as bill frenzel and tom davis has pointed out, the political and media environment are much more hazardous today than they were then. for all the reasons they have laid out. as bill and many others have pointed out, the sequestration sword that was hanging over this nation in 1990 was much more serious -- it was three times, more than three times as great as the sequestration percentage cuts that we are looking at on january 2. third, the initial bush budget for the fiscal year of 1991 was based on quite unrealistic economic assumptions and failed to include anywhere near enough money for the savings-and-loan bailout that others -- it came during the spring of 1990. the economy was beginning to falter during the spring. interest rates were rising. it is interesting to think about that a little. right now, fed reserve policy basically has insulated us from one of the major consequences of fiscal irresponsibility. when interest rates begin to rise, people in the housing industry, people selling durable consumer goods, stuff on credit, they immediately begin to howl. now we have none of that