it based on principles that is improving efficiency, improving the competitive position of the unitedstates, and improving fairness. it had to be based on principles and that it needed to be bro based reformed. on july 24th we had two experts, . many of you remember dr. maren as former head of cbo. they gave a broad we view of tax reform proposals by category. they did it by specific proposals including members on this commission, so they talked about senator gregg and senator wyden's proposal and senator ryan's and others as well. they gave us a very good review of alternatives both in specifics and in categorically. let me just say. my own conclusion from this is that we really have a tax system that is badly outdated. it no longer relates to the world we are in today. this tax system was constructed at a time we did not have to worry about america's competitive position because america was dominant in the world. now we face determined competition, and we really need to think about how the tax system affects the competitive position of the united states because of the role that plays in f