circumstances, as has been the case, you can't go into that creating accounting business. you have to honor your signature, you have to give certainty to the rest of the world, and you have to make sure that your own economy is consolidating that welcome recovery that we have seen in the last few days because it impacts the entire economy. >> the result of this budget fight and previous fights has been part of a global debate about whether governments need to cut spending, deal with their entitlement state. you know the american budget is overrun with mandatory spending on entitlement programs like medicare and social security. is austerity the answer? are spending cuts that you hear american conservatives say are so necessary, is that the answer for our economy? or is europe teaching us that that's the wrong answer during a period of slow growth? >> you know, when we look at the u.s. economy we say something which is bizarre.