mr. podesta but let me briefly outline where we might begin the disagreement. first and foremost, it is essential to recognize that the deficits we face in the next decade and beyond our deficits that are driven by spending problems, not insufficient tax revenues. all the projections done by the administration or the congressional budget office show taxes rising above historic levels of gdp and despite that we face deficits that are $1 trillion. the administration's policies embeds these principles and still winds up with a deficit. this is not a solution to our deficit problem. i think it is imperative to look at this from two perspectives. number one is growth. in this economy, we have households who are suffering the after shocks of a severe financial shock. the have badly balanced balance sheet grid they are neither positions nor should be expected to power this economy forward in a substantial. at the state, local, and our federal government, they are in a similar position very we need to focus on our business community and net exports. the business commun

mr. podesta. .. he had an important stand as undersecretary of international affairs. he has served at the international monetary fund for two years. he held a very important post with one of the linchpins of our financial institutions as president and ceo of the federal reserve bank of new york. he was one of the key figures in the valiant efforts made to combat the financial crisis that we have been through over the past several years. the main reason for his presence today is that on in january 26, 2009, he became the 75th secretary of the u.s. treasury, and i am glad to invite him to the podium today. thank you. [applause] >> thanks to both of you. [laughter] thanks for having me here. i want to complement those of you on what you do. you are engaged in this noble effort to raise the basic quality of public debate to get people that are analysis, better ideas. that is ve important. it won't deliver on its own, better judgments by your country's leaders but we raise the probability and get better choices over time with institutions like yours engaged in this noble e

mr. podesta. [laughter] but let me briefly outline where we might begin the disagreement. first and foremost, it is essential to recognize that the deficits in the next decade and beyond are deficits driven by spending problems, not insufficient tax revenues. all the projections done by either the administration's own budget or by the c.b.o. show taxes rising to above historic levels of g.d.p. and still we are faced with deficits of more than $1 billion. this is not a solution to our deficit problem. i think it is imperative to look at this from two perspectives. number one is growth. in this economy we have households who are suffering the aftershocks of a severe financial crisis and recession. they have badly damaged balance sheets. they are in fact doing the right thing in trying to repair the balance sheets we've seen the savings rate rise. they are not positioned to power the economy forward. that means by a process of elimination we need to be focusing on the business community and on our net exports. the business community is, in this instance, really important to p