bob bixby pointed out that the aging of america is one important factor in analyzing and dealing withthis dilemma. when i was the ceo of aarp, i was given a talk once in kentucky. obama and razor head and said, did you know that women live longer than men? -- f-bomb and raised her hand and said, did you know that women live longer than men? she said, what are you going to do about it? what i am going to talk about is the critical need to reduce our long-term debt crisis for today's and tomorrow's older generations. fixing the problem of annual deficits and stabilizing federal debt must be done in tandem with major social needs. among those needs is a secure retirement. we can have both, if we have the courage to face up to what has to be done. a secure retirement is built on four pillars, a sovereign social security system, individual retirement savings and employer pensions, the ability for people to continue to work and to earn, and adequate and affordable health care coverage and long- term care. while we still have a long way to go, is an important step toward that fourth killer.

i'm also honored to be here with my friend, david walker and bob bixby and bill novelli, all of whom i've worked closely with through the years on various different aspects of the subjects we're going to discuss today. and now i haven't worked as closely with mr. biggs who just got in, andrew, but maybe we'll do that in the future. don kettl, thank you for your leadership. this is not a town meeting. if it were a town meeting, every seat here would be filled. indeed, when i held a town meeting on health care, there were 1500 people in the auditorium. and the subject we were discussing was not as important as the subject we're discussing today. it was not, perhaps, as consequential certainly in the long term as the subject we discuss today. and i want to congratulate those with this spire effort to educate -- entire effort to educate our public and to look for solutions. it's easy to lament reality what is, it's difficult to say what should be and how are we going to get there. we're here to discuss what i believe is america's single most pressing challenge, putting our fiscal house i

now, bob bixby pointed out that the aging of america is one important factor in analyzing and dealing with this dilemma. when i was the ceo of aarp i was giving a talk once in kentucky. and a woman raised her hand and she said, do you know that women live longer than men? and i said, yes, i do. and she said, well, what are you going to do about it? [laughter] >> well, i wasn't going to do anything about it. but the truth is both men and women are living longer. and so what i want to briefly talk about is the critical need to address our long-term debt crisis in the context of also achieving adequate retirement security for today's and tomorrow's older generations. fixing the problem of annual deficits and stabilizing federal debt must be done in tandem with major social needs. and among those needs is a secure retirement. and we can have both if we have the courage to face up to what has to be done. a secure retirement is built on four pillars. a solvent social security system as dave said, individual retirement savings and employer pensions, the ability for people to continue to work