in response, the treasury department ithe spring created the hamp program and the treasury has created other programs. i am pleased toelcome ms. caldwell as the director of those programs on behalf of the treasury department. as i have said on every hearing of this panel, foreclosing on a families, is not a matter of mere financial transaction. it marks a profound financial loss for the family and often devastating emotional defeat for the adults in that family trips psychological trauma for the children, falling property values and destabilized committees for the, as neighbors. foreclosures are a sure sign of a failing economy and a society that has been unable to provide basic economic security to its citizens. mass foreclosures should no more be encouraged by our public officials then should contagious diseases or catastrophic floods or crime. these reasons alone would justify aggressive government action to prevent foreclosures in the wake of the housing bubble and the academic of exploited lending practices by our financial institutions. the social impact of foreclosures is not by

>> they print the money and then they guy treasury bonds. >> do they buy the treasury bond from the treasury department? >> no. they buy the treasury bonds from the goldman sachs. >> you must be [ bleep ]. >> no. >> let me get this straight. if i want to guy treasury bonds with my money, i can buy them directly from the treasury. >> yes. >> and if you want to guy treasury bonds with your money, you can buy them from the treasury. >> right. >> but if the ben bernanke wants to buy them using the american people's money, he does not buy them from the treasurery. he buys them from the goldman sachs? >> exactly. >> does the goldman sachs give him a good price? >> of course not. they are the goldman sachs them make their living ripping off the american people. >> how is the goldman sachs able to do this? >> the fed announce what's it will sgi when it is going to buy before it does the trade. >> so the goldman sachs can front run the fed and give them the worst possible price on the treasury bonds? >> yes. exactly. >> the fed is okay with this blatant theft from the american people? >> of course, o

he was in the treasury -- he was in the treasury when they set up the tripartheid system that failed. he was in the treasury when they had the biggest boom and the biggest bust. he was in the treasury when they gave fred goodwin a knighthood. i'd go back to the blank sheet of paper if i were you. >> i'll compare my record in the treasury anytime to his. he was there on black wednesday. black wednesday. now, isn't this just typical of the prime minister? before the election he promised a day of reckoning for the bankers. we passed the legislation. it's there for him to implement. it's not very much to ask, mr. speaker, all that the legislation would require is that they would to have publish the banks, the number of people -- not even their names as the chancellor used to call for, the number of people getting pay and bonuses above a million pounds. it doesn't make sense to wait for europe. why doesn't the prime minister show a lead and just get it done. >> he says -- he says he wants to contrast his record in the treasury. yes. let's just remind people when he was in the treasury they

he was in the treasury when they set up the tripartite system that failed. he was in the treasury when they had the biggest boom and the biggest bust. he was in the treasury when they gave fred goodwin, the man who broke the royal bank of scotland, a knighthood. i would go back to the blank sheet of paper, if i were you. >> i will compare my record in the treasury any time to the prime minister's. he was there on black wednesday. is this not just typical of the prime minister? before the election, he promised "a day of reckoning" for the bankers. we passed the legislation. it is there for him to implement. it is not very much to ask. all that the legislation requires is that the banks publish the number of people, not even their names, as the chancellor used to call for, getting pay and bonuses above £1 million. it does not make sense to wait for europe. why does the prime minister not show a lead and just get it done? >> the right honorable gentleman says that he wants to contrast his record in the treasury. yes, let us remind people that when he was in th

he was in the treasury when they set up the tripartite system that failed. he was in the treasury when they had the biggest boom and the biggest bust. he was in the treasury when they gave fred goodwin -- the man who broke the royal bank of scotland -- a knighthood. i would go back to the blank sheet of paper, if i were you. >> i will compare my record in the treasury any time to the prime minister's -- he was there on black wednesday. is this not just typical of the prime minister? before the election, he promised "a day of reckoning" for the bankers. we passed the legislation. it is there for him to implement. it is not very much to ask. all that the legislation requires is that the banks publish the number of people -- not even their names, as the chancellor used to call for -- getting pay and bonuses above £1 million. it does not make sense to wait for europe. why does the prime minister not show a lead and just get it done? >> the right honorable gentleman says that he wants to contrast his record in the treasury. yes, let us remind people that when he

treasuries. as stephanie dhue reports, the issue is front and center on the global stage. >> reporter: president obama stepped off "air force one" in seoul into a g20 battle over global currency. china and other nations have criticized the fed for driving down the dollar with its plan to purchase $600 billion in u.s. treasuries. the peterson institute's william cline says the bigger issue is china's refusal to let its currency rise. >> the situation has become complicated by the fed's easing, but actually the movement of the dollar now has brought it to about the right level. it was overvalued before, it's now at a level that's consistent with a moderate trade deficit. >> reporter: experts say the fed's move wasn't meant to weaken the dollar, but rather to boost the u.s. economy. brookings fellow barry bosworth says the fundamental problem is a weak recovery. >> the united states has to either start exporting more or importing less. countries like china, that have a big current account surplus, h

in return, the treasury pays interest as high as 4% on these bonds and treasury bills. most of the ious are held by american investors and the u.s. government, but a third is opened by foreign lenders, like great britain, japan, and china. the treasury owes that country $880 billion. >> the number one option out there, the safest place to place the nest egg is in u.s. debt. >> couric: but that confidence may be eroding. years of running annual deficits is driving the total national debt towards a whopping $14 trillion. >> a day won't go by that i don't get an e-mail fray trader or hedge fund manager who says the chickens are coming home to roost. what they mean by that, every day we assume more and more debt as a country, it makes us less able, less likely to pay out that debt in the future. >> even two years ago, we were hearing from the head of the kuwait investment authority that he was worried about the direction that the u.s. was headed in. >> somebody has to fund it. >> reporter: if anything, two years later those concerns have to be even greater because, of cours

in return, the treasury pays interest as high as 4% on these bonds and treasury bills. most of the ious are held by american investors and the u.s. government, but a third is owned by foreign lenders, like great britain, japan, and china. the treasury owes that country $880 billion. >> the number one option out there, the safest place for it to place thier nest egg is in u.s. debt. >> couric: but that confidence may be eroding. years of running annual deficits is driving the total national debt towards a whopping $14 trillion. >> a day won't go by that i don't get an e-mail from a trader or hedge fund manager who says the chickens are coming home to roost. what they mean by that, every day we assume more and more debt as a country, it makes us less able, less likely to pay out that debt in the future. >> even two years ago, we were hearing from the head of the kuwait investment authority that he was worried about the direction that the u.s. was headed in. >> somebody has to fund this deficit. >> reporter: if anything, two years later those concerns have to be even great

it is supplemented where the treasury ensure the deposits. in the commercial paper market, the allow corporations to meet their financing needs. they need the cash to pay off their creditors. we expanded it to a wide variety of institutions. working with the treasury and other banks, we helped to stop the panic of 2008. we need to know when to make loans to provide the lenders to stop the panic. i mentioned the other part of our tool kit for dealing with financial instability, our supervisory tool kit. we were examining what was going on at other financial institutions and trying to figure out where there were problems. a very important example was in the spring of 2009 when we and the other agencies did a stress test. we took all the biggest banks and we did a simultaneous and evaluation of all their assets and losses and we publish that information for the public. it had a great effect. investors had the information they needed about the health of the banks. any problems or taking care of. the other banks found they could go to the stock ma

treasury. we conduct the treasury auctions that the treasury uses to fund the federal debt. we also offered lots of services for central banks are around the world. there is the federal reserve adult, it is the largest repository -- repository of gold in the world. if you come by the new york fed, you can take it for a big gold vault. i encourage you to do that. we have a pretty diverse district compared to some of the other federal reserve banks. we have manhattan, which is pretty dense. it ranges all the way from upstate new york and the caribbean islands. there is plenty to keep us busy. in the last few years, it has been even busier than usual. let me talk about the last couple of years, the crisis and our response. these are not normal times. the financial crisis that broke in mid 2007 intensified dramatically following the failure of lehman brothers really was the worst financial crisis the united states has experienced since the great depression. that crisis in the financial markets was followed by one of the longest and deepest recessions that we have had since world

this has been looked up before in the treasury. so the work is long established in the treasury. and the simple way to do it is the way that i want to do it. >> i want to ask you a question, in june, the prime minister, on the 7th of june in a speech said that taxing the deficit was going to affect our whole way of life. it was going to affect every single person in the country. and actually i went on to the famous internet forum so see what they were saying about the change, in the child benefit. meg buffett said this is going to cost me a 1500 a month. very similar comments. there's a lot of furry on that side. >> can we have a brief question? >> how has the csr affected your way of life and people in the kind of income bracket? today to prove the salary for the 3 million pound pay package. how is it going to affect your way of life? pm says it's going to affect their way of life. how will it affect your way of life? >> i lose my child benefit. my wife does. >> you are claiming. >> yes, i have two children. like everyone else who is a higher rate taxpayer from 2013 onwards, you

many were hoping the central bank would commit to buying $500 billion in treasuries. so, they were pleased by the total amount, $600 billion. economist julia coronado believes the fed's so-called quantitative easing is a smart strategy. >> the fed is saying "we are insuring the downside scenario. we are not going to let a double dip happen. we are not going to let unemployment continue to rise. we are going to continue to be aggressive and protect the economy from that downside double dip scenario." >> reporter: here's how it would work: by buying treasuries, the fed hopes to lower long-term interest rates further, encouraging consumers and businesses to borrow and spend. but wall street has plenty of skeptics who think the plan is misguided. societe generale's aneta markowska is not convinced lowering interest rates will help. >> the problem with that sort of logic is that we've already seen record-low mortgage rates since, about, the summer and they really have done absolutely nothing to stimulate housing demand. you know businesses are sitting on big piles of cash,

almost by definition treasury wants to step in. you might not have been in danger of default before but you're in did danger of default now. so i think there's some real problems with the resolution rules. i also think there's a solution. and the solution is to change the special treatment, the derivatives get in bankruptcy. they are exempt from the automatic stay. if you put a stay on derivatives in bankruptcy, i think a lot of these companies would have an incentive to file for chapter 11 before regulars ever stepped in it if there had been a stay on derivatives when aig was in trouble, i believe they would have filed for bankruptcy. bankruptcy didn't offer them anything because they couldn't stop those derivatives creditors from running. finally, i would just wait of the last issue which is states, could we have a bankruptcy regime for states as most of you probably know, we have a bankruptcy regime for municipalities. in fact, a municipality only an hour or so away under, while a whole, is in this chapter right now, chapter nin

by buying treasuries, the fed hopes to lower long-term interest rates. that, in turn, could encourage consumers and businesses to buy big ticket items, and eventually lead to hiring. the fed used quantitative easing successfully in 2008 and 2009 to get financial markets back on solid footing. but this time, economists warn the strategy is riskier-- because the fed's goal is so broad: reviving the economy and boosting hiring. japan tried to use quantitative easing in the early 2000's to resuscitate its economy, and it failed. >> japan is widely believed not to have been aggressive enough. and also japan was raising tax rates at a time they shouldn't have been, in the late '90s. >> reporter: which is why most wall street strategists are confident the fed will act boldly this time. even so, j.p. morgan strategist tom lee isn't sure stocks will rally on the wednesday announcement. >> if markets are disappointed, it's probably because the fed may be communicating something about the outlook for the recovery or inflation being better than expected. and that co

treasury, but also for the broadcasters, i think we'll be able to get through that. given what's going on in congress, you don't know. politics can intrude, so -- >> host: paul jacobs, you talknd about the incentive auctions. to get to that magical 500 megahertz, is that -- how much of the, how much of that will be through sniff -- incentive auctions? >> guest: i heard chairman genachowski say it's about 300 megahertz that the broadcasters are occupying right now. so if that's the case, that gets you a fairly long way there. >> guest: but the plan would have, part of that spectrum they're occupying they will continue to occupy. under the broadband plan, 120 megahertz would come from the broadcasters, but they might use incentive auctions for satellite people as well. so the plan would be to use not only broadcasters, but also some satellite spectrum to get through incentive auctions. >> guest: i think the interesting thing will be the dynamic that gets created once there's a market system and you see who really wants to participate, do the broadcasters still want to

peterson foundation is calculated using treasury department numbers that as of the end of 2009, the end of last september, the federal government save $61.9 trillion in unfunded liabilities. that is the amount of the national debt plus all the entitlement benefits primarily social security and medicare but others that are promised to americans that will not be met by the tax revenue that is anticipated to come in to pay for this. that $61.9 trillion equals $200,000 for every man, woman and child in the united states. be a radically with the government faces is going out of getting an additional $200,000 in revenue for every person in the united states, for a mom and dad and three kids, family of five that is a million dollars. as of now been funded liability equals a million dollars for that family of five. when the treasury department came out with this financial report on the government of the united states back in february, the comptroller general who runs the government accountability office, looked at this and they said as of 2019, they believe, 2019, 90 years from now, they believ

treasury, which is the largest stake holder in gm reduced its holding from 37% down from 66%.

one character in my book, paul o'neill, president bush's treasury secretary, was left out of town at the time. he was not robert rubin. he was sort of the ill at ease in front of the camera, but i went back to talk to him, and a lot of his ideas sounded pretty good. he said, this venture reform bill that they just passed, we could have done it in two pages. one page would say that the banks would have to stake 25% -- not a 7% that we have now internationally -- 25% of their capital on any loan that they make. and then on page two, mortgage holders would need to put down 20% of their capital to buy a home. he said that would fix the problem. what he says makes practical sense. so yes, the reduction of capital standards, as everyone recognizes, was a key problem. one of the problems out there now is how much of a raising of the standards is necessary to prevent this from happening again? host: a tweet from a viewer -- guest: what the repeal of glass- steagall did was remove all of the fire wall that existed in the financial industry. that was enacted when it became clear, that when ban

what are treasury bonds? guest: of the treasury department each week conduct these auctions and it says we need some money to run the government. if you will loan us your money, so china goes and and if they buy a bond, it is and i know you. so china and other investors if uncle sam's money, and an uncle sam will have to pay an interest rate later on. so it is a loan, and the government does this to finance its deficits and debt and keep the government ruling. so the federal reserve is going to go in and buy bonds, $600 billion worth of treasury bonds of different dections. the hope is this, that buying those bonds will lower rates on mortgages and corporate debt that is tied to the bonds that the fed is buying. so you ask, how is this affecting unemployment? the hope is that if people take out loans and say i'm going to go now and buy a car because i can get cheaper financing, i will buy a house because i can get cheaper financing, or appliances or what not, that this will spur more sales for businesses. and

this has been looked up before in the treasury. so the work is long established in the treasury. and the simple way to do it is the way that i want to do it. >> i want to ask you a question, in june, the prime minister, on the 7th of june in a speech said that taxing the deficit was going to affect our whole way of life. it was going to affect every single person in the country. and actually i went on to the famous internet forum so see what they were saying about the change, in the child benefit. meg buffett said this is going to cost me a 1500 a month. very similar comments. there's a lot of furry on that side. >> can we have a brief question? >> how has the csr affected your way of life and people in the kind of income bracket? today to prove the salary for the 3 million pound pay package. how is it going to affect your way of life? pm says it's going to affect their way of life. how will it affect your way of life? >> i lose my child benefit. my wife does. >> you are claiming. >> yes, i have two children. like everyone else who is a higher rate taxpayer from 2013 onwards, you

is facing a backlash against the american treasury secretary's decision to print six hundred billion dollars and a bit to stimulate the economy critics of home and abroad say this so-called quantitative easing will devalue the dollar and create havoc across the world. u.s. federal reserve announced that it was buying treasury bonds worth six hundred billion dollars and this was on top of the previous purchase of treasury bonds worth one point seven billion dollars i mean what do you pay for that stuff with you know you know paid for by writing a check you pay for it ultimately in the end you pay for it by cash and this cash starts hitting world markets some markets are more volatile than others and obviously it's going to have an effect but it was a shock and. awe you know there are some people who are not quite as critical to us as others but i don't recall anybody applauding the u.s. move i don't recall anybody saying oh smart move i don't i don't think i don't think anybody said that there were some people who were not critical but then they didn't they didn't they were not in fav

we have neither troops nor treasury nor government. the constitution that came out of philadelphia in 1787 provided all the tools and new national government needed to address this financial crisis, effectual sources of tax revenue, national control over the currency, national control over foreign and interstate trade, a credible commitment to paying the debt, the rudiments of a modern and group c. system and by implication or so hamilton, washington and john marshall thought the authority to create a central blank on the model of the bank of england. the creation of the central bank precipitated the first constitutional debate of the new republic. disagreement over the banks sparked the formation of the two great political parties of the nation. much of the constitutional theory of the early republic, the extent of national powers, the role of the executive to the treasure come the meaning of the necessary and proper clause were articulated in the course and since that time, financial crisis along with war has continued to challenge i

tim has also extensive experience at treasury. and also at freddie mac where he was senior vice president and treasurer. and tim serves on the board of directors of the cme group. next to tim is steve albrecht. and steve has a law degree from georgetown university in addition to his other degrees. and steve is managing director for regulatory affairs at ge capital and tim also serves in treasury as counselor to the general counsel and acting deputy general counsel. he was very much involved in t.a.r.p. and in issues related to fannie mae and freddie mac. and then we have chris towe. chris -- i'm sorry, chris has been very much responsible for the financial sector work going on at the imf, particularly, and has recently completed time and will have a lot to share with global coordination that's going on. so let's start -- there are a number of issues here that need discussion. as the secretary wolin how do we have financial institutions and there are a number of issues here and he mentioned the body that is going to decide which no

there was the immediate association with japan, stab in the back, treasury. -- treachery. we started talking about the attacks. japan was pulled in, even though it was nothing to do with pearl harbor. then you began to get things like we will never forget there was a billboard outside of chicago, for example, and on one side it had december 7, on the other side, it had september 11. and in the middle, we will never forget. nobody needed a footnote to understand that. pearl harbor, 9/11. we will always remember these dates. which is true. there was a great sense of revenge. we will pull together. and, of course, if you thought about it, and what was very clear at the time, there were real similarities. the surprise, the shock, and the fact that when pearl harbor happened, president roosevelt was presiding over a very divided country. isolationist, people who felt we should do more in the war in europe, and when 9/11 occurred, president bush was just beginning an administration after an election that had really fractured the country. and so the country pulled together on bot

so as long as incentives, many matches for the treasury but also broadcasters i think mobile to get through that in a reasonable timeframe. but given what going on in congress, you don't know. politics can intrude. >> host: paul jacobsen talked about the incentive options to get to that magical 500 megahertz, how much of that will be through incentive options? >> guest: i heard chairman jenna chose to say today about 300 megahertz at the broadcasters are occupying right now. so if that's the case back into a fairly long way there. >> the plan would have -- part of that spectrum they will continue to occupy into the broadband plan. 120 megahertz account of the broadcasters but it might use incentive options for satellite people as well. as of tonight at 90 megahertz used. it would be to use and satellite spectrum to get to incentive options. >> guest: the interesting thing will be the dynamic that gets created when there's a market system and then you see who really wants to participate to the broadcasters to want to be over the year because as we know most people are getting their content t

the treasury department has been a part of that. some of the people have said this is a partisan criticism of the fed. ben bernanke was a senior republican appointee and the bush administration. i criticize the fed policy in that administration as well because it was not strong enough on the value of the dollar and the constitutional principles of stability. i think we have to have a lot of introspection. a change in the policies that the fed pursues that will give us more stability in the long run. host: cash confusion is the opposite in the "washington *." -- in the washington times." we are talking about this with david malpass this morning. our next call comes from richmond, va.. caller: good morning. i see you ran for the senate for the republican party. i have a couple of questions. one is a statement. the federal reserve is a private institution. i don't really know what it does. what i am asking about his [unintelligible] it was talking about the employment act of 1978, giving the fed a new mandate. i am wondering what that

criticism of the federal reserve's plan to pump up the economy by buying billions of dollars worth of treasury bonds. >> susie: tom, the latest opposition comes from two dozen leading economists, investment strategists and academics. they took out a full page ad in today's "wall street journal" under the banner "economic policies for the 21st century." they're urging ben bernanke to re-think the fed's $600 billion bond buying plan. >> tom: in an open letter to the fed chairman, they write, "the planned asset purchases risk currency debasement and inflation, and we do not think they will achieve the fed's objective of promoting employment." instead of further action by the fed, the authors want improvements in tax, spending and regulatory policies. >> susie: so is the fed's plan flawed? we get two points of view. signers of that letter to bernanke. also joining us, alan blinder, professor of economics at princeton university and former vice chair of the federal reserve. welcome to the program. >> thank you, good to be here. >> susie: you believe with this money. the other, we get too much infla

at a british treasury committee hearing, chancellor george osbourne, similar to the u.s. treasury secretary, rejected claims he exaggerated the financial crisis to justify the cuts. opposition party members argue that the spending cuts are unfair to the middle class. this event is two hours. >> well good morning, chance lore.at thank you very much for coming before us this morning. and, there's quite a lot to get through on this csr. but before i do that, ig would just like to ask you aug couple of other questions. the first relates to the decision that the americans have just taken on their own qe plan and i think it would be helpful if you could tell us what coordination there i is at the moment between the treasury, between fiscal policy and monetary policy, between the bank and thefi treasury on this crucial issue? >> well, first of all, thank you for inviting me to appear before you. the first point i make is that, with the committee's forbearance, the monetary policy committee is currently meeting and ready p to announce -- make announcement at midday about the conc

newswheel: as we reported, stock prices were down and so were treasury prices as the federal reserve kicked off a program to buy $600 billion in government securities. that's supposed to drive down long-term interest rates. but prices fell pushing yields sharply higher. the yield on the 10-year treasury jumped to top banking official has been nominated to oversee fannie mae and freddie joseph smith is president obama's choice to serve as director of the federal housing finance agency. he would have to be confirmed by the senate. whoever gets the job will oversee the agencies as they are about to be restructured by congress. still ahead, how do chicken fingers, ballerinas and piano teachers play a role in the economy? illustrator david gillette explains in tonight's inkonomics. it's no secret tuition costs at public and private universities are rising. on average, students at state schools are paying about 5.5% more than they did last year to take classes. so to save families money, some schools are now letting their students graduate early. anna olson explains. >> reporter: imagine p

. >> the fed's buying billions in treasurys what does that mean for those of us who don't understand. >> the market is made up of buyers and sellers the more barriers you have more pushed down of prices of treasury adepts. the will buy 600 billion of debt that major mortgages bailout clubber boring will stay low people with like you and me with a paycheck bonds will be wanted to% it will get exposure to more risk will take our chances of the stocks. it should lead to a little more speculation wall street was looking for 500 billion to one trillion 600 million is a big number it be good for the first half of next year. it will raise interest rates anytime soon window will be buying a lot of debt and the economy is weak. >> does this do anything for unemployment any fallout there? >> on forcefully and implements an increase in jobs is in good. it you have to enable the private sectors and tax incentives to hire. it ultimately will it will take time jobless recession. >> stay with us will be back right after this break. live from the bay area's new station this is kron 4 news at 4:30 p.m

we have neither troops nor treasury nor government. the constitution that came out of philadelphia in 1787 provided all the tools and new national government needed to address this financial crisis, effectual sources of tax revenue, national control over the currency, national control over foreign and interstate trade, a credible commitment to paying the debt, the rudiments of a modern and group c. system and by implication or so hamilton, washington and john marshall thought the authority to create a central blank on the model of the bank of england. the creation of the central bank precipitated the first constitutional debate of the new republic. disagreement over the banks sparked the formation of the two great political parties of the nation. much of the constitutional theory of the early republic, the extent of national powers, the role of the executive to the treasure come the meaning of the necessary and proper clause were articulated in the course and since that time, financial crisis along with war has continued to challenge i

treasury, it has emerged as a private company. the government is the largest shareholder. >> gm was one of the worst aw.aged companies we ever see >> steven rattner. >> this is a bit of a distraction. the company strongly believes that becoming a public company again -- it will help them sell cars. the treasury very much wants to get the money back. it wants to be able to say to the american public that it will get the money back. >> gm still has a long road ahead. the detroit car maker wants to make cars people can buy, and it can do it profitably. if the stock sale goes smoothly, it will be a move in the right direction. >> and of course, it will start trading in a couple of hours. do not miss world news america. they will have all the analysis of how it went and interviews with the gm boss. half of the rolls-royce engines used on the jumbos around the world will need to be replaced, according to qantas. >> this is another setback for qantas and the other operators of the operatorsa-380 super jumbo. when one flew, it was forced

it worked partly i think because the treasury did a good job meeting early on with cabinet colleagues, and the approach to the process how we got through difficult areas in protecting education in early years, what about housing, how will we make sense the welfare? we had proper substantial meetings between liberal and democrat chairmans in the coalition to talk through the issues. one other point. i think the reason why it went relatively smoothly is that we took a big decision at the beginning, which i think is inetble if you're trying to reduce public spending and get the deficit under control, that you got to look at the very big areas of public spending like pay pension and welfare because if you don't do that, you're going to make unacceptable cuts in schools and hospitals and policing, and we did, i think, make some quite big decisions on welfare, i think 18 billion together on reductions in public sector pay, we froze public sector pay for two years, and in the area of public sector pensions, there will be increased contributions, so those three big areas and big decisions mad

. >> what grade would you give hank paulson as secretary of the treasury? >> that is a very tough question. i think that in retrospect, it is very easy to poke holes and everything it hank paulson did. i do not believe that he ever operated in a way that he thought was not in the best interest of the country. i firmly believe that he thought it was. i also think that he stepped into a situation that was about ready to explode when he stepped in as treasury secretary. to put the weight of the financial crisis on him because he became the most visible force as it exploded, i think is unfair. you can ask questions about his role at goldman sachs and why when he felt so strongly about certain issues he did not raise them more when he was the ceo of wall street's most prestigious firm, but to me, it's difficult to deeply criticized his actions as treasury secretary. to put a different way, i am not sure i would want to replace those events with a different person as press begich as treasury secretary. >> given the revolving door in washington to the financial co