here's how economist allen blinder, the former virerve described his situation in his testimony before the my rough outlook for u.s. gdp growth in calendar year 2012, is about 2.5%. the biggest threat to the om europe. if we get a worst case scenario, a european financial blowup that looks somewhat like lehman brothers, i think most, if not all of that putative 2.5% growth could just evaporate in a worldwide recession. i hope that people are listening. if europe implodes, the risk to our economy is serious. we need to remember that almost one quarter of u.s. exports go to our european trading partners so what happens to the european economy could have a very real impact on u.s. manufacturers and u.s. workers. with that, we'll turn to senator johnson who is fil i senator sessions this morning for his opening remarks and then we'll turn to our witnesses for their testimony and, again, i want to thank senator johnson for filling in for senator sessions this morning. i just say to colleagues, there are many competing meetings of other committees this morning, including mark-ups in some, wh