>> federal reserve will not monetize the debt. and i think it's important to point out that notwithstanding our purchases of treasuries as part of a program to strengthen private credit market, we will still hold less treasuries, a smaller volume of treasuries than we had before the crisis began. >> if the fed will not monetize the debt and if the congress refuses to deal with the spending curve, which will average about 23% of gdp for the next 10 years, that's either going to leave us with a massive tax increase or massive borrowing, but yet apparently, as we send representatives to china to encourage them to continue to buy our debt, they are shifting to commodities. they are indicating concerns about the level of our debt. recently, as i believe you know, s&p downgraded uk's debt on may 21st from stable to negative. so, what's going to going to ha u.s. loses its aaa rating or what happens if we have a 60% tax increase over the next ten years to deal with this massive infusion of debt? >> at some point, you have to have a path o

the stimulus also is now causing questions from the federal reserve if we get in a position of monetizing our debt, we will face an unprecedented disaster an got way, perhaps of argentina and tripling the debt in ten years seems to me to be a risky approach. we've seen the united kingdom which was recently warned about its credit rating and perhaps that's the coal mine for our nation's own future. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, sen. mr. secretary, the floor is yours. it's a pleasure to be before you, my first time appearing before you about the treasury's budget and i look forward to having a close working relationship and i look forward to having to answer the very important questions you raise in your opening statements. while we see some initial signs of economic improvement, and i think you could say that the force of the storm is weakening a bit. and although the financial system has begun to heal, our country faces substantial economic and financial challenges. the president and administration are working to meet these challenges and we're working hard to get our a

host: monet, missouri. and caller: first, i have a request of c-span, when the debate on the imf -- attached amendment was in the senate, and requesting that you pull up comments about that. jeff craigs explained this very well to his counterparts in the senate. host: what did he say? caller: the united states has never lost one penny on loans to the imf. the imf needs money to loan to developing countries. basically this is electronic money. it is not printing u.s. paper money and sending it to the imf. the european banks are not involved in this whatsoever. so i think c-span should start giving iq test to commentators to see if they have one. guest: i will tell you that i think you have a couple of the details wrong. number one, it is a loan to the imf. they are counting that it will be about $5 billion. if the loans go bad, you go bad. you have to pay the full value of the loan. they usually loan through banks, and in this particular situation and as in most imf situations, they are recourse loans. they

if we get into the position of monetizing our debt, we are faced with an unprecedented disaster and tripling the debt in 10 years seems to me to be a very risky approach. we have seen united kingdom which was recently warned about its credit rating. perhaps that is the canary in the coal mine for nations in the future. thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. secretary, the floor is yours. >> members of the committee, it is a pleasure to be in front of you today. i would look forward to working a close working relationship with you and having a " -- and having a chance to answer the many important questions. we see some initial signs of economic improvement. i think you can say that the force of the storm is weakening. although the financial system is beginning to heal, our country faces very substantial financial challenges. the president and the administration are working to meet these challenges. we're working hard to get americans back to work, our economy back on the path of growth, to committing to restoring fiscal discipline to sustain a recovery, and to make an omelet -- long neglected invest

fortunately the recently enacted $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers is now being monetized so that these homeowners can use it to