than less europe. more integration. you mentioned that today. and i would ask you. you mentioned fiscal union. what do you mean exactly when you say "fiscal union"? isn't it what a lot of germans mean when they say a transfer union? and are you going to be able to convince your own citizens to accept a transfer union? >> translator: the fiscal union is not a transfer union. what we mean when we talk about the beginning of a fiscal union is what we have already decided. that is to say stability and growth, a pact which now is going to be binding. so we talked a lot about reducing the debt. people want to put that in their constitution sometimes. but for the first time, the european commission has the right to come and check whether the member states have really translated the stability pact in their legislation. and if they have not done it, the european court of justice can sue them. it's a paradox, if you want. we have a stability and growth pact, which is like european legislation, if you want. for a

people don't understand in europe, especially young people in europe and people who are not members of the elite. >> who? >> the people who are not part of the elite, the average citizens. my question is the following. don't you think that we should have a much stronger social dimension in the european union? that is to say we could have european unemployment insurance. that would be a new narrative that would be much more understood by the population of europe. >> well, you know, today and in the future even less, we can no longer base ourselves only on the roots of europe and mention the foundation, because we are in a totally different situation. that's why today i insisted on the fact that for me, the justification of europe, besides the historical justification, remains true that if we want to maintain our living standards and our way of life, our way of life in europe, we have to be more competitive. and because we are together, we are worth more together than individually. and of course we have to defend our interests. especially freedom. so europe must defend itself and be itse

one reason is the ghastly history of europe. remember why they created the european union in the first place, to overcome the previous millennium of slaughter in europe, most dramatically, the first half of the last century. i happened to visit the holocaust museum again. if you've done that recently it gives you plenty of memory of why the europeans have pulled together to avoid letting europe, again, explode into kind of holocaust and disaster that they experienced. so they're going to hold europe together. in addition to that, they have an overwhelming economic interest. germany, which is the pivotal country, has a nirvana economic situation in europe, in the euro. germany is the largest surplus trading country and it bases it's whole economy on an export-led growth model. in the old days, when they had their own deutsche mark, it was rise and they would choke off competitors and fight. now, the germans have the world's largest trade surplus and a weak currency which, for them, is the perfect outcome and every german knows it

so they're going to hold europe together. in addition to that, they have an overwhelming economic interest. germany, the pivotal country, has a nirvana economic situation. germany is the largest surplus trading country and it bases it's whole economy on an export-led economy. when they had their own deutsche welle mark and they would choke off their competitors and fight off the germans. now, the germans have the world's largest trade surplus and a weak currency which, for them, is the perfect outcome and every german knows it and they'll continue it and virtually at any price would be worth paying for them to keep that situation together. if you went to a new deutschemark it would explode up in value and the whole german economic prok which has been impressive the last few years, would collapse. so the bottom line is both germany and europe as a whole has a huge, huge interest in holding the eurozone together. so my conclusion, and it's, i think, supported by the evolution of the current crisis is that germany will pay whate

europe as a commissioner. as europe works its way through the current crisis what do you see as the medium to long run outlook for the european union as a whole and the future prospects of the integration exercise? many of us have observed europe has faced many crises ever five or six decades. some were existential. out of all of those europe did seem to come out stronger and move forward. will that happen this time? >> i think this is happening this time. we are moving perhaps without being aware toward some degree of political union. the crisis brought about an unexpected acceptance by national governments of much greater coordination at the e.u. level of national budgetary policies. since last year, the so-called european sector is in place. this means each allow our governments to submit to the european commission and to the european council of ministers in the first half of the year before it goes to the national parliament a draft budget. this is incredible issue. was asked by the european commission for

but when you look at the press in europe, everybody in europe talks about this crisis in a different perspective. and we need a europe with the mobility of workers. it also means that we need transfer possibilities so that everybody can have portable pensions, for instance. if you work in five different countries, you need to be able to take your pension with you. and also we have to harmonize the retirement age. in some countries it's 55. in germany it's 67. we have a lot to do. that is to say the social dimension is one of the aspects. but it's far from being the only one. but what we have to create is of course as students you are more together than our workers, for instance. but we need more of a european public. we have to know that we all belong to the same area, for instance. >> translator: thank you. now i have a question about the relations between germany and the others. what about the image of germany abroad? from france is going to ask the question. >> translator: no, you can speak without microphone. i can hear you well. you have a good voice. >> translator: many in euro

the economic future of italy and europe. as fred mentioned, yes, i delivered a few words in 2006 on the topic does europe have an economic future? and after all, europe did have an economic future. but i think that many of the questions surrounding europe then are still there today. and, of course, i feel the responsibility in my temporary and luckily enough sharply timed to give a contribution to the solution of those problems. everybody has in mind, of course, theure j ureuro zone cr. i think everybody should be aware and i think everybody in this room is aware but not everybody in this country or in italy or in europe is aware of the fact that this has not been a crisis of the euro. the euro has continued to display very, very remarkable stability, solidity. it has not incurred on any of the two situations in which a currency shows its weakness in terms of the domestic purchasing power and in terms of external -- in term of exchange rates. so i think it is a really remarkable that although there has been and partly there

this has largely to be achieved within europe. for example, i think we came to a deep common understanding with germany that anything which would improve the perceptions by the markets that the eurozone is well governed, in terms of readiness to put up adequate fire walls will actually imply a very small probability that such financial resources would have to be used because they will be credible enough for the mere fact that they are there. with the u.s., i think this would be the topic of my conversations. i don't know. i hope i'll not be late to the white house. >> we'll get you there on time. >> how, given the fact that the u.s. is struggling to have budgetary consolidation, as we would call it, and these are reentered towards growth. we are doing exactly the same in a different context how we can develop synergies in order to do this more easily. as to the imf, there is a prominent figure of the imf in this room. i would say that the imf is playing a key and constructive role. i think the imf is right when it says concerning

this means that what we have already achieved in europe can only be preserved if we renew europe with strength. and, therefore, we can say that this crisis is a chance for us, it's the chance for us to create a stability union, a stable union, worthy of the name. the question of finances very often it is summarized in cut, cut, cut. well, that's too simple. no, it has to to with the fact that we have to live in a sustainable way and we have to also think about the next generation. and if we were not able to have a sustainable system, well, we would be in a very difficult situation that we could never overcome in the future. and the financial markets doubt, they wonder if we can come out of this crisis, and, therefore, one of the elements is to consolidate our budgets. we could say that we have started. we have started the beginning, if you want. the pacts of the treaties are clear. we had the stability, it was very clear rules. the problem and the truth is that the rules were never respected. nobody checked them. and, therefore, the reality was different from what was on paper. so we

and for europe we focus on iran. iran has a fairly active missile program, largely consisting of liquid propellant missiles. they are doing interesting experiments on solid propel ants. today they have scud and old soviet missile. shahad 3. liquid missile, technology probably received from north korea. this is north korea nodong missile. they have recently test add solid missile with a range of 200 to 20,000 kilometers, somewhere in that range. some people are suggesting we may see a liquid propellant missile in the range of 3,000 kilometers in the not too distant future. so today the threat is really quite -- the missile threat from iran is localized to the middle east. obviously israel is very concerned about it because they are within range. turkey could be concerned about it but turkey is a friend of iran, which is one reason they resisted nato attempts until very recently and agreed to deploy a radar which you'll see on future maps right about here in turkey. in the next, say, several years, five years, missile

we have faith in europe's economy and in the europe. we believe that the bureau will continue to be an important currency in the future. >> nothing concrete there from the chinese. clear limits have been set, and that is apparently as far as the country's leadership is willing to go, both on money matters and human-rights, for now. >> over to steve now and some very unexpected numbers out of the u.s. today that it is worth noting markets do not usually like surprises, but when they look like this, things are different. a u.s. employment data spark fireworks friday. the much-anticipated jobs report from the u.s. government has shown that new hiring in january pushed the unemployment rate down 8.3%, the lowest level in nearly three years. all in all, 243,000 new jobs were created last month. the news gives president obama a welcome boost as he gears up his reelection campaign. unemployment has not been as low since just after he took office. >> there is still far too many americans who need a job or need a job that pays better than the on

i was fascinated by your assessment of europe. the thought kept going through my mind is past performance doesn't guarantee future results. i hope you're right. i'm assuming dr. lerrick and dr. johnson probably aren't in agreement with a rosie scenario. >> i think i'm actually more optimistic than dr. bergsten. i believe it will drive europe to a stable financial union. we have many more summits to go but they'll get there. i believe. but there is a large risk. one of my colleagues uses an analogy. he said this is a dangerous operation. you could have the most skilled surgeon in the world but things can go wrong. and so something could go wrong. i believe that the europeans will manage this process. i think the germans have now found the tools do that, which are just to keep interest rates really high on all the politicians that are of the weak countries and that will force them to do what german threats and pleading and reasoning did not succeed in doing for two years. and secondly the new strategy, which is if you agree, that's

it is called in europe and it is set to stay that way for a while -- it is cold in europe. temperatures have been reaching minus 9 degrees celsius at their highest. in parts of eastern europe, the situation is a lot worse. over 60 people have died in ukraine alone. unusual scenes are impressing tourists. >> even brussels' famous fountain is feeling the chill. tourists at the belgian capital usually come to see the little boy releasing a steady stream. >> overall, i guess, to see it, you will have to come back another time in brussels to see him in action. >> across europe, the winter weather is painting bizarre landscapes. in marseilles, palms and cacti are covered in snow. ice formations like these have left the russian harbor in quiet summer. it may be a winter wonderland for some, but for others, it is a nightmare. nine more people died overnight in poland, and across eastern and central europe, at least 100 people died this week amid temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees celsius. most victims are homeless like here in ukraine, hardest hit by the cold. tens of thousand

the chinese state is much smarter than the monarchies of europe because the monarchies of europe tried to keep down the middle class. the communist party, the they are not particularly communist and agree to the middle class and make them stakeholders so if you were to talk to most entrepreneurs most professionals in china they don't want to change the system they are happy and that raises the question is this stable? if those with a wealth and power are able to change it and are happy with something like dead democracy, does that give moble staying power, and if the chinese can make decisions about the high-speed rail and the network about investment for the long run, the of the five-year plan, a ten year plan, and the united states, believe it or not, we have a lot of government agency but nobody is doing the long-range economic planning. that is why i think the china model if it is going to carry the day it isn't going to be the model that everyone ascribes to, but there will be one version of modernity. it will have a large place in the world in the 21st century and the western mod

the issue then becomes -- what is the next level of europe? germany has a clear view of what the future of europe is going to be and they've found two tools that will force union fiscal discipline after two years of reasoning, threatening and pleading had no effect on their fellow members. first they see that market forces prevail where diplomacy failed. if you keep painfully high interest rates on the politicians that will compel them to make difficult choices that need to be made. the second step they've done is removed the unanimity requirements before all the eurozone decisions. before they could stop the euro without a veto and therefore, they set up a system where there will be no access to emergency funding unless a member agrees to the fiscal conduct. and what will happen is the fear of being left behind is going to support -- left behind without support is going to force submission to this fiscal reform. and so what you'll see over the next two to three years is germany will drive the eurozone towards a fiscal union with central contr

the chinese state is much smarter than the old monarchies of europe because the monarchies of europe tried to keep down the middle class. the communist party, the so-called communist party because they're not particularly communist, has integrated the middle class. they have made them stakeholders in the state. and so if you were to talk to most entrepreneurs, most professionals in china, they don't want to change the system. they're happy. and can that raises the question, well, is this stable? if those with the wealth and power to change it are actually pretty happy with something less than democracy, does that give that model staying power? and if chinese can make decisions about high-speed rail, about highway network, about investment for the long run, right? thea got a five-year plan. they've got a ten-year plan. and the united states, believe it or not, we've got a lot of government agencies, but nobody is doing long-range economic planning. and that's why i think the china model isn't going to carry the day, it's not going to be the model that everyone ascribes to, but it will

other parts of europe are profiting tremendously off this and who wins the banks toure's. i. i it's one's are you ready to rumble joining me on the panel for tonight's lone liberal rumble don. the genome on gino u.s. senate candidate former special agent with the u.s. secret service and former new york police department officer and lachlan mark a mark to market a market that's right market investigative reporter with the heritage foundation center for media and public policy thanks to both of you for being here and let's get started i was just reading about austerity in europe and it seems like the republicans are hell bent for leather to bring this the united states you know cutting we've seen in twenty five. twenty four red states. so far three years seven hundred thousand people laid off and you know like this. now we've got this tax deal this payroll tax cut and unemployment benefit cut and. you know they're talking about extending this but the republican succeeded in lowering the number of weeks for unemployment benefits for ninety nine dollars seventy three weeks why

this crisis is to go towards more europe rather than less europe.e integration. you mentioned that today. and i would ask you, you mentioned fiscal union. what do you mean exactly when you say fiscal union? isn't it what a lot of germans mean when they say transfer union. and are you going to be able to convince your own citizens to accept a transfer union? the fiscal union is not a transfer union. what we mean when we talk about the beginning of a fiscal union is what we have already decided. that is to say that the stability and growth, that which now is going to be binding. so we talked a lot about reducing the debt. people want to put that in their constitution sometimes. but for the first time, the european commission has the right to come and check whether the member states have really translated the stability pact in their legislation. and if they have not done its, the european court of justice can sue them. it is a paradox, if you want. we have a stability and growth pact, which is like european legislation, if you want. for all the other e

we wanted to fill in the whole of europe not just some european countries with one or european allies and friends to join on missile defense strategy. lucina in the event of the situation with a european missile defense system becoming unfavorable to russia we reserve the right to take no further steps in the nuclear disarmament area. the kremlin has repeatedly demanded that nato guarantees that the european missile defense shield would pose no threat to russia's strategic interests sofa the west has refused to cooperate with must go on the issue. intercontinental ballistic missiles are transported through snow bound russian forests under the cover of darkness. shrouded in secrecy the people in charge need to perform training drills and test the hardware on the roof. suddenly the convoy comes to a halt there's a forest street blocking the. crossing it's quite a challenge for the drivers of motor vehicles weighing many tons. as specially considering. heads. of heavy launches safely reach the opposite bank with the most hazardous hurdle behind it the convoy is on the move again. as the

nato countries or in which to respect the deployment of them military installations to europe. new american military bases may soon be set up in kazakhstan. turkmenistan and tajikistan. once russia has been encircled by military bases a new geopolitical reality will emerge we need to take this reality into account already today but and take measures to control potential threats to our security. meanwhile the view that the missile defense shield is too expensive is getting increasing currency inside the united states itself it provides financial backing to the armed forces moreover the project is making millions of dollars from nato sub contractors in various countries. between two thousand and five and two thousand and nine the us has spent fifty billion dollars and the price paid for the entire program that we are dealing with right now here in two thousand and eleven is another hundred and fifty billion dollars that's larger than many country's entire military budgets. some of the funding for the missile defense system in europe is being put to use in poland and north the sma

the great problem in europe is not the problem of deficit or debt. europe has a much more serious long-term problem. you can solve the debt easily. you write it off. you can the deficits easily, i'm saying economically, not politically, easily, you cut spending. the difficult problem is that southern europe's populations expect a lifestyle their productivity cannot supply. greeks don't have to be germans but they can expect to be -- but then they can't expect to be paid like dper mans. so you have a 25% gap between southern europe and german labor cos costs that are on the closed by deflation. this is a long, painful process that will precipitate a five to seven-year recession in the southern european countries and there you're talking about close to 40% of europe's gdp. the only other alternative is a long-term transfer from europe's north to south. re-unification of germany caused same problem of differing productivity. what the germans decided was they proposed a solidarity tax imposed on west germany to bring east germany up to west der man stand

if we renew europe with strength. therefore, we consider this crisis as a chance for us. it's a chance for us to create a stability union, a stable union worthy of the name. the question of finances, very often it's summarized in cut, cut, cut. well, that's too simple. no, it has to do with the fact that we have to live in a sustainable way, and we also have to think about the next generation. if we were not able to have a sustainable system, well, we would be in a very difficult situation that we could never overcome in the future, and the financial markets wonder if we can come out of this crisis, and therefore, one of the elements is to consolidate our budgets. we can say that we have started, we have started the beginning, if you want. the facts, the treaty's clear we had the stability backed with very clear rules. the problem and the truth is that the rules were never respected. nobody checked them, and therefore, the reality was different from what was on paper. we need solid finances, solid budgets, sustainable

of parties in europe stand for unilateral. missile defense system which would include russia and the european union nato and the united states washington says that it's ready to cooperate but it has to have a tough stance always going to its defense while the foreign minister says that this is russia's foreign minister says this issue through etan's the positive relations between these two branches the eastern and the western branch of the european civilization like they said russia and the united states but of course there are many great examples of positive cooperation between russia and the northern north atlantic treaty organization for example cooperation in afghanistan and with transit problems for nato in pakistan russia is playing a major wall in the operation there giving its air corridor or through its airspace and there is also of course a great example of. cooperation between washington and moscow being the new strategic arms reduction treaty with the two biggest nuclear arms who is now reducing their arsenals beca

countries but it wouldn't do so at the moment because of the cold winter in europe because as the israeli pm accuses the islamic state of being behind. talan and urges americans to look he's sad it's not a problem. also russia says external players are encouraging opposition groups to stay out of domino with the syrian government. also a bit superdelegate. meanwhile the president the son of announced a referendum on a new constitution. for a democracy uprising in bahrain protests is a crazy as another hot with police using tactics and weapons from the. headlines time to go tell washington's to do is for the big picture with tom. oh i'm going to washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight the big picture. banks are bulldozing their way through europe what will be left in the rubble when they're done also is the tea party losing its political mojo that more coming up in tonight's liberal rumble and new hampshire is trying to repeal gay marriage and minnesota's try to constitutionally ban it their quality ever be accepted in america like it is in canada and mexico so. you need to kno

freezing temperatures grip europe.he death toll up over the weekend with a state of emergency being declared in bosnia. 220 people have died as a result of the are weather with forecasters predicting another week of arctic conditions. transport networks have been badly hit. london's heathrow, europe's busiest airport, is aiming to operate a normal service after a number of flights were canceled on sunday. after last year heathrow hit very badly by the snow shutdown and so they decided, i think they spent quite a lot of money on new snowplows but the best way is to cancel flights ahead of it. don't deal with the snow. just stop people coming to the airport which is not really what we want. we want them to know that it snows and planes can still land and take off. that would be my idea with telg with snow. >> yeah, open for business. we need to keep that concept going. you know what, maybe better safe than sorry. safety is clearly the issue when you have that sudden kind of snowstorm. the shanghai composite flat today. w

russia relations and how it's being affected by america's controversial missile defense system in europe. the most vital national security interests of the united states would be most effectively realize not true hostility to russia a true cooperation with it. i think russia and the united states can reach a settlement of the establishment of a global missile defense system. this plan research is in jeopardy even the new strategic arms reduction treaty between moscow and washington has been unable to help. at a time of warmer bilateral relations nato's top brass decided to deploy a missile defense system aimed at protecting europe but they were setting up too close to russia's borders and most go didn't view it as a friendly gesture. we want to defend the whole europe not just some european countries with one or european allies and friends to join in on missile defense strategy. in the event of this issue asian with a european missile defense system becoming unfavorable to russia we reserve the right to take no further steps in the need for it is all momentary and. the kremlin has repeat

the big risk, of course, is what happens in europe and whether greece's debt problems spread. >> europe is the biggest source of risk that we see on the investment horizon. we are in the hands of european politicians and the best efforts of european politicians. so that, by definition, it's a risky environment. >> reporter: there's something else that troubles even bullish analysts-- low trading volume, which typically means heightened volatility. fortunately for investors, the big swings in the market lately have been to the upside. erika miller, "nightly business report," at the new york stock exchange >> susie: our next guest believes the stock market will ause, stnd consodateat current leve. he's carter worth, chief market technician at oppenheimer asset management. carter, nice to have you back on the program. >> thank you, thank you very much. >> since you studied charts let's gotraight to the charts. we've got here a chart for the s&p and looking at it we see a big sell-off last summer and then a rally since december. and moving along looking at this chart of the dow's performanc

this is the eurozone and europe's largest economy. this powerhouse has just posted record export figures for the year 2011, sending more than 1 trillion euros a year abroad. let's have a look how that's affecting the markets abroad. here in europe, we're seeing a bit of a bright spot to the trading session today. we're now just over an hour into the trading session. as you can see, we've got the likes of the kak 40 and the xetra dax. these two are doing better, up .9%. the greek prime minister phas reached a deadline where they have bonds due. we're seeing a bounce on the back of the better than expected numbers when it comes to german exports. we've also got a meeting of political ministers delayed until today. what we have in greece is the political side as well as the economic side coming to the forefront. bankers' minds projecting zero growth in 2012. that's one of the reasons why the cac 40 in paris isn't up by as much as xetra dax. also wanted to mention the ftse 400 talk whether the merger with glenco is going to continue. that

if europe implodes, the risk to our economy is serious. we need to remember that almost one quarter of u.s. exports go to our european trading partners so what happens to the european economy could have a very real impact on u.s. manufacturers and u.s. workers. with that, we'll turn to senator johnson who is filling in for senator sessions this morning for his opening remarks and then we'll turn to our witnesses for their testimony and, again, i want to thank senator johnson for filling in for senator sessions this morning. i just say to colleagues, there are many competing meetings of other committees this morning, including mark-ups in some, which means that colleagues who would like to be here simply cannot be here and participate in the work of other committees on which they serve so, we understand that this is a meeting in which there are many competing priorities for members of this committee. senator johnson. >> thank you and only i'm here because this is my top priority and i think this is certainly the greatest threat that faces o

to be clear, what is happening in europe to be clear, what is happening in europe has ramifications across the globe, certainly including the united states. here's the front page story in the washington post last week. imf fears european crisis poses risk of major recession. the article highlights the international monetary fund's concern that the turmoil in europe could have serious consequences for the global economy. yesterday, we saw reports that european leaders had agreed to new measures to dads the debt concerns in their -- to address the debt concerns in their countries. "the new york times" headline on the agreement. european leaders agree to they measures to enforce discipline. i'd very much like to hear the views of our witnesses on this agreement, and whether it's the right answer for europe at this moment. most economists believe the eurozone is already in recession. we can see the blue chip forecast shows eurozone economic growth falling from anemic 1.6% in 2011 to a negative .004 in 2012. at the same time, european nations are saddled with large and growing debts that impact

so europe has the model that is now in a world in complete change. and there's a question that we have to ask ourselves. in 1950, just coming out of world war ii and little by little brought germany back into the community of the world. and the other germany, it was not the same. back then we were on the planet with 2.5 billion people. 20% of the humans were europeans. last year we hit 7 billion people in the world. and today, the europeans are only 7% of the world population. even if we are still 20% of the world gpp, but when we see each other again 20 years from now you will see that the numbers will have changed even more. our societies are aging in europe. we are in the rapid demographic change. there are more and more retired people, less and less active people among europeans. what does that mean? it means that if we want to keep our living standards, we have to change our policies. if we want to keep our values in the globalized world, we have to work together and speak with one voice and we have to convince the others with one voice. so it h