dr. elemndorf. as we begin the work that has been outlined, i think it is helpful for us to have a clear understanding of the scope of the problem and you laid that out very clearly for us. i think we all agree this task is pretty enormous. we have to come together around a balanced approach that addresses our fiscal situation and focuses on making sure that we remain competitive and look at our long-term growth. i wanted to start by asking you to spend a little bit on what you were just talking about and talk to us about what we should consider in weighing the tradeoff between helping our economy in the short term in helping to create growth and not causing significant harm in the long term. >> in our judgment and this is consistent with the consensus of professional opinion, cuts in spending or increases in taxes at a moment when there are a lot of unused resources in the economy, unemployed workers, empty homes, unused factories and offices and when monetary policy is finding it difficult to prov