here's paul volcker and steve clemons who is my colleague at atlantic media. >> thank you, david.

for those of you who don't know, i'm steve clemons, washington editor-at-large of "the atlantic." you'll see that when we do events it's sort of like flying on united airlines. we usually don't let people leave their seats and go in the hall. we do it all at your seats. and we're going to do that. as we're discussing we're going to have staff at the hotel quietly clear your plate. we're not taking a break after this. we're going to proceed. thank you very much. paul, first question. today "the atlantic" issued what i like to call our money issue. they call it our finance issue or economics issue. ben bernanke is on the front. i was talking to peter schiff and other people out of the room who were basically ones who see bernanke as a villain as opposed to a hero. they see bernanke as a villain for keeping interest rates so low that either inflation or other bubbles are being created. and so if you were fed chairman today, would you have inflation rate -- the fed rate where bernanke does? >> i'm not there so i don't have to make that great judgment. and i have a regular practice of

here's paul volcker and steve clemons who is my colleague at atlantic media. >> thank you, david. ladies and gentlemen, that was a rather fulsome introduction. there were parts of the introduction that made it quite evident that i'm not the youngest guy around. i'll say one thing about the introduction, david, i've heard a lot of fond and extended introductions over those long years, and that introduction stands out as the most recent. we have quite a challenge here today. i have, you all have. by my account when i looked on my calendar and looked at the program, there are 20 strong-minded economists on the program. they come from across the international spectrum. they come from a range of occupations and that, of course, is only a sampling of all the professional talent that is in this room right now. we have collective many, many years of academic learning and practical experience to draw upon. and you would think that ought to count for something. it keeps coming to my mind with all this collection of wisdom available, i have to ask, how did we ever get into this economic mess