mr. paulson said. he hoped that this would stave off the lawsuits but never gave anything close to such a guarantee. >> reclaim my time. after that eloquent defense of the bush administration which i'm not used to from the ranking member i'm thrown off my game a little. mr. secretary, i thought today's discussion was supposed to be about the international financial system so i'd like to get to that a little bit. i heard from some other members that they think that europe is basically handling their problems better than we are handling our problems. and i guess that's one opinion and that's fine. but i'd like to ask in the european problems they had, major european countries reduce their tax burden in the last three, four, five years? >> i do not believe so and i think most of them are going rapidly in the other direction. >> i'm under the same impression but i thought i'd ask you. figured you would know better than i. i'd like to offer for the record a table i got from the organization of economic coop

mr. paulson. >> thank you, madam chair. thank you commissioner for being here today. i just wanted to follow up on a letter i sent to you not too long ago. in the last year you've been talking a lot or a great deal about this concept of a realtime tax system and have had a number of actually public meetings on the issue as well. i know there are benefits to receiving realtime verification and having that information up hand. i am concerned that the cost could outweigh the benefits, particularly in the sense that having this filing system could lead to a burden very similar to the 109 provision that was being rolled out as a part of america's new law which would have been a nightmare. if the irs is going to make this realtime system work, i'm sure you'll want to spr all the data earlier than is required today. you'll probably want more 1099 data as well. looking at what's been discussed today, it seems compressing this reporting timeline will make it more challenging for reporting requirements for a very onerous and burdensome process right now. let me ask you this, wh

mr. paulson. mr. wong? >> howard wong.t sing, but i did stand on the opera house stage, when i replace the wooden stage floor. that was interesting. i am here to support architectural heritage i's and e hpc's recommendations regarding articles 10 and 11. as an architect, i have worked on shopping centers, hotels, commercial and institutional buildings, as well as renovations and historic preservation. for many of these projects or all of these projects, there are many codes that apply universally to all projects -- building codes, zoning codes, ada, fire and life safety, engineering, energy air and leed guidelines, grant funding constraints, and other things. for a very few projects which involve historic resources, which are perhaps 5% or 10% of all architectural projects, there are also guidelines that are widely recognized. there are secretary of the interior standards, local preservation codes. many of these guidelines and codes have also been refined, just as building codes have been refined for decades. historic reso

mr. paulson. i am going to call 10 more names. i am sorry.ot know we are done with the last list. [reading names] >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am not feeling well. to really give you my best ideas. to say that affordable housing is coming, but instead, condominiums are coming. we have to stop the proliferation of more condominiums and unaffordable housing. [coughin] next time. thank you very much >> good afternoon, chairman mar and supervisors. my name is -- i live in district 6 about five blocks from supervisor kim. i also am with senior action network, and also with the committee, the senior housing action collaborative, and i am also a member of the californians for disability rights, which is a statewide organization of advocacy for disability rights. i obviously am aligned with the sentiments of the previous speakers, and i wanted to contribute something that perhaps had not been contributed. related to statistics, i believe that a lot of rental market properties are advertised on craigslist, and since mr. newmark is a member of the

mr. paulson is recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. we've had a lot of good discussion. i actually appreciated the testimony and the hearing. one thing we vice president haven't talked about are e somes, programs that allow workers to cumulate substantial amounts of retirement savings as opposed to other retirement plans. there are studies that show that the value of the retirement accounts of an employee that works for let's say an s-esop, would average $100,000 in 2008. and you compare that to only a $45,000 average with an average 401(k) account. so i think these statistics definitely show that esops have been tremendously successful when it comes to workers saving for retirement. and mr. sweetnam, if i could ask you, should congress make sure we protect esops as successful savings retirement vehicles, and also attempt to simplify the defined contribution retirement system, as well? >> when we looked at the retirement simplification, when i was part of the treasury department, we thought that the esops were perfectly fine. and we didn't -- we didn't try to modify them

mr. paulson. seeing none, public comment is closed.ecide on the motion, i have a question regarding local higher. on the joint powers authority which and the director, i have appreciate his incredibly strong commitment to local hiring, and i know we of talked a lot about how to give greater flexibility from the federal government on construction projects. >> i am very appreciative of the gentleman for coming down, this is an area where i know a little bit of something from my days in the human rights commission and no the importance of the city and the hiring efforts here. i am also well aware of the contract in power that we have any responsibility have to the city that funds us. what will probably comes as a shock to my wife, i am not an expert on this issue. i will readily admit that, i am supportive of the local hiring efforts. i pay attention to them when we hear about them on the central subway project that is turning to be one of our best project for leveraging local hiring. i think the honest answer is that it is the extent of

mr. paulson. i am going to call 10 more names. i am sorry.ot know we are done with the last list. [reading names] >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am not feeling well. to really give you my best ideas. to say that affordable housing is coming, but instead, condominiums are coming. we have to stop the proliferation of more condominiums and unaffordable housing. [coughin] next time. next time. thank you very much

mr. paulson ? >> a student daydreaming and high school might be thinking of this -- ♪ school board teacher, looked at me tell me what you see i can use better grades than c you can shoot me to the top give me the best and that's a lot you can make it right you can make it all right i can touch the high school moon in my hand here i go again i'm going to make it to have been -- heaven and all through high school i am going to light of the graduation like a flame make you glad you came make it a good job and i hope i get a big a i am going to be there on broadway it's going to be great, ok, ok i'm going to make the good grades just glad that you came and it is going to be the best school and things for all you gave -- thanks for all you gave ♪ supervisor campos: is there any other member of the public would like to speak, sing, or provide other comment? seeing none, comment is closed. supervisor olague: at some point, maybe the next meeting -- we have been meeting monthly -- i would like to go more i

mr. paulson. >> i would like to speak on a couple of different ideas in regard to the next incoming health a lot of reading lately regarding the long- running dispute involving jason garza and the dph bureaucracy. the next incoming health commissioner should limit it a duty to figure out once and for all this -- to satisfy this long time user of services. he still feels he has been manipulated unfairly. i think the bureaucracy should be able to reach some sort of compromise with mr. garst said -- garza. that -- maybe she will be able to figure out the proper, is. i would like to say that the next incoming health commissioner should be sufficiently independent from the mayor's office. i have heard different speakers here mentioned they moved from one commission to the other end as an average public citizen, it makes me feel little uneasy. kind of reminds me in the business world where board of directors in a certain sense serve different companies and the kind of manipulate the situation. also i would like the next incoming health commissioner to issue a written statement opposing retaliati

mr. paulson's office. >> narrator: paulson got right down to business. >> because it's paulson, who's nota man who beats around the bush, it became clear relatively quickly what he was proposing. >> he says, "i've got here documents that say that the u.s. government is going to make an injection of capital into each one of your companies." >> narrator: paulson was about to hand out billions dollars. >> he turned it over to geithner and he said, "okay, here's how much you're going to get." and he went around the room, and he came to me and said, "$25 b-b-b-billion." and then the rest of them. and i almost fell out of my chair. >> they go through in a very, very rapid way that each of us is going to take this taxpayer money, the tarp money. >> and he basically says, "you can't leave this room until you agree to take this money." >> we're all going to do it for the good of the country, for the good of the system. and it's not really discretionary. >> narrator: it was unprecedented. in return for billions of dollars, the government would take an ownership stake in the banks. but even with the

mr. paulson is recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman.who's got a lot of discussions and i appreciate the hearing. one thing we haven't talked about art esops come employer stock ownership programs that enable workers to accumulate savings as compared to some of these others retirement plan and studies that show the value of the retirement accounts is employed to work for aesop for that from an average $100,000 in 2008 and you compare that to be $5000 average of an employee of the 401(k) account. the statistics show that esops have been tremendously successful when it comes to helping workers save for retirement. if i could just ask you, should congress make sure we protect esops in the context of successful retirement savings vehicles as we tackle tax reform and also attend to simplify the defined contribution retirement system as well? >> when we look at the retirement simplification when i was part of the treasury department, we thought that the esops were perfectly fine and we didn't try to modify them at all. and my personal thoughts

mr. paulson.