host: let's give tim mullaney a chance to respond. guest: i did not hear a question, but i agree with the argument you made. the thing i would point out is that there was a brief window into thousand eight were actually a lot did get done -- and 2008 were a lot did get done. and in 2011, there was a good deal done to cut spending and tried to reduce the deficit. barack obama inherited an avalanche. between the time he was elected in the time he was inaugurated, the country lost 2.2 million jobs. a few months later, it had lost about another 3 million private sector jobs. since then, it has gained 15.5 million, partly because of the stimulus, partly because of low interest rates, partly because of policymaking generally. and also things out there and the country basically the economy healing itself to some degree eventually, and it always does the thing that people talk about is how slowly it has come back in terms of employment -- how slowly it has come back. in terms of employment, i would say it has come all the way back. the econom