they see the departure as a body blow to the ecb's credibility.any are worried about the eurozone credibility. >> to keep buying italian, greek, and portuguese bonds. right now, the ecb is the only institution in the years and i can guarantee stability. >> there was conflict at the very top. analysts suspect john claude to rigid and the ecb's departing lead econo against each other on buying back the bonds of highly indebted eurozone countries. that program has already cost 130 billion euros. jurgan stark believes that is a prescription for failure. many see his misgivings that the buyback is in danger of the euro's long-term stability as the real reason for his resignation. the german finance minister did his best to calm the situation. >> the entire ecb and president john koch rclaude trichet have o make sure it is a stable currency. >> sources close to the matter say the deputy head the finance ministry is the likely choice to take over. >> stocks that very hard. europe's banks have lost at least a third of their value this year. investors are

lehman's and the ecb have declined to comment. the bank of china has stopped trading at france's largest bank. this reflects a growing unease of french bank exposure to greet debt. >> six scientists have gone on trial in italy accused of failing to provide advance warning of a powerful earthquake in 2009. the quake devastated a city in central italy kelly more than 300 people. prosecutors said that the defendants gave incomplete information which left people unprepared. -- the quake devastated a city in central italy killing more than 300 people. if found guilty, they could face up to 15 years in jail. pope benedict will be returning to his native germany later this week for a four day visit. security is boosted to ensure his safety but his visit is expected to be anything but smooth. large protests are planned and politicians and catholics alike are expected to speak out against the pope's conservative views. >> preparations are underway. the pope's safety is the top concern. police officers are being deployed throughout the capi

the ecb will argue that it should not be on their books. >> ecb has suggested that they will step back from supporting countries like italy when the new rescue fund is up and running. the most senior official said that would be a big mistake. >> they can play a role in normalizing markets and that is what we would expect. in that sense, the ecb is irreplaceable. >> we will see if the new rescue fund passes the german parliament. it will be easier to talk about what happens next. there is a big gap between the market timetable and the politicians. >> it is the size of a bus, it is out of control, and is traveling towards us at 5 miles a second. nasa scientists are continuing to monitor the satellite which is expected to disintegrate upon reading chile -- up on reentry. we're joined by an astrophysicist at the harvard smithsonian center. thank you for joining us. this is potentially dramatic. what is the latest that you know about where it is at the moment and when it will fall? >> well, it is had been over the atlantic. it will make its pass over the u.k. than its final hours now, we st

the ecb will argue that it should not be on their books. >> ecb has suggested that they will step back from supporting countries like italy when the new rescue fund is up and running. the most senior official said that would be a big mistake. >> they can play a role in normalizing markets and that is what we would expect. in that sense, the ecb is irreplaceable. >> we will see if the new rescue fund passes the german parliament. it will be easier to talk about what happens next. there is a big gap between the market timetable and the politicians. >> it is the size of a bus, it -- turkey says it has seized a ship loaded with weapons. the turkish prime minister did not say when or where the syrian ship could stop the will cost -- confiscate any coming from washington. some have come under attack from government troops. at least one person was killed the clashes early on saturday morning followed fighting on friday. aid workers in pakistan are saying it is taking far too long to get supplies. the disaster has killed more than 350 people and around a million are affected. >> here is what m

an announcement from the ecb. there is a very vague rumor during the rounds today that the ecb could be cutting interest rates. they did in many opinion hike unnecessarily earlier this year to combat inflation. obviously, inflation was a major concern as opposed to the eurozone cries. now they do have maneuvered -- or room to maneuver on the downside with regard to interest rates. i wouldn't be surprised if something is announced on that front. eurozone nations, the ecb, eu and certainly inconjunction with the imf, probably need to announce something fairly soon in order to stabilize the markets and reduce the volatility we're seeing. >> okay, mnoj joining us live. thank you very much. >>> we've been seeing all of those fears we were talking about earlier playing out on the asian stock markets as well as the european ones on monday. japan's nikkei index hit a six-month low. it had a hole day, actually, on friday so was catching up with the sharp declines on wall street and other asian indices. selloff continuing i

this new measure comes on top of one-week loans the ecb has been providing since may last year. the ecb is believed to have decided on the new measure, to insure the financial firms have the larger amount of dollars they need through the end of this year. >> and the heart of europe's financial mess is of course, greece. and the big question is, will the country default. on friday, the 17 euro zone finance ministers met in poland and discussed greece and the spreading debt crisis in europe. in a sign of growing global concern about the situation, u.s. treasury secretary, timothy geithner, made an unprecedented appearance at the meeting. there, the financial leaders agreed to decide by mid october on bailout loans to greece, after seeing what the country has done to put its fiscal house in order. though with rising public discontent over bailing out greece, there may be no more help in store for the euro zone. amid jitters over what could happen to greece and the rest of europe, ather player has made an unexpected entry on to the scene, china. the world's second-largest economy. m

luke cohen earlier today suggested the ecb may well look at maybe catching rates as early as october if, and this is a big if, if the economic data continues to deteriorate. i would certainly put my money on a rate cut certainly by the end of this year because i think they have to. >> okay. michael hewson, thank you for your excellent insight. >> technology giant hewlett packard named meg whitman as ceo. she ran an unsuccessful campaign to be california governor in 2010 grew ebay into an internet powerhouse, but faced criticism for the company's sputtering growth. her pred ses tore, leo apotheker is the third hp executive to be fired. he was on the job a year, cutting forecasts three times. hewlett packard closed down by almost 5% on thursday. >>> as fear spreads about the state of the global economy investors are taking worries out on the markets. as michael hewson was just telling us, banking stocks were bearing the brunt of it earlier this week, especially in france. we'll hear what the country's finance minister plans to do about it next. [clucking] [clucking] [ding] [clucking] a

this was directed of inspectors from the eu, imf, and ecb. they came to athens to assess the spending. >> we are demanding that the government abolished the austerity plan. they support measures that are dragging us into poverty, both civil servants and private sector workers. >> the protests are unlikely to impact the work of the international inspectors. >> italy hopes to raise up to 40 billion euros by selling off real estate and other state- owned assets. the economics minister said that this could produce the red ink by 10 billion euros annually. they also plan to sell carbon emissions certificates to cut their debt. this is 20% of gdp, the second highest after greece. european commission's say sentiment in the eurozone has fallen this month. the dax ended the day ended the day up. the euro stocks closed up over one and a half percent. the euro is trading for $1.35. the cost-cutting campaign has moved up a notch. nokia has announced cutting another three and a half thousand. >> nokia is hanging up on romania. they will shut their plants

. >> the biggest obstacle will be selling this ecb loans to the german public and german politicians, because there is a notion that everything that involves the ecb is dangerous and could create inflationary pressure. >> but when markets are fearful that york in the u.s. are heading back to recession, a full-scale financial crisis could be calamitous. >> we could have an economic contraction that could turn into a depression. we had bank failures, social and political unrest across the continent. it is not a pretty sight. >> were leaders hope that an ambitious euro-zone rescued kennedy agreed in the next five- six weeks, but there are formidable obstacles, which means we will all live under a financial shadow of fear for some time yet. >> a look at the markets in asia that are open. 200, theikkei, the asx kospi are making strong gains on the news of the rescue plans for greece and european banks that may be able to get a lifeline. all of that lifting sentiment. the nikkei as well as australia up almost 2%. the kospi is well up over 3%. the nikkei reversed its slide to its lowest clos

the ecb raised the benchmark rate by 25 basis points in april and july. the oecd has warned that another global recession could be on the way... but it says any downturn is unlikely to be as bad as the one in 2008. the paris-based organization slashed its forecast for growth in the us and the eurozone this year due to government austerity packages and falling consumer and business confidence. in its twice-yearly economic outlook report thursday, the oecd forecast that the us economy will grow at an annualized rate of just four-tenths of a percent in the fourth quarter while the three largest economies in the eurozone will shrink by the same amount. the oecd says it is critical that policy makers use all the tools at their disposal to rebuild confidence. president lee will fly to the united states later this month... to attend the 66th un general assembly and a high-level nuclear safety meeting in new york. he'll then go to seattle... to meet with korean residents. yoo ji-hae tells us more. president lee myung-bak is slated to visit the united states on se

. >> the majority of german companies are reporting healthy orders but the ecb is one that could change. growth in germany could shrink by 0.3% this trend will not be confined to germany other industrialized countries might have to rethink their growth expectations. >> we have much slower growth in 2011 and going forward, which amounts to a growth of less than 1% in the g7 with the exception of japan. this is the downward revision. we have seen a major slowdown. >> there is bad news for germany's strong export. the exports were worth 92.2 billion euros in may. the decline continued in july with. >> they're hopeful that consumer demand and help offset the lagging demand for exports. >> will greece have to leave the eurozone? international auditors will return to greece next week. the opposition to an austerity measures remains high. >> athens taxi drivers are not going anywhere. there is a 24 hour strike to protest the government plan to deregulate their industry. they hope that it will raise much-needed money but it is not going down well. political pressure is mounting on the greek gov

the money will be made available throughout ecb in a series of three-month loans. it all kicks off as of the 12th of october, my birthday. concerns over the ability of european banks to borrow dollars has been a major factor in some of the sliding share prices we've seen. as you probably well know, this has taken a huge hit on companies like societe generale and others. >> he points out that the restored confidence is helpful but doesn't really change the fundament fundamentals. >> it is a very bold step taken by the ecb, the federal reserve and some other central banks around the globe. not 100% sure it really ends the euro crisis despite the excitement on wall street and in europe in terms of shares of big banks soaring on this news. it will help restore confidence in the fragile big european banks, particularly the french banks that got hit by a credit downgrade. but it doesn't really change the fundamentals in terms of greece still being very loaded with debt and facing a possible default if there is no swift action taken to help get greece in better financial

they need the ecb, the imf to sign off. this will be based onhe assessment of how well greece is implementing reforms. prime minister george papandreou traveled to germany to underline greece's commitment. more than 90% of the people think that the austerity measures are unfair. >> fast german cars. they have been this man's business. he has done well and importing luxury used cars and selling them to greece. now even the wealthy are feeling the pinch. his show room is full of unsold vehicles. today, big gas-guzzlers' of the last thing people need. >> we probably have five or six months left selling cars, that is it. whatever is left will go to germany. i would have to trade small cars but that is not worth it, so i guess we will close down. >> every day, people crowd the cafe is to scour the morning newspapers with their litany of gloomy headlines such as 250,000 civil servants to get the attacks. the one newspaper describes merkel's demands as the german news around greece's net. >> they want a europe of equal partners or

. >> the ecb cannot continue efforts to buy bonds of countries in difficulties. >> proponents say that countries like greece are likely to default without eurobonds. >> it is absolutely certain that they will defaults or they will exit the eurozone and this would carry problems not only for greece but for all of the member states and our global partners. >> such warnings are aimed at those like germany who rejected the idea of eurobonds. >> it is not advantageous to make these european debts. each country is responsible for their nests. >> if these are issued, germany would face much higher borrowing costs. in the end, it is eu member states that have the final say over eurobonds. >> as if the german chancellor did not have her hands full, she is struggling to make her own coalition stay on message. the vice chancellor added to the chorus of lawmakers daring to talk openly about greece going bankrupt. >> despite the smiles on wednesday morning, the german cabinet has been split. the coalition partners talking about greece defaulting on their debt, including her deputy chancellor, phili

. >> the team of experts from the eu, ecb, an imf were supposed to review the austerity reforms right into next week, but there visit ended ahead of time. ñit is not yet clear why the review was put on hold. a statement released by the auditor says progress was being made, but that more technical information was required. the finance minister quashed rumors that the audit was called off over disagreements between the greeks and the debt inspectors. he did say that he was standing firm on certain issues. >> some positions are not negotiable for our government. we want to protect the interest of the greek economy as well as the hopes of the greek people, especially the young, for a better future. >> political pressure is mounting as the greek economy continues to shrink and a worsening recession makes it harder to meet 2011 deficit targets. after the summer break, athens once again became 8 be new for protests. on thursday, students filled the streets -- once again be camea venue for protests. the whole country fears of another round of belt-tightening is just around the corner. the nex

then the ecb can land and leverage it up. you could double, triple the size of the actual financial amount of money that is available to purchase bonds and the secretary market. >> varied very briefly, it allows the americans to say, european problems could spread to the rest of the world which would be convenient for president obama. >> no doubt about that. this is an excuse for the obama administration. what timothy geithner was doing was trying to lay the groundwork for the g-20 meeting later this we year -- later this year. >> american astronomers say they have discovered a planet orbiting two sons. it was discovered with the massive kepler telescope. there is another development in space that might have less looking skyward. >> and lift off of the space shuttle discovery. >> this was the moment that the satellite began its journey into space before the space shuttle. it is on its way back. scientists at nasa say it will crash land on earth next weekend. the trouble is, it is traveling so fast that they will not know wher

. >> with the eu, ecb, and the imf backing athens, greece has hours to convince its lenders of last resort to keep the country afloat with another 8 billion euros. greek papers have forecast the wholesale sacking of state workers, wage cuts, civil servants, and an increase in the fuel tax. >> the danger is not that our income has been reduced, the danger is not that the pensions have been reduced or the value of property. it is not that the real-estate market might disintegrate or we will have problems. the danger is for the whole system to collapse. >> a potential collapse is desperately warring portugal, one of the next in line on the credit-starved periphery. >> we are on the edge of a situation of great uncertainty. we are talking about a possible default of the european union state. this could bring disastrous consequences to portugal, particularly in terms of finance, banking, and our economy. >> back in the greek capital, protesters were out in force today showing once again that workers are defiant and don't support the government efforts. they are trying to destroy our lives and t

they have a large amount of debt and interest rates are high, even with the help of the ecb. italy has to find a way to grow in a time when the world is slowing down and wind austerity and fiscal cuts are in italy's future. >> a mysterious outbreak caused by tainted cantaloupes has infected 72 people in the united states and killed 13. the u.s. centers for disease control says that so far 18 states have reported infections from one of of four s trains of listeria reported. now, concern about civilians caught up in heavy fighting in libya. >> that's right. colonel gaddafi loyalists in the libyan city of sirte are putting up strong resistance against supporters of the transitional authority. a report quoted a government commander saying that contacts are under way with pro-gaddafi leaders to allow families to leave. terms are being negotiated for armed colonel gaddafi supporters to be handed over. >> well, the battle for sirte has been going on all day to day with very heavy fighting in the city center. we came out of that area now, about three-four kilometers away, just to get

federal resesh, the ecb, and banks in spiwitzerland will ope new loans with new credit and allow them to pay a longer period of time. that will help the debt in struggling countries. >>> fourth day in a row of games. the markets ntinued up on friday. retail sales for flat for the month of august, weaker than the two-tenths of a percent reported by congress. spending aounts were about two-thirds of the country's economy. mixed and wholesale news on retail levels. the core index rose 2%, while the core consumer index was just up one fourth of a percent. the post office is looking for a stamp of approval for a new downsizing plan. the agency considering closing or combining more than half of its 487 mail processing facilities is. it's all in an effort to eliminate 35,000 jobs and save $3 billion. >>> house speaker john boehner talked about the jobs bill this week. i spoke to him about the difference between the public proposal. >> last week we know the president unveiled his jobs plan. he said half this plan, at least 14 times. >> i think there are parts of the president's plan in which

the measure will be on top of the one-week loans the ecb has been providing since may last year. credit anxiety in europe fueled concern of the health of banks holding government bonds of greece and other euro zone nations whose market prices plunged. the situation pushed down the stock prices. the european central bank is believed to have decided on the new measure to ensure banks have the large amount of dollars they need through the end of this year. >>> german chancellor rejected the idea of joint euro zone bonds saying they are absolutely wrong to ease credit worries in the region. >> translator: prices step by step but only if you do it this way not search for the one and only solution. keyword. euro zone bonds. i think it is absolutely wrong. >> merckel said to bring about standardized interest rates for state bonds issuing nations must be equally competitive and have a similar budget status. she said simply sharing the debts would not be acceptable. the chancellor's comments a day after european commission president baraso said he would soon propose options for euro zone

so to have a market get its arms wrapped around the fact that the european commission, the ecb, imf and g 20 have come up with a plan that's actually presentable and executable i think is exactly what this market is looking for to get some traction here. >> susie: and you're right, it has been a real nerve-racking couple of weeks that we've had. given that we are seeing some of these rallies, should investors buy into them or sell into them? >> well, susie, i think we've looked at this as very tight trading range. if you look at the s&p 500, for instance, we've really been in this sort of 10, 20, 11-20 marketplace where we sort of bounce off the 10,20 level and rally up around 1120, 1150. so we are at the at the lower end of that band. when you think about the producter implications of that, we have priced in a lot of bad news at this juncture. there is a larger possibility of more good news, than bad news. whatever the cost of rescuing greece, whatever the cost of getting our arms wrapped around a rescue package that gets funded and executed in europe, has probably been priced in. so i

the ecb has already warned this week that we could be on the edge of another financial crisis that looks as bad as 2008-2009. that's not the problem in the u.s. the u.s. has liquidity. we have money on the sidelines. we have a cushion. that's the good news. but contagion is always the risk with europe. italy is having problem passing its austerity program. and the greek bailout. i think they'll band-aid it together to get something to buy some time. but we need to see much more movement in europe toward centralized policy. they need what we had was the t.a.r.p. to recapitalize their banks. their banks are not in as good as shape as our banks are in the u.s. and they cannot take the kind of losses that something that spins out of control in europe, moving from greece to italy to spain. as we already saw sort of a precursor to early this summer. >> we all know we had unprecedented volatility in the markets in august. it's supposed to be a sleepy time of the year. it didn't happen. so what are your expectations for september, which typically is not a good month for the stock market? >> you

in europe, remember the ecb raised rates twice this year. lot of people said that is inappropriate given what the u.k. bank of england has done. euro rates are higher than the u.k. and in the states. we have seen a tightening bias. slowly moving to a neutral bias. rates on hold in the euro zone. some are looking for potential easing bias. whatever will be examined closely. >> let's look at the banking story with the fhfa on behalf of freddie mac and fannie mae. suing 17 lenders. $30.4 billion. this is really a shocker for the markets, isn't it? >> reporter: how much worse can it get for the banking industry in we have reiteration that the banks have not been able to borrow money on the bond markets. in september, they need to come back and start borrowing. we have the euro zone crisis. it could go horribly wrong. that will have huge impacts on the european banks. we have litigation with huge numbers bandied about. next week, we have the vicker's report suggesting the retail banking from the investment banking arm. i'm looking for good news a

fund to shore up european banks and rate cut next month from the ecb version of the fed.r of big votes loom in europe and germany needs to approve whether they will go for that next installment of bailout money for greece. a strike going on there against the austerity measures. then here at home question have a lot of data on tap starting with new home sales for august and later this week a final reading on second quarter gdp. how much did the economy slow down last spring and how much did it slow down this summer. new data out of the chicago fed this morning showed economic activity turned negative in august and wall street is watching this senate vote on short term spending bill this afternoon. one analyst said he's putting the odds of a government shutdown of 1 in 4, a 25% chance it could happen which seems unthinkable after what we saw last august. >> i am stunned myself and yet it does seem as if we're on the brink. thank you, bertha. "the daily rundown" will be back in 30 seconds. >>> just before the bottom of the hour now, quick look at what's driving the day. pres

a lot of this was prompted by the decision of a member of the ecb, european central bank's, executiveend of the year. that's one of the reasons people are so concerned, banking stocks very much the losers at the moment. let's have a look at how they're doing, because they're extending their earlier losses. it is the first hour of trading. this is how some of the continent's biggest lenders are performing. worries to their exposure to greece rattling the markets. that is affecting societe generale. even steeper losses for bnp paribas and deutsche bank down 9%. hsbc doing slightly better. but still in the red like a number of other uk banks. what we have at the moment is not too much to cheer about these uk banks as their price suffers as well. there's a specific reason for that. it's thanks to industry regulations that have been laid out set out by vickers in the united kingdom. the changes mean that the lenders are actually to foot an annual bill of 9.5 billion today's reinforce their operations from investment banking activities that move is aimed at providing a more secure foundatio

ecb says the departure is due to personal reasons. there are reports mr.ree with the central bank's bond-buying program. they decided to buy billions of dollars worth of italian and greek bonds. apparently he didn't like it. that's what the reports are saying. we saw markets sell off fairly considerably at that announcement. the market is waiting to hear more from the president. we'll hear from him again in richmond, virginia, minutes from now. the main surprise last night to wall street was the size of his check proposals. we were expecting around $300 billion in proposals. what he announced was $447 billion. that's the equivalent of 3% gdp. fairly substantial. >> let me ask you this. as we look at business conference, the big question out there some might say is whether or not business feels comfortable now, that in the future they can now invest. we have often talked about that $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in the bank account. will this be enough for business? those saying we don't have the confidence, to have that confidence now? >> i'm not sure it wil

the ecb leaving their benchmark unchanged and really, it's the comments coming out of europe that's gettingworried. it's going to be another rocky day ahead of president obama's speech. the rundown coming back in 30 seconds. >> all right. a few other stories making headlines today. mother nature won't let up. texas, one of the most devastating wildfires in the state's history continues to rage. scorching 45 square miles and claiming about 800 homes. >>> residents in the northeast are being hit with flood waters from hurricane irene never receded before tropical storm lee deluge. >>> u.s. officials suggest moammar gadhafi remains in hiding. he's talking with the government of nyger about seeking sanctuary there. >>> a judge is disqualifieded. carl lewis from running from the new jersey state senate. the ruling is being appealed but the ballot deadline is one week away. democratic leaders must decide whether or not to replace lewis. >>> will tonight's jobs speech help president obama convince more americans he can help turn around the slumping economy? will it make the job of republican chall

we're talking about the professional leaders like those from the imf, the ecb, the world bank and david cameron. they are just getting increasingly more irritated with europe. and they're saying what exactly are you trying to sort of do? why aren't you solving this problem? and the analogy i like to use, ashley, is a bit like you and i looking through the windows of somebody's house and we see the husband and wife arguing. they're arguing over what they're going to have for dinner. meanwhile, the bailiffs are coming in and taking the cooker away and what you cook for dinner becomes irrelevant because you don't have anything to cook with anymore. this is the situation with europe. they're saying sort this problem about greece out because until you sort it out, it's going to infect europe, it's going to infect america. it's going to infect also asia and china is getting irritated now and that is quite dangerous. >> yeah, and you know, moody's down grading more greek banks. so what? we know the situation isn't good there. it appears we're grinding towards a greek default, would you agree?

the ecb announcing that they're going to actually lower the standards for which banks can send collateralchange for cash. that actually may free up a lot of the worry over these european banks, because as we know, there's a lot of worry about what the collateral was and how much they had. now this should open things up. the other thing that people are going to be watching all day, of course, is operation twist 2:15 today, we learn from the fed exactly what they plan to do, this idea they may sell shorter-term holdings in exchange for buying up some longer-term bonds ask trying to get mortgage rates and interest rates to go lower. we'll see whether it works. >> all right. andrew sorkin, cnbc's world headquarters. thank you very much. "the daily rundown" will be back this 30 seconds. >>> bottom of the hour. a quick look at what's driving the day. president obama will deliver remarks at the u.n. general assembly at 10:00 this morning. and later will meet separately with mahmud abbas and benjamin netanyahu. the american hikers jailed in iran for over two years are expected to be released some

now, that's this facility that can back up the ecb. >> that's the money -- that's where they would printoney. >> the european central bank. >> okay. >> so they have this facility, but if you look into the -- the architecture of this facility, it has t.a.r.p.-like conseque e consequences and attributes, so they can -- they can actually invest directly in banks, or they can -- >> but there's no debt restructuring, no market restructuring, just looking for money to fund the machine. go ahead, rob. >> i mean, there is a fundamental problem which is that greece isn't solvent so you have to deal with that. i think what you're talking about is you have to have a restructuring there. you have to have a default and the problem, of course, is the hit that the banks will take. >> which is the german and french banks. >> the german and french, all the banks essentially, so when you're saying is this -- efsf has the t.a.r.p.-like qualities to invest directly to recapitalize the banks so we don't have a giant, you know -- >> so we don't have to deal with the problem which is that we've got an insolven

i am very happy ecb and colorado's. it is very likely to be the first state to choose to end marijuana prohibition come the election next year. thank you for taking the lead. he made some wonderful plants. let me do the same. here's my perspective. i am here of the alliance. we just opened in colorado. we are not saying to legalize all drugs. this never been a drug-free society. there'll never be a drug-free society whether we like it or not. we have no choice but to accept the fact that drugs are here to stay. the challenge for us is not how to build a moat between the drugs and ourselves. it is not to pay any price or bear any burden. it is to extend their reality that they are here to stay. how do we learn how to live with the reality of drugs in our society so they cause the least possible harm? it tries to reduce the addiction and the suffering in the criminality and all the bad things we know. we have to reduce the negative consequences of our drug control policy. the best drug policy reduces the harms of drugs. p

when greece hit the -- joined the ecb, it hit some of its debt. suddenly that same situation gave rise to a loss of confidence. that was a tipping point. why did not occur two years, five years earlier? i do not think anyone can answer that. >> senator mcculvane is recognized. >> i have learned not to get in a battle of wits when i'm woefully underarmed. it has been a long time since i've taken economics. let me try not to make a big of a fool of myself. do you believe that there is such thing as a tipping point in the size of this debt? >> absolutely. all three of us agree there is a tipping point and we do not know where it is. it would be prudent not to find out. by no means to want to say that we should not be very concerned about long run sustainability. >> that is where i was hoping we could get. if we get past that point, it would be much worse than the situation we find ourselves in today. is that a fair statement? >> probably. because the u.s. is special and this is an president, when it would happen or how bad it would be, again, it is t

when it joined the ecb, it hit some of its debt, but it was over 100%, instead of the 60% required. suddenly, that same situation gave rise to a loss of confidence. that was the tipping point. why did it not occurred two, five years earlier? i do not think anyone can answer that. >> thank you. senator mall they need -- mulvaney is recognized. >> i have learned not to get in a battle of wits when i am woefully under armed. it has been a long time since taking economics. i will try not to make of a fool of myself. do you believe there is such thing as a tipping point in the debt? >> absolutely. i think all three of us agree that there is but we do not know where it is. it would be prudent not to find out. by no means do i want to say that we should not be very concerned about long run sustainability. >> that is sort of what i was hoping to get. i think one of the things that all three of you could agree on, if we get past that point, it would be much worse than the situation we find ourselves in today. is that a fair statement? >> probably, because the u.s. is special, because this is

ecb solyndra as a favor. the administration gives "some of this money to people who were contributors are strong supporters." he implied the decision was based on political favoritism. before i ask you about these allegations, i want to give you a background about this guarantee. solyndra applied for this loan in 2006 when bush was president. d.o.e. document outlined the solyndra loan as one of the three highest priorities. all this took place during the bush administration. >> yes, sir. >> in fact, on january 5, 2009, e-mail said "we think a public announcement would knowledge the hard work of the existing administration as well as benefits the fund-raising efforts for the equity contribution." in this evil, -- in this e-mail, they are talking about the bush administration. this kaiser group was not the only private investment. a lot of the investment came from another group. that is the walton family, they give to republicans. they were looking to invest in a loan that was given by the federal government. i

when greece hit the -- joined the ecb, it hit some of its debt. suddenly that same situation gave rise to a loss of confidence. that was a tipping point. why did not occur two years, five years earlier? i do not think anyone can answer that. >> senator mcculvane is recognized. >> i have learned not to get in a battle of wits when i'm woefully underarmed. it has been a long time since i've taken economics. let me try not to make a big of a fool of myself. do you believe that there is such thing as a tipping point in the size of this debt? >> absolutely. all three of us agree there is a tipping point and we do not know where it is. it would be prudent not to find out. by no means to want to say that we should not be very concerned about long run sustainability. >> that is where i was hoping we could get. if we get past that point, it would be much worse than the situation we find ourselves in today. is that a fair statement? >> probably. because the u.s. is special and this is an president, when it would happen or how bad it would be, again, it is t