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 rampant. we have seen what that means to main str

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 understand it. it is still a

that's how it started in greece. and eventually it basically started to collapse, which is why the european union had to %- bail out greece and then they had to talk to spain about not spending any money, about cutting their spending, etc., and so when we talk about how -- and then when economists around the country, even now around the world and leaders around the world, say it's unsustainable, it's because that's where we're headed if we don't change that. but you know what adds insult to injury to me? i represent the great state of florida. i will tell you it's one of the greatest places to live in the entire planet. we have a lot of senior citizens. many of which, many of whom depend on medicare, for example. well, we know that medicare will be going insolvent in i think just a handful of years. 2016 or 2017 is when it goes insolvent. so here we are borrowing and borrowing and spending and spending and borrowing and spending, are we using that money? is the speaker and is the president using that money to shore u

there are some countries -- greece is obvious -- that have to face measures immediately because they are facing a crisis. and there're the countries where the issue really has to do with -- there are countries where the issue really has to do with how we start doing plans. for example, germany, which cares deeply about fiscal consolidation. if you look at their plans, they are no more fought -- no more front loaded than ours are. in fact, you could make the argument that some of the steps i have already taken, the freezing domestic discretionary funding in my budget for the next three years, many of those decisions are comparable to some of those decisions that are made by promoting fiscal consolidation. this has been an issue in which there is violent agreement. we have to make sure that we are not rushing to the exits too quickly, but we also have to be mindful that the debt levels and deficit levels that many countries r & r unsustainable. with respect to north korea, our main -- are unsustainable. with respect to north our main focus right now is to make sure that there's stand t

there are going to be some countries -- 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 ha

problems with their debt accumulation 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 thi

. >> will cooperate in providing witnesses and greece in response to congressional request? >> we will. >> will those witnesses be protected from reprisals for their testimony or briefings? >> yes. >> to agree to appear and testify upon request before this committee? but yes. >> do you agreed to give your personal views when asked before this committee, to do so, even if those differ from the administration in power? >> yes. >> do you agree to provide documents in a timely manner when requested by a duly constituted committee or to consult with the committee regarding the basis for any good faith delay or denial in providing such documents? >> yes. >> thank you, both. let's try a seven-minute first round. general odierno, let me ask you first -- legislative elections were held last march. they provided no clear winner. the government has not yet been formed. let me ask you and then general austin, what is your assessment of the situation in iraq, particularly relative to the late in the formation of a new government? what is the impact on the security situation in iraq and o

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 financial stability board. working quick

you go into the g-20, what concerns you have 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

instead, we had had greece in between. that really upset the king. -- the game. countries have had to stabilize their own. there is always speculation. now they are in this different game as the dow jones reporter trustee to. there are different policies and countries to cope with the pathway along the route from pittsburgh to a torrent of. host: in the "philadelphia inquirer." obama meets resistance. why seen meeting this resistance? guest: the debt levels are higher and of greater concerns. you have david cameron in britain who just announced with liberal democrats that new budget for britain from a very austere. q. have elections for the president of germany. angela merkel's chancellorship hangs in the balance. these are real? -- facts of domestic finance. one is the creek crisis and the impact. and the uk. the second is that they have had to cope with the debt issue in a significant way. i think in the short run, you will have this difference and maye something that angela merkel may be well advised to easy up a bit on her stance on austerity. it may help her

the uk 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 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

the uk 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

the uk 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 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 an

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 worked in the south florida office for

-pluu, up to 11,000, back down, week of had some issues with 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 s

pensions, and salary paid by 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 t

and that is why we see now with countries like 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 wo

it has put our money on the line for greece. consider that the u.k. is right behind greece. portugal is right behind them. ireland is behind them and italy is behind them and spain is behind them. there are many nations that are in precarious financial stability. there is a tremendous responsibility in the united states. if we will get our house in order and drastically cut spending and have written tunnel reforms of social security and welfare and if we create a growth environment by dramatically cutting taxes for five years and making permanent killing of the death tax and getting rid of the alternative minimum tax, 34% corporate business tax is insane. we need to lower that to about a 9% level. i do not believe that anyone should be paying more than 21% of their income in tax to the federal government and have 100% expenses if someone buys a business item. maybe that will take a long weekend. you would not even wait 1/4 and you would see absolute robust growth here and the united states economy. you would see job increases. if you would just consider, and we, rather than

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: what is your view

debt that meets or exceeds that that we see in countries like greece or spain or ireland or italy. the european union threatens to collapse under the financial stress that they have because they have loaned money -- it's almost like they're sitting at a poker table playing for chipping that are writing each our i.o.u.'s around the table. at some time you have to pay fo- the drinks and the food that's coming along. those chickens are coming home to roost in europe. we don't need to be there in america. we're a different kind of people. we have a unique vitality in our character, in our soul. one of the things that is part of that vitality is that we've skimmed the cream off of the crop of every civilization in the world. everybody that were immigrants to the united states, they didn't get people who were sitting out there on the porch that didn't go to work. these were the entrepreneurs, the creative ones, the ones that had a dream, that were frustrated because they had the shackles of a dictator that kept them from using freedom to grow their own lifetime success. can you imagine i

you know the whinings of the 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

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 those people back to work, but for democrats that's

speaker, as i taed about the euro zone and greece e untr greece. they had eir credit rating downgraded. so any country that would lend them money by their finaial par is gng to charge gher rate of interest. retty soon, i think the gentleman fm missouri and my colleague from new jersey would probably agree with me that thatery same thing could happen to our country, that our debt is not -- it's not cdit worthy as it's been, we're going to havto pay a higher rate of interest through borrowed money. r. akin: i promised the gentleman we did have a chart with foreign coutries, we've taken a look at, greece has beenn theews because it's creating shock waves in europe. this is deficit as a percent of g.d.p.ism mentioned where we were in the united states at the $1 trillion we saw last year and another higher this year, we were at about 10.3 deficit as a percent of g.d.p. greece is as 9.4%. our deficit as a percent of .d.pis worse than greece. spain and the united kingdo seeto be worse off than we are. weaver the next worst in thi chart. if you go to debt

. >> logan: the deep sea between turkey and greece is a graveyard for ancient shipwrecks. many still lie undiscovered at the bottom of the ocean, fragments of history that remain beyond reach thousands of years later. now, one of the greatest undersea explorers in the world, robert ballard, is trying to uncover their secrets. you may know him as the man who discovered the "titanic," but what he couldn't say then is that he was on a clandestine mission for the navy at the time. it was a secret he kept for more than two decades until the mission was declassified. tonight, you'll hear how that mission helped him find the most famous wreck in modern history, and about ballard's many other discoveries in his 50 years at sea. and as we first reported last fall, when ballard took us with him to hunt for ancient shipwrecks off the coast of turkey, we made an extraordinary find even he didn't expect. to get to bob ballard, we had to make a journey of our own to what used to be one of the great crossroads of civilization. for thousands of years, ancient mariners passed through these

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 european central bank [unintell

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.

look at california, breeze, the state workers that have lost their jobs already -- look at california,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 t

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 tur

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 lim

i want to make 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

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. the soverei

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 i

to some extent you are seeing that in europe, 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 p

we 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

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. there needs to be worked

they think because of the sovereign debt crisis from greece and spreading to other countries that governments across the region will cut fiscal expenditures and that is likely to weaken economic growth going forward. they are worried about a slow european recovery that could be slow for a number of years as many economies in the region try to get their fiscal house in order. host: the phone numbers are on the bottom of the screen. we are talking about china's economy and specifically the impact object u.s. trade. nicholas lardy has a ph.d. from university of michigan, talked in many places, currently senior fellow at the peterson institute for international economics. back to the u.s. an china, you said the chinese are not as concerned about the u.s. as they are with europe. they feel fairly confident. but explain in laymen's terms the connection between the chinese economy and our economy. why are the two so linked? guest: the main linkage is trade. china is the the biggest ex-porter in the world and we are one of the biggest markets so they are concerned about the pace of growth in the unit

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 slow process, but europeans have put together a program, a special purpose vehicle with 5 million bureaus in it which is being partially match by the international monetary fund. >> is that enough? >> it is quite a bit 37 after 5 billion here and 5 billion there, you're talking real money. [laughter] it is a lot of money. it certainly covers the obligations of greece and portugal and spain for a number of years. to is a lot of money and the imf is there if you're more money is necessary for there is work that these to be done to make sure countries can apply for it and ma

the american spirit of optimism and the 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 ntional- 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] conary to what the republicans are saying, ther

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 a single currency, they do not have a single fiscal authority. there's no easy way to move tax money from country to country in the year rose on the way that we can move money from state to state in the united states. it proves to be a difficult proposition. nevertheless, the europeans are committed to avoiding default in greece and in other countries on the so-called periphery, because they fear that the default of briefs and the small economy itself might lead to defaults in other countries if investors got spooked by the first default, and that would put pressure on their banking system with lack of securities from those countries and banks and ot

look at the country 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 r

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

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

there is an 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 any

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

paul left palestine and went 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

greece was over 100% of their g.d.p. there is an acronym they call pigs, portugal, ireland, italy, greece and spain. they are all in a financial crisis. they are very close to the breaking point. and if you look based upon g.d.p., if you put america in there and the protectory of where we are going, we are very close to where greece is to be. the i.m.f. came out to say in 2015 america will be where greece is. and it will actually be worse. the president put together a debt commission where there are people on both sides of the aisle. they recently had an communist in. he took the entire amount of debt from government and others for the united states. his percentage comes to 90% of g.d.p. his numbers come out and say when you hit 90% you lose 1% of growth. now think for a minute, 1% is not a lot. if america is protected to only grow at 3% you are losing a third of your entire percentage of growth. we are in the middle of a recession. you need job growth. so why i layout before we have our communication and our town hall,