diane swank is a chief economist. at a press conference, president obama made clear he thinks we need a limit on the debt ceiling. >> we have to seize this moment and we have to seize it soon. the vice president and i will continue these negotiations with leaders of both parties in congress for as long as it takes. and we will reach a deal that allows our economy to live within its means and get this economy growing. >> you all live in worlds that are highly specific. you have data that has to be analyzed we're a month away from this. we hit the debt ceiling back in may. and we're still talking in broad generalities dictated by philosophy and ideology. nobody's really got a plan. i would think at this point never sides should be negotiating details. >> you're absolutely right about that. in fact, i just got back from europe where i met with economists from all over the world. they think we're nuts. they're dealing with riots in the street in greece and they've got real insolvency problems, real default problems and th

diane swank joins us. nice to see you, diane.t cnn money surveyed said a default by a country like greece or the oil shock, do you agree with their concerns? >> absolutely. we don't know what would happen with another financial crisis if greece actually defaulted. would it cause contagion? there are several ways it could cause contagion. the first time we had the beginning of this crisis in august of 2007, the federal reserve all of a sudden found it had to open swap lines to make sure they had dollars to continue lending into the u.s. as well. these are really critical issues. i think on the other side of it, it also heightens as we already heard, the focus on our own debt situation and what should we be paying for our debt? the reality is we know that higher energy prices -- the payroll tax has blunted some of the blow to higher energy price but certainly not helped to stimulate the economy elsewhere. >> christine, could i say one thing. >> sure, jump in. >> about greece, i've always felt like what's happening in greece is like