joining us from washington to discuss the implications is the co-director of the center for economic and policy research. many thanks for joining us here on bbc news. how far in reality hersh how far are the two sides a-- how far are the two sides apart? >> they're not that far apart. i can't imagine that they won't reach an agreement. i mean, the united states is not going to default on its debt in any case. that's just absolutely not going to happen. and it is possible they could go to the brink and then you'd see the stock market crash for a day or two, like what happened in 2008 over the tarp vofmente but that's really -- i think people are really overly alarmed about this. >> well, you say it's not going to happen, but there's no guarantee of that. and if this filibustering continues, there's all likelihood that come tuesday, there will will be no money left. >> well, it doesn't run out all at once, and there are other options. you know, there is the 14th amendment, obviously, the obama administration said that it isn't their opinion that they can simply continue to pay the debt without congress's

sustainable in its current form really fortunately the real economists over at the center for economic and policy research noticed that and wrote in their beat the press blog this is not true there is no as in zero none official documentation that says that the program is not sustainable its current form there are official documents that show the program will need additional revenue at some point the a c. a passed by congress last year though reduce the projected shortfall in the program by more than seventy five percent while the a c. a fixed medicare last year what's the a.c.l.u.'s but actually it's usually called obamacare by republicans the rest of the country knows it as the affordable care act. and it did largely fix medicare which is why the congressional budget office published this graph last year showing in the dotted lines where medicare was going before obamacare and in the solid lines where medicare is going now yes the president has fixed medicare in fact it's even more astounding than that as the folks over at the center for economic and policy research pointed out as it stands the projecte

debate, we turn to two prominent washington economists: dean baker, co-director of the center for economic and policy research, and douglas holtz- eakin, president of the american action forum and former director of the congressional budget office. close or how far apart are the two plans? dean, you first. >> i don't think they're hugely far apart. the biggest difference is that the reid plan would take you through the next election where as the pointer -- boehner plan we would have to see this between in six months. the real question is whether congress wants to do this again in six months or not. that's the biggest difference. >> susie: doug, what do you think? >> they're very close and in fact the c.e.o. took a look at the replan and didn't give him full credit, so i don't think he gets past the next elect either. so both sides are trying to do this in a timely fashion, their bills are similar and there's an opportunity to get it done. >> susie: let's step back from the timetable and talk about the deals themselves. we're talking about a lot money here, kr 900 billion in savings in one plan, 2 trillion in

for the i.m.f., is a professor at the m.i.t. sloan school of management and a fellow at the peterson institute for international economics. mark weisbrot is co-director of the center for economic policy and research. he studies international economic issues. welcome to you both. let's just start with the broad question-- for debt-strapped countries, like greece, do austerity-- a combination of tax exphikz deep spending cuts, does it work? >> it's painful. there's no question about it. you're seeing that right now in greece, but sometimes, unfortunately, it's unavoidable. you can argue about the pace of the austerity, perhaps find a better way to do it, have more financial support from outside the country but when you're in the wagz greece is in, it's very hard to find an alternative that doesn't involve austerity. >> warner: mark weisbrot. >> i think there are always alternatives. if your unemployment has doubled and economy is expected to shrink just as much next year as last year and you're making massive budget cuts and tax increase. there is an alternative. >> warner: are you saying it doesn't work? >> yeah, it doesn't work. i think simon would agree and most economists would say in the short

and their families. she worked as an economist at the joint economic committee at the u.s. congress, the center for economic policy and research, and the economic policy institute. she has always been a powerful and articulate voice for economic policies, and we welcome her here today. [applause] rich trumka is here. some of you may have heard of him. [laughter] he is the president of the afl-cio, a rare individual who knows the ways of washington but understands from long personal experience the real lives of real working people in the real world. rich came out of the coal fields of pennsylvania and went on to become a lawyer and true policy expert. he carries the concerns of working people with him wherever he goes, and that includes to the white house serving as a member of the president's jobs council. we'll thrilled to have him here today. welcome, rich. [applause] speaking of the real world, we also have a couple of workers who will be telling us firsthand what it's like to be out there in this troubled era. i spent a little time with both of them while i was in ohio where i also got to spend time canvassing with working

economic committee at u.s. of congress, center of policy and research, and the economic policy institute. she has always been a powerful and articulate voice for progressive economic policies, and we welcome her here today. [applause] rich trumka is here. some of you may have heard of him. [laughter] he is the president of the afl-cio and one of those rare individuals who really knows the ways of washington, but also understands from long personal experience the real lives of real working people in the real world. rich came out of the coal fields of pennsylvania and went on to be a lawyer and true policy expert -- excuse me -- he carries the concerns of working people with him wherever he goes, and that includes to the white house serving as a member of the president's jobs council. we're thrilled to have him here today. welcome, rich. [applause] speaking of the real worlds, we also have a couple of workers who will be telling us firsthand what it's like to be out there in this troubled era. i spent a little time with both of them while i was in ohio where i also got to spend time canvassing with working america whose folks go door to door new