. >> peter barnes of fox business network. last week standard and poor's put the united states debt on a negative watch for the very first time ever. what is your reaction to that, and are you concerned, are you worried that the united states will lose its aaa credit rating? >> in one sense, s&p's action did not really tell us anything because anybody who reads the newspaper knows that the united states has a very serious long- term fiscal problems. that being said, i am hopeful that this event will provide at least one more incentive for congress and the administration to address this problem. i think it is the most important economic problem, at least in the long term, that the united states faces. we currently have a fiscal deficit, which is simply not sustainable over the longer term. if it is not addressed, it will have significant consequences for financial stability, economic growth, for our standard of living. it is encouraging that we are seeing efforts on both sides of the aisle to think about this issue from a long

. >> peter barnes of fox business network. last week standard and poor's put the united states debt on a negative watch for the very first time ever. what is your reaction to that, and are you concerned, are you worried that the united states will lose its aaa credit rating? >> in one sense, s&p's action did not really tell us anything because anybody who reads the newspaper knows that the united states has a very serious long- term fiscal problems. that being said, i am hopeful that this event will provide at least one more incentive for congress and the administration to address this problem. i think it is the most important economic problem, at least in the long term, that the united states faces. we currently have a fiscal deficit, which is simply not sustainable over the longer term. if it is not addressed, it will have significant consequences for financial stability, economic growth, for our standard of living. it is encouraging that we are seeing efforts on both sides of the aisle to think about this issue from a long

. >> peter barnes of fox business network. last week standard and poor's put the united states debt on a negative watch for the very first time ever. what is your reaction to that, and are you concerned, are you worried that the united states will lose its aaa credit rating? >> in one sense, s&p's action did not really tell us anything because anybody who reads the newspaper knows that the united states has a very serious long- term fiscal problems. that being said, i am hopeful that this event will provide at least one more incentive for congress and the administration to address this problem. i think it is the most important economic problem, at least in the long term, that the united states faces. we currently have a fiscal deficit, which is simply not sustainable over the longer term. if it is not addressed, it will have significant consequences for financial stability, economic growth, for our standard of living. it is encouraging that we are seeing efforts on both sides of the aisle to think about this issue from a long