host: wendy edelberg.st: i entirely agree that the size of the debt, how much the federal government borrows, has a relationship with the interest rates that we pay. i think that there is very credible evidence linking how large deficits are and how high interest rates are. but as much as i think that there is really credible empirical relationship, it's pretty small. i don't know that we can attribute very much of the rise in interest rates and particularly what we have seen in mortgage rates, which are really their own animal, i don't know how much of that we can really attribute to the rise -- to the increases in federal spending. that said, i, like many people, am worried about the unsustainable fiscal trajectory. i don't think, in fact i'm very confident, that we should not take painful abrupt actions right now. but generally speaking i think we are an undertaxed country. the hamilton project, again, as put out multiple proposals, in fact we have an event at the end of this month, september 26, where