. the legacy left by the last government is terrible. the private sector has shown -- has shrunk i

you toe years ago that if left unchenged we are greece in five-to-seven years. >> your opinion? guest: we're not greece. e i know your viewers know what's happening in greece that the debt has gone so high that it's caused massive decreases. and they are almost -- and the titanic is exactly what this gentleman said, the long-term costs of our entitlement programs, the pension programs, the health care programs are simply unsustainible. we'd have to tax over 507 of everything our children own just to pay for these programs. so it would be to fix these programs, get the spinding under control and by the way, it's not just in washington. it's as i look in the health care you've got a lot of cities like california and new york that are on the verge of bankrupty. new york declared they cannot pay their bills any foe with people starting to say, no. we can't keep spending. one of my heros right now by the way around the country is governor chris christy of new jersey who has really taken on a terrible situation that he inherited from jon corzine this year and starting to take on the -- host

level as greece when you look at debt-to-gdp ratio. i was preparing a speech last week and at the beginning of last week, the united states debt to gross domestic product ratio was 89% at the beginning of the week. by the end of the week, as i return to my speech to work on it a little bit more the information i.c.e. on the internet was that we were at 90% debt-to-gdp ratio. i thought i must have found different web sites or it must be the economist don't agree with each other. we actually had gone from 89 to 90% debt-to-gdp ratio. that is how quickly the debt is accumulating. within a five-day period. the following week we were at 93% debt-to-gdp ratio. right now, the united states level of debt is literally falling off a cliff. when we see the united states go an exponential way of gravitating and accumulating debt, we need to very seriously consider. if you look at the course of history, whether it is ancient rome or the bourbon house in france or the ming dynasty or various societies throughout time, the decline in the society actually occurred very quickly, often within a dec

optimism of greece blends well together. the reason why i am warning about america becoming a third world country is because optimism is not enough. we also need to move at the warning light on our national- board. it is flashing red. one in five americans is unemployed, underemployed, or just plain out of work. one in nine families cannot make the minimum payment on their credit cards. one in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. one in eight americans is on food stamps. more than 120,000 families per month are filing for bankruptcy. at the same time, you have 45 states that have had families reduce. [unintelligible] we bailed out a i g 4100 -- 4 $780 billion. -- for $180 billion. why is in the greater urgency coming out of washington? os0qtwhen walt it was in troubl, they all came together over the weekend. -- when wall street was in trouble, they all came together over the weekend and a stable street. why cannot we do the same thing now to save main street? [applause] contrary to what the republicans are saying, there is no question that the stimulus bill did it take the

korea it brings it on to us, and we can say that it happened to greece today, and it happened to the united states. we do not know where the wall is, but we do know that there is a limit where we qanbar on the world currency markets. >> since then, there has not been a bipartisan deal, and i am wondering how your hopes are forgetting something sweeping along the lines of 1997? this seems like going into it, the partisan lines are sharply drawn. this is not exactly a popular thing. >> back in 1997, i participated in the negotiations in 1997. president clinton was behind this. everybody was moving at the same direction. we all share the objectives. we have started off on a pretty good note. >> asking about the people living in the same direction. have we seen this today with social security? you mentioned steny hoyer a couple of days ago. considering raising the retirement age and tightening the benefits level? is that one thing that you think can get done this year? >> first of all, i do not necessarily agree. everybody approaches social security as a third rail, but of all of the thi

-- greece being the most obvious example -- that have to act immediately because they are facing a sovereign debt crisis. there could be other countries where the issue has to do with putting in place some plans that are credible for deficit reduction, even though they do not kick and significantly in this first year. for example, germany, which cares deeply about the fiscal consolidation. if you look at their plan, they are no more front loaded than ours are. some of the steps that i've already taken -- freezing domestic discretionary spending for the next three years in my budget, passing paygo, setting up the fiscal commission to tackle issues like entitlements long term -- many of those decisions are comparable to some of the decisions that have been made by those promoting fiscal consolidation. i think this is an issue where there is violent agreement between the parties. we have to make sure that we're not rushing to the exits to quickly and all at the same time, but we have to keep in mind that debt and deficit levels that many advanced countries have right now our unsustain

greece that what began as a crisis of liquidity and then solvency in banking systems, has been succeeded by market fears about the solvency of some of the governments that stand behind them. i do not want that question ever to be asked of britain. our country has the highest budget deficit of any country in europe, with the exception of ireland. dealing with this inheritance from our predecessor is the single greatest economic challenge the new government faces. for what business will invest with confidence if they fear ever higher deficits will lead to ever higher taxes? what family will spend with confidence if they fear ever higher debt meaning ever higher interest rates? that is why we have moved at a brisk pace in the six weeks since the general election. we announced, conducted, and completed a review of this year's spending and identified over 6 billion pounds of savings. we announced, established, and received the report of the independent office for refund -- office for budget responsibility. and we should thank him for the hard work over the recent weeks to do that. [applause]

the scale, country's life greece and some of the european nations which have huge debt. it is all about trying to find a balance between the right prescription for the different countries. i do not think there is one size fits all solution. it is coming to a balance of what is the right rate of debt reduction that does not lead into a double-dip recession. i know there was a lot of talk about a risk of the g-20 nations. it looks like officials are laying down the notion of the risk. they are trying to present some type of common thread. host: we began by talking about the financial regulatory reform measure working its way through congress. is that getting any play? is that part of the discussion between president obama and other world leaders? caller: i am sure it will be discussed. financial regulatory -- reform is a key item. there is no real consensus. probably the consensus they will come to it each country takes their own policy prescription. if you look of the global tax for instance, there is no consensus on that. there will not a consensus on that. i think it will be alon

what they benefit from. host: he says hey, remember the riots in greece? they were government pensioners. guest: i do not believe we will get to a point like that in the united states. you can certainly see in ceetain communities where you are either facing an increasingly significant taxes at the state level or property taxes at the local level or if there is not a significant tax increase and there is schools closing, teachers laid off, parks closing. something has to give. the question is how does that manifest itself? we do nottknow, but some level of protest which we have seen already a little bit in some communities. see a greece-like situation.eve- host: john joins us from california.+ he is the last caller caller:. hi. how are you. i am a vietnam veteran. i can no longer walk. i am on a pension from the va. i get less than $1,000 per month. month.

move money from state to state in the united states. providing help to greece has proved to be a difficult proposition. nevertheless, europeans are committed to avoiding default increase and in other countries on the so-called periphery because they fear that the default of agrees, even though it is a small economy, might lead to defaults and other countries if investors got spooked by the first default that in turn could put pressure on the banking system which holds lots of securities from those countries and the banks and other businesses in those countries. it has been a relatively slow process. the europeans have put together a program, a special purpose vehicle with 500 billion bureaus in which is being partially match by the international monetary fund. >> is that enough? >> it is quite a bit. 500 billion here and there and you are talking real money sent. oon. [laughter] >> not what we have been spending. >> it is a lot of money and covers the obligations of portugal and spain and greece for a couple of years. the imf is there and more european money might be necessary. t

financial situation in europe. since late last year, market concerns have mounted over the ability of greece and other euro countries to budget their deficits and high levels of public debt. by early may, financial strains had increased significantly as investors focused on these whether otherding a countries would support their members, provides fiscal consolidation, and exposure to institutions to global markets. broad equity market [unintelligible] treasury yields have fallen as much as 50 basis points since late it will -- late april. corporate spreads have over the same time as some issuance of corporate bonds have been postponed, especially by speculative-grade issuers. in response to these concerns, european leaders have put in strong measures. committed to addrees their fiscal problems. a major assistance package has been established by the european union and the international monetary fund for greece. the backstop near-term financing needs of its members more generally, the eu has established a stabilization mechannsm. addressing strains in the european financial markets, the europe

before. you can see it happen over in greece now, and it is coming. they are organizing, talking about taking to the streets. i think we should be very concerned about violence in the country. host: where are you reading that they are organizing and talking about coming to the streets? caller: recently, van jones said annette same political conference in washington where they were heckling nancy pelosi, that something changed last week. and there is more chatter on website about taking it to the streets and doing it like they were doing it with -- in greece. host: joe, your thoughts this morning. caller: i have been a union member for 30 years and i think just like any other large organization, its members have to be active and tell their leaders how they want to represent us -- not just elect somebody and said back and wait for the world to turn up the way they want to. if it wasn't for the unions in this country, everybody would be making about $6 an hour and have no pensions and have no health insurance. a just wanted to let you know, when rush limbaugh and negotiates his cont

-greeces at the state level pare. host: as a state, i am not obligated by the law to fully fund might pension plan? guest: every state is different with respect to its funding obligations. there are funding standards but there is great flexibility. reason we are about to be in a pension funding crisis -- the reason we are about to be in a pension funding crisis is it is really multifaceted. the stock market crash in a 2008 really affected pension plans in a significant way both public and private. secondly, pension plans when times are good in the public sector really added and made benefits richer. sometimes it was retroactively. people fought the good times would last forever. they had surplus assets. they provided ancillary benefit per is. states have been implicated in certain pay to play arrangements which are costly. finally, there seems to be the ability and the public pension system of individuals spiking their benefits. in other words, the benefit one receives is determined very much on his final year or year of pay. there is incentive to work overtime in the final years of e

,greece. when we do not act and the crisis hurts, it is not the elite, not the corporations, not the rich and powerful, or politicians to pay the price. it is us and the people whom we serve. my last point. change is not a spectator sport. to many americans seem to believe, and i want to use the sale but metaphor here -- the sailboat metaphor here, we believe that sometimes if we just let the regulator and put his hand on the pillar, as we did the president obama, then he will steer us in the right direction. i think we all know if you have a sailboat and have your hand on it and there is no wind, you can push the tiller back-and- forth as hard as you want and you will only go in circles. it is the wind. it is the wind that fills the sales and allows the capt. to steer the boat and go i happen to grow up when the winds of change were blowing rapidly. don lewis and people unknown to this day whose courage crated the winds of change, as we said, that blew up lyndon johnson to a place he never thought he would go. it was the writings of a glorious steinem and betty friedan -- gloria ste

talk about greece and their challenges, we are the next greece if we don't balance the budget and get serious about our national debt and our deficit. mr. by can nan -- mr. buchanan: last year $1.4 trillion in deficit. this year we are expected to exceed $1.5 trillion. we need to balance the budget now. my first year 3 1/2 years ago i introduced a balanced budget amendment that just says we don't spend more than we take in. we need to do that or we are going to be the next greece. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida rise? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, madam speaker. in the last 50 days approximately 35 million gallons of oil have spewed into the gulf, resulting in the worst environmental disaster in american history. the oil spill has destroyed wildlife, wreaked havoc on our marine echo system, and debilitated thousands of families who depend on fishing and tourism for their way of life. and while b.p. has stated it wil

first to damascus and ultimately to greece and rome, transforming primitive christianity from a set to any religious movement in the ancient greco roman world. that is the kind of scale and scope and magnitude of the transformation we are talking about. this is a classic instance of what the late neil postman talked about as organic rather than added to change. it changes everything at once. obviously, the $64,000 question is, what is all this going to mean? it is interesting to know where the catholic population is these days. as catholics in the global south set the tone for the global church, what is that going to mean in terms of what catholicism in the 21st century is going to look, feel, smell, and taste like? i will hazard an answer to that question. i need to put an industrial sites grain of salt on the table first. anytime anybody stands behind a podium and starts trying to sell you generalizations about 720 million people, you need to be cautious. for any generalized statement i can make about catholicism, there are millions if not tens of millions of exceptions. nevertheless

having our debt the 90% of our economy. greece is at 113%. here are taking money away from the tarp fund. i do not understand it. telling the american people that somehow by magic it will be used for two purposes. these are funds that are stressed. on the one hand, we say we will add to the deposit insurance fund and that needs to be done. on the other hand, i have a lease in earlier cbo letter that said the legislation is going to increase to expanding by $26.9 billion. we are going to use the revenue -- this congress is obviously the payfor is the last thing anything thinks about. we are going to use it as a pay-for. isn't it interesting that your writing into this bill and office that supposedly is going to root out abuses, unfair and deceptive financial practices. that is exactly what this is. the very first thing that this ought to do is outlawed this funding practice. it is unfair. if this abusive. it is deceptive. this is the kind of accounting that could make bernie madoff blush. here we are, members of the united states senate and house, getting ready to pass this. i do not

possible for -- it is impossible for israel to establish such an inquiry. on other occasions, and greece have not when we may be thought they have been prompted. we look to israel to cede to the international calls for such an inquiry and investigation. it would not be logged -- belongs if they refuse to that we would add our voices in that case for one conducted under international auspices. he is right to say urgent workings should be taken on providing the mechanism for access to aid into gaza and trade in and out of gaza while ensuring israel that will not be used for the smuggling of arms. that is the urgent work we are kicking forward with our partners in the eu and u.s. and it is something we will have to come back to the house on. >> it is easy to beat contemporary -- to condemn issael. the questions we must ask ourselves is that these things taken by themselves will bring about the solution that we all seek. drawing on our own colonial experience and also on our recent experience in northern ireland, is it not clear that sooner or later, however controversial it may be, that ham

sovereign debt crisis in greece, italy, spain, and portugal have a lesson i, tn we should be able to learn something from that. i am talking about saving money that could be used to reduce the national debt, thereby reducing our interest payments. i am not talking about socializing anything. i am talking about a more productive government that is able to faithfully execute all of the delaware laws. i think that is a win-win benefits. if we can save a nickel in making government more efficient in these times, it cannot be anything but positive, especially if we clarify what government is supposed to do and give it the resources to get it done. host: phil on the republican line. caller: i like hat you are saying, but i do not know how you begin to dismantle something like this i live in a small town in kansas. we have that in issue with the school district here. there was a real budget shortfall. i dug into the numbers and found out they had a strategic planner. i thought that there was one, but there was a strategic planner for each school in the district. at the national level, i am

impossible for israel to establish such an inquiry. on other occasions, and greece have not when we may be thought they have been prompted. we look to israel to cede to the international calls for such an inquiry and investigation. it would not be logged -- belongs if they refuse to that we would add our voices in that case for one conducted under international auspices. he is right to say urgent workings should be taken on providing the mechanism for access to aid into gaza and trade in and out of gaza while ensuring israel that will not be used for the smuggling of arms. that is the urgent work we are kicking forward with our partners in the eu and u.s. and it is something we will have to come back to the house on. >> it is easy to beat contemporary -- to condemn israel. the questions we must ask ourselves is that these things taken by themselves will bring about the solution that we all seek. drawing on our own colonial experience and lso on our recent experience in northern ireland, is it not clear that sooner or later, however controversial it may be, that hamas have to be brou

greece borrowed too much and spent money without really paying attention to it's finances, so in some ways it's similar but it's really not because of the u.s. and what we did in our housing market. now they're sort of in the second phase which is their own problem. host: just to build off the last two callers. what internattonal provisions are included in the financial regulations deal struck at 5:40 am this morning? guest: what do you mean why i want independent? host: anything you can speak to that deals with international financial? guest: not that i can think of. well, i mean there's sort of discussion of resolution and sort of how to wind down systemically important banks and institutions and that, those are all international active stuktss so that addresses some of the issues. but there s, there are separate efforts to set up regulations for all banks globally that would be international and you know there's a committee on banks supervision that really brings together all the regulators of european asian and u.s. together and they're discussing rules but that hasn't conclude ye

should be alarmed about a $13 trillion deficit. we should note the images of riots in greece. what i ask, what will it take for real change here? in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following enrolled bill. the clerk: senate joint resolution 33, joint resolution to provide for the reconsideration and revision of the proposed constitution of the united states virgin islands to correct provisions inconsistent with the constitution and federal law. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina rise? mr. etheridge: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr.th ridge: i rise today to talk about wall street abuses. for too long wall street fat cats gambled with our future and ran our economy into the ditch. north carolina families who i hear from every day paid the price. why? because wall street's protectors look the other way while abuses ran ramp

that the v.a.t. tax is creeping up. the average rate is now 20% a. and greece raced their rate to 21% as part of their bailout agreement. this is yet more evidence that the v.a.t. taxee are easy for countries to raise during times of fiscal crisis. with so much discussion about an american v.a.t., we have to be aware of what the true cost of such a tax would be to our own job growth and consumer spending. early proposals might calling for a 5% v.a.t. tax but in truth the seemingly easy revenue would take it all too easy for the u.s. government to quickly raise taxes to european levels. this seemingly easy tax revenue would have a great cost. american jobs. the v.a.t. tax is one tax we can't afford in america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. klein: thank you, mr. speaker. today i rise to honor marma davidson a great educator and leader. varma has w

economists and lessons of greece and other debt burdened european countries collapsing under the weight of their cradle to grave welfare systems have done nothing to restrain the democrats in washington. they fail to heed the warnings from abroad and continue to simply declare that out-of-control spending as emergency spending to try to cover up their fiscal irresponsibility. as a constitutional conservative with grave concerns with the democrats' out-of-control spending, i support a different plan. i say balance the budget. cut the deficit, pay down the debt, fire the czars, and grow the economy. with president obama in control, the term g.d.p. has taken on a whole new meaning. growing democrats programs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> we are two weeks into the hurricane season and already the first tropical depression has formed in the atlantic. if one of these storms strike

those came down and greece borrowed too much and spent money without really paying attention to it's finances, so in some ways it's similar but it's really not because of the u.s. and what we did in our housing market. now they're sort of in the second phase which is their own problem. host: just to build off the last two callers. what internattonal provisions are included in the financial regulations deal struck at 5:40 am this morning? guest: what do you mean why i want independent? host: anything you can speak to that deals with international financial? guest: not that i can think of. well, i mean there's sort of discussion of resolution and sort of how to wind down systemically important banks and institutions and that, those are all international active stuktss so that addresses some of the issues. but there is, there are separate efforts to set up regulations for all banks globally that would be international and you know there's a committee on banks supervision that really brings together all the regulators of european asian and u.s. together and they're discussing rules

. but i don't tnk that greece, for instance, is raising a specter of competition so much. it raises a warning flag to us. but when you think about the emerging high energy productive lture that will be challenging in terms of the ability to match their productivi like china and obviously india has great potential as well. we have to be careful that we do not find ourself so burdened with debt that we inhibit our capacity texercise the leadership that the world expects from us and that we deserve to provide for the next generation in terms of securing freedom. so i avery concerned about our finances. i don't ink that the american people are so ignorant they don't want more government. i think they are so intelligent that they don't want to buy more government. i think they understand that being in debt impairs the ability of one to be as free as one would otherwise aspire toÑss >> good afternoon and welcome to the carnegie endowment. i'm chris bozic, part of the middle east program here at carnegie. i like to welcome everyone here today and our viewers on c-span to what i think will b

market was over valued and those came down and greece borrowed too much and spent money without really paying attention to it's finances, so in some ways it's similar but it's really not because of the u.s. and what we did in our housing market. now they're sort of in the second phase which is their own problem. host: just to build off the last two callers. what internattonal provisions are included in the financial regulations deal struck at 5:40 am this morning? guest: what do you mean why i want independent? host: anything you can speak to that deals with inteenational financial? guest: not that i can think of. well, i mean there's sort of discussion of resolution and sort of how to wind down systemically important banks and institutions and that, those are all international active stuktss so that addresses some of the issues. but there is, there are separate efforts to set up regulations for all banks globally that would be international and you know there's a committee on banks supervision that really brings together all the regulators of european asian and u.s. together an

europe and the like. i do not think greece, for instance, it is -- raises a specter of competition so much. it raises a warning flag to us. but what we think about the emerging high energy productive cultures that are going to be challenging in terms of the productivity, like china, and india has great potential as well, i think we have to be careful that we do not find ourselves so burdened with debts that we inhibit our capacity to exercise the leadership that the world expects from us and that we deserve to provide for the next generation in terms of securing freedom. i am very concerned about our finances and i do not think that the american people are so ignorant that they do not want to buy more government. i think they are so intelligent that they do not want to buy more government. i think they understand that being in debts significantly in paris the ability of one to be as free as one would otherwise aspire to be. [applause] >> thank you, a very -- thank you very much. i want to prevent -- presented with the heritage foundation necktie. >> this is good. >> we match. at this

of greece. look at the state workers that have lost their jobs. the people on the 99th week of unemployment and beyond. when we do not have a plan, it is not the elite, the corporations, it is not the rich and powerful and politicians that the the price. it is us, and the people whom we serve. last point. change is not a spectator sport. too many americans seem to believe, and i want to use a sailboat metaphor here -- there are probably people here that understand it way better than i. we believe that sometimes if we just select the right leader and put his hand on the tiller, as we did with president obama, then he will steerer our country in the right direction. but i think we all know that if you have a sailboat and you can -- have your hand on the tiller and there is no wind, you can push the tiller back and forth as much and as hard as you want. you are only going to go in circles. it is the wind. it is the wind that fills the sales and allows the captain to steer the vote. i grew up when the winds of change are blowing rapidly it w. it was rosa parks and people on known t

, portugal, italy, greece. they made promises that they could not afford to keep. to mix metaphors, the chickens have come home to roost. they have a huge problem the hands. we must make sure that as a society we find more intelligent, smarter ways to get more effective health care and retirement security of more effective costs. anyone who avoids dealing with that is condemning future generations to lower standard of living. frankly it is tantamount to generational theft in should not become susceptible in america. host: rocky mount, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to address what the congressman said. i notice that he said the government's cannot plug loopholes in he does not trust government because they cannot plug the hole with the oil coming out. you know, government is not in the oil drilling business. mainly because republicans do not want them in there. because they want the private sector. they want the government out. all of a sudden you are saying the government cannot plug the hole? i do not understand. what do you want? government should b

with greece looking at a possible default. concern over contagion spreading to the so-called pigs countries, we saw that tank our stock market. so, these things are interconnected and yes, we have to take your home base, the need to understand we have to look at a world regulatory structure and economy. host: next, an opinion piece this morning from "the wall street journal" posing these questions with regard to the fiasco. one wonders if it would have been possible for ages to sabotage the ships before they left the ports of this incident would never have occurred. or failing that, to allow the ships to have been operable in gaza, and then to disable them so as to prevent any further trips. guest: i think they're many questions to be asked about the flotilla and its intent, why it was on board, why the choices were made. we know two things this morning. one, there was a tragic loss of life in no one can be happy about that. everyone must be terribly sad that it occurred. the second thing we know is that israelis landed on those ships and something occurred. israelis have said the

oil spill, with what's going on in greece, but the stocc market was backkup to 11,000. we are starting the recovery. we have seen with the issue of jobs, some level of success. in the last week we saw industrial production increased 8.1% during the past 11 months, thh largest 11-month gain since 1997. now, i'm not here to say that this is -- that i'm seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. i'm not here to say that we're even out of the woods yet. but what i am saying is, the policies that we have% implemented have clearly turned the country back into the right direction. it is moving us towards a more secure future for the business community and for those people who are out in our community looking for work. unemployment is still too high. we still have work to do with police and fire and helping the states and teachers to ake sure they don't get laid off. but before i kick it to my friend from connecticut, i want to say that you can't help but to look at what has -- where we were and to remember where we were and to say that we have not at least shifted directions and

concerns you have for canada and the global recovery. if greece is forced to restructure and what impact that could have down the road. to get the debts of gd ratio back in store. >> i think chris, what all leaders recognize, and we don't speak here simply the g-8 but can speak the g-20 conversations. we all realize that the world economy is fragile. and that there are many risks going to that recovery. that said, i think we all recognize is the following. that what we must avoid at about just about all costs is some disaster and to avoid an event that would cause a downward spiral in the global market. that i think, that lesson from 2008 and that risk today is what overwhelmingly drives all g-20 leaders as we look at problems we see before us. there is talk in europe about sovereign debt crisis and defaults. there has been further talk in various countries about the pressures this create on the banking system. but i think what you have seen. every time you have seen those kinds of problems is the countries involved working with their g-8 and g-20 counterparts and others in the fi

both for canada and for the global recovery if country greece is forced to restructure? >> i think what all leaders recognize, and i think we do not speak here simply for the g-8, but i can speak a little bit to the g-20 conversations i have had, we all realize that the world economic recovery is fragile. we all realize that there are many risks going forward to the recovery. thataid, i think what we'll recognize is the following, that what we must avoid at just about all costs is some kind of cataclysmic event along the lines of lehman brothers. we cannot afford some particular event that would cause a series of cascading events and a downward spiral of confidence in global markets. that, i think that lesson from two thousand eight and that risk today is what overwhelmingly drives all p-20 leaders as we look at the problems we -- all g-20 leaders as we look at the problems we see before us. there has been a lot of talk about debt crises and defaults. there has been taught in various countries about the pressures from the banking stem. but every time you have seen those kind of pro

. looking at the games themselves, south korea defeated greece 2-0. france could not beat uruguay. that tells us something. the world is shifting. this is a very big boost for africa. i lived in africa. i know this is a very, very, very important issue. for the first timee africa is given the opportunity to host the world cup. i hope the olympic games will be next. the implication of not hosting these games speaks to a lack of infrastructure. someone made mention of sex slaves. that and -- that exist in the u.s.. the corporate interests? it is good that some of them left when mandela took power. host: thank you, color. guest: he is right. this is what -- thank you, caller. guest: he is right. it is a message that we think you can't do it. he mentioned that the world is -- he read that you can add to it. he mentioned that the world is changing. there is a movement toward parity in international soccer that is probably reflective of a broader international trends. the game was dominated by europe, and, then, these two latin american power's, and yet the last world cup, teams from tu

sure that we do not have a country where i'm worried that what we've seen happen in greece is a coming attraction of what can happen in the united states. i was in the state legislature for five years in wyoming. we set up programs to try to give incentives for young people to come and practice medicine in wyoming. you mentioned what governor perry has done in texas. we've done some things in this state to get people into areas where they don't have many doctors with forgivenesses for loans, so states are doing that. i think that's a good thing. i agree with you, people go into medicine for the right rope and we had that previous call from north carolina who talked about different profession. i think 350e78 go into medicine for the right reasons. they look at specialties based on what kind of debt they have, how they can deal with that debt and how they can provide for their families. the final point i think you made had to do with contributions. all of the contributions i've ever received that's on the web site, you can find it and go through it and look at all the numbers you'd like.

other citizens in the midst of the worst economic meltdown in decades in greece. in america, the tea party protesters are protesting exactly what the greeks are demanding. it's an extraordinary juxtaposition. it's american exceptionalism at its best. or if you don't like the american tea party protesters, perhaps at its worst. host: first phone call for arthur brooks. louise on the republican line, new york. go ahead. caller: i just wanted to say that i'm a republican. but with a small r. and i believe that actually social democracy is acting evolutionary process from this unfetered capitalism. you look at europe it started out, you know, with this kind of -- you know, the market rules, adam smith kind of, you know, machiavellian mentality. and it evolved into an economy that protected its people and had more social policies. so i do believe that is evolution of capitalism. if you want to to know how the road, ask somebody coming back. that's where europe has been. i don't believe that if you stick with capitalism in this form, and the free market enterprise in this form that we'