comes boatload after boatload of wireless poles from verizon -- land line poles from verizon because they're going to set them up. but you see what i mean? in other words, any kind of a rural mishap. now, i.t. and health care is helping a lot on this, on that particular aspect. but the general availability and accessibility remains very much on my mind, and i worry about it. >> i sympathize. >> any conclude iing aristotlia comments? >> mr. chairman, i guess what i'd weigh in with is a balance is required because it is a combination of factors like anything. we certainly, most of these companies sitting at the table, are benefited from the very notion of having wide distribution of broadband on many levels, everything from the very basic for us of pushing out

updates to our operating systems to the delivery of entertainment. so they're all essential. and the reason we supported the fcc position on net neutrality was because it was a balanced approach, and i think as you evaluate it, since we're down to the last, i don't know that i'll have the last word, but the last one of the closing thoughts, is to balance those interests because they're -- the companies that actually build, implement this are in a better position than certainly i am or we are to adris what all is involved but it is looking at -- it is a balancing act. and i think as we evaluated that we realized just that, that you have to take into account the innovation opportunities, the delivery of content, as i said before. i believe that as more high-speed content is delivered i'd like to believe that there will be an incentive for the investment made to deliver that broadband. and it is essential for this country, and i certainly agree with mr. diller and the rest of

you that, whether we're 18th, i know we're way down the list. and that is certainly something that, whether it's delivery of education, which is fundamental, all the way to the more mundane in education entertainment, it's essential because this is where we're headed. >> mr. chairman, may i make a corroborating comment? well, is there a possibility that you won't make a corroborating comment? but you will be very happy if i do. >> of course i will. i just want to say if it's any consolation the highest point in florida is 350 feet. so not a lot of hills and valleys. and very spotty coverage. but as mr. diller says, in any urban area how many -- it has crossed every one of our thoughts, you're in the middle of a very important cell phone

conversation and you lose it and you wonder why don't they have this problem in third world countries on this planet? and i would just like to throw out a final thought, that we need to consult with folks like this on getting what should congress do in the updating of our video and communications laws given the fact of the subject of this panel today. thank you. >> you have been a superb panel. and we have -- many ideas have been thrown out. frustrations have been thrown out. and the opportunities are endless. so it really is the most exciting period in telecommunications. and all of this, since i came here, by definition.

and so i congratulate you all for being a part of it and for being warriors in the war of the roses. this hearing is adjourned. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> oh, my gosh, great to meet you. mexican president felipe calderon on the economy and relations with the u.s. in a little less than an hour, the senate banking committee continues its investigation into the mf global bankruptcy. after that a hearing on the new leadership in north korea. >> rosie o'donnell was the president's first choice to be

here this evening. and she withdrew, citing a nasty and brutal confirmation process. i wasn't even the second choice. dennis miller was the second choice. but he got hung out by an illegal nanny technicality. but isn't that what the confirmation process is all about here in washington? weeding out the truly qualified to get to the truly available. >> and i must say, mr. president, i thought that, you know, when you got into office that you would put a swift end to your basketball pickup plan. you know, pickup basketball plan. i mean, come on. first black president playing basketball? that's one step forward, two steps back. and really, are you any good? i bet you think your game is really nice right now, don't you? yeah. you really think you've got good

moves, huh? i mean, come on, nobody's going to give the president a hard foul with the secret service standing there. >> jon stewart and wanda sykes are just two of the comedians who've tried their hand entertaining the washington press corps, celebrities, and the president at the annual white house correspondents dinner. and this weekend c-span will again offer live coverage of the event saturday night. see what other comedians have said at these dinners online at the c-span video library, archived and searchable at c-span.org/videolibrary. now mexican president felipe calderon on his country's economy and relations with the u.s. america is mexico's leading trade partner and mexico is the second largest u.s. export market. from the u.s. chamber of commerce this is a little less than an hour.

>> good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the u.s. chamber of commerce. i'm tom donohue, president and ceo of the chamber. won't you please be seated. now, i haven't heard a welcome like that for a head of state here in a long time, and it was very appropriate. it's wonderful to also see all of you here for such a timely conversation on the united states and mexico and our critically important economic partnership. there are a number of people here today who need to be recognized. and let me mention them very briefly. mexico's minister of foreign affairs, patricia espinoza, and mexico's minister of the economy bruno ferrari. and mexico's minister of finance jose mead. and the director general and pro mexico carlos guzman. and of course our two esteemed

ambassadors. and i'm going to introduce them separately, and i'm going off the script. the first of course is tony wayne representing the united states in mexico city. and we're very pleased to have him. he's working hard, and it's working very well. i'd like to put just a little bit of emphasis on my friend arturo circan, who represents mexico here in the united states. and mr. president, just a little while ago at our breakfast, we celebrated many things that have worked out over time to expand both of our economies. the ambassador has been a hard worker, a good friend, and occasionally a pain because he would push us to get done what has to be done in a way that we finally do it just to quiet him down. but arturo, we very much appreciate our partnership. it's been great for everybody.

now, it's great to have all of you here -- [ applause ] so i'm glad you're all here today and so much distinguished private sector guests from both of our countries, and i want to thank you all for taking the time and effort to join us. now it is my pleasure to welcome back to the chamber a great friend of the united states, a great friend of business, and a great friend of challenging the problems we all face in this world. and he's here because of the strategic importance of the u.s.-mexican relationship. because 6 million u.s. jobs depend on trade with mexico, because the united states is year in year out the largest source of foreign direct investment in mexico, because our countries share a land border of nearly 2,000 miles, and because more than $1 billion

a day in goods crosses that border, and because our people share the same resources, breathe the same air, drink the same water, and share a common culture, and because our nations work together both will be more competitive, create more jobs for our workers, and be more economically and physically secure in today's global environment. in his nearly six years in office he has demonstrated the strength of his convictions, confronted head on the country's security challenges, and worked with the united states as a critical ally while urging the united states to do more to address some of the underlying causes of his nation's challenges, particularly the drug trade. he has demanded and received the serious attention of world

leaders. in june he will host the g-20 heads of state, and he has brought unprecedented energy and leadership to that effort at a critical time. in a time of exciting growth for the entire region of latin america he has worked to ensure that mexico is able to make the most of every opportunity. he has augmented one of the world's most impressive free trade networks, giving mexico exporters access to 44 markets worldwide. if our trade representatives are here, take note. we need some more ourselves. and he has enhanced the commercial relationship with the united states, indisputably his's most important economic partner, through differences in regulations and differences in

investment strategy and he has streamlined and secured in many ways our shared border. and by advancing a vision of shared competitiveness in the transpacific partnership. in all of these efforts he has enjoyed the friendship and the collaboration of the u.s. business community and nowhere more so than right here at the u.s. chamber of commerce. so ladies and gentlemen, please give your warmest welcome to our very honored guest, the president of the united mexican state, felipe calderon. please join us at the podium. [ applause ] >> thank you.

thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. thank you, mr. donohue, for your comments and words, and especially for your support to mexico and the cause of freedom on trade that we share. thank you for all you have done in favor of our country. and congratulations for the centennial of the u.s. chamber. i think the role of the chamber for the united states and also for mexico has been crucial in improving the conditions for the people. and thanks for your comments about our ambassador. indeed, we have a very good one, ambassador, smart, with a lot of commitment. yes, he's a pain, and that is the reason we have him here in washington, d.c. ambassador sarukan. well, let me start talking some

lines about the mexican economy situation. i need to say that under the circumstances of the global troubles we are look iing the mexican economy, i can say this, is in good shape. we grew last year like 4%, our gdp, and we were able to create almost 600,000 new jobs in the formal sector in net terms. which implies a quite important effort of the mexican economy. public finances are in order. we have a formal deficit of 0.4% less a half percent of gdp, and even if you include the total investment of companies like pamix, which is out of the budget, the total deficit of mexico is below 2.5% of gdp.

last week our foreign receipts reached $151 billion, which is more than will be the total debt of the government of mexico. and that implies that we are able to negotiate our debt in very good shape. for instance, we issued a couple of years ago a special bond for -- a bond for 100 years at a very affordable rate and actually is the most successful operation at that term in the world. and today we have a very affordable public debt. our public debt is like 32% of gdp. if you consider that the average debt of the oecd countries could be like 96%, mexico is in a good

shape as well on this. our inflation is low. it could be like 3.5%. according to the parameters of latin american countries, it's doing well. and despite the fact the tremendous increase in food prices and community prices in the world. we are deepening our commitment to free trade. that is more or less what i'm going to talk about today in this session. particularly let mechanism size the competitiveness of mexico, which very important for me. and most of that is coming from the very important and crucial decisions of nafta in mexico. let me tell you that that decision in '93 was crucial for the country. i want to express my gratitude for the public servants that used to be there.

one of them, jaime salvadoski, is here, and i think they did very well and we can see the positive consequence for mexico today. let me start with this. we need to remember the benefits of trade. and probably we are forgetting the lesson about it. trade is positive for the economy. and we need to say that to the population. we need to say that to the media and we need to say that to the congress. trade increase competitions. trade provide access to technologies and inputs for companies but also for societies. trade increase productivity -- productive efficiency and trading plus macroeconomic stability keep inflation under control and a lot of benefits. and in particular the benefits of commerce are for all. consumers win.

workers win. producers win. we all win with trade. and we all win with commerce. but in order to preserve the benefits of trade it is important that the economies could make improvements in their competitiveness. actually, open economies provide the right incentives for competitiveness in the nations for governments and for society. in order to preserve the competitiveness of the country we made several actions or we took several decisions in order to do so. what kind of decision we are making. for instance, we are opening our economy, a process of trade liberalizations, with even more agreements and treaty with other countries. we started a very special process of tariff reductions in the country, even with countries

with which we have not free trade agreements. a process of deregulations in the government. the macroeconomic stability, i talk already about it. investing a lot in infrastructure and investment in education. in particular technology or technically oriented education. starting with trade, you can see mexico has preferential access to 44 countries, most of them through free trade agreements like nafta, but also we have free trade agreement with europe. we have free trade agreement with japan, with several nations in latin america. the whole central american countries. free trade agreement with chile, with peru, colombia, and others. so you can see the number of countries with free trade agreements and mexico is in a very good position on that, as mr. donohue said, already said.

and in the right side you can see the process we started with tariffs. let me tell you a tale. since the first g-20 meeting i attended here in washington, d.c. i remembered with former president bush, and in every single meeting all the nation used to say like soccer words and final papers, don't allow protection, we refuse protectionists, we are going to conclude the doha round, and so on. and exactly the day after, 15 out of 20 participants in the g-20 used to increase tariffs in their trades. with the exception of mexico. right in the middle of the crisis. even without understanding of several sectors of private -- of the society in mexico, we

reduced tariffs. and actually, we reduced from 11% on that reduction, 2006, to 44% today on average. and with that mexico got a lot of competitiveness. why? because most of the trade today is not trade related with final products, is not trade related with capital products. it's a middle products trade. and with that the companies, especially the manufacturer's companies are getting a lot of competitiveness in our country. in other words, if you are able to get the cheapest inputs and the high quality inputs for your products, for instance, for this blackberry, you are able to get the best inputs for your products, you will be able to

produce 65% of the blackberry in the world in guadalajara city in mexico. and that is exactly the case. and the same is happening with automotive industry in mexico and so on. reducing tariffs paradoxically increase export for our country. and that is the mexican case. why? because the key issue is middle products. inputs for industry. let me -- other reform we are making is reducing bureaucracy and red tape for the industry. in 2010 we started a process. and in that process i asked to all the members of my cabinet to think about what exactly are the lows or the regulatory framework that they really need to doing business. and we erased more than 16,000

norms in mexico from several conditions. and with that we eliminated more than 2,200 procedures for industry. so it's probably the most important deregulatory process in mexican government. actually, we made some kind of conte contest, and the name of the contest was in spanish [ speaking spanish ] "the most useless procedure." and a lot of people participated. and we got a lot of suggestions to erase regulatory framework and red tape. so we are increasing the effectiveness of the industry. one of the issues we made for instance is to open a single web

page to start a business. before this, for instance, if you want to open a company in mexico, you need to go first to the foreign relations secretary in order to ask for a special permit. why? i don't know exactly why. but you need to go first to the foreign relations ministry. and then you need to go to the -- of course the hacienda, to tax office, and then you need to go to social security institute. and then you needed to go to the secretary of trade, commerce, and so on. and with that you used to have several months before you could open your business. actually, you need to come back, to come back to the foreign relations industry in order to ask for a special permit to get a name, the name of your company. and what is the reason for that? i don't know. but it's a fact. so today we open a single web

page and the name is www -- [ speaking spanish ] and with that you can open a new business in two hours by computer and internet with full procedures at a federal level. of course we need to advance at a local level today. so that is part of the problem we have with this federal system which is very difficult to aline, the incentives and programs. so we are moving ahead. the outcome is we are reducing the time required to start a business from almost 60 days to nine days on average in the country. and that is quite important for us. macroeconomic stability, as i mentioned, our inflation is probably the lowest inflation in

several decades. on average for one administration. you can compare this with the inflation in the region or other countries. we are below china. we are really below brazil, russia, india. and very close to chile. and not too close but close enough to the inflation here in the united states. so talking about public finances, i was telling that we are facing now a deficit of 2.5 of gdp including pemex investment. and we are far below the oecd average talking about fiscal deficit. so that is the lesson we learn from the past, from the past mexican crisis, in the '70s, in the '80s, in the '90s. we need to preserve fiscal

deficit under control. and actually, we are reducing even more the fiscal deficit in the country. i'm talking about public debt. you can see the nafrnlg oecd -- i made a mistake a few minutes ago. but the average is 62.5% of gdp. mexico has 32% of gdp. we are in good shape in macroeconomic stability, in public finances. that is a very important point on infrastructure in the country. on average we're spending like 3% of gdp, which is actually very close to the average of oecd countries. in the oecd the average investment in infrastructure is 3.4% of gdp. we increase the investment in mexico from 3% to 5% of gdp a

year, which implies to invest roughly more than $50 billion a year in infrastructure in mexico, public and private. and with that we are increasing in a very important manner the capabilities of the country and the competitiveness of the industry. let me tell you, for instance, this figure that is to january, but probably we are building or rebuilding almost 20,000 kilometers of highways, country roads, and roads in mexico, which is more than the whole railroads, highways, or country roads built in the last two administrations combined. and probably we will increase

because we are expecting to finish my administration with 22,000 kilometers of new highways or rebuilding highways and roads, which is the highest effort in infrastructure in several decades in mexico. but it is not only highways. for instance, in some cases in terms of efforts, some new efforts we're building in the mar de cortez in sonora or rebuilding others in the country, and the same is for instance in terms of health infrastructure. we have built in the last five years more than 1,000 new hospitals or clinics in the country. and we have rebuilt 2,000 more. so in total more than 3,000 new or renewed hospitals or clinics in the country. and with that we are improving dramatically the skngs of health