| Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the Obama Administration's definition of leadership. Congressman Paul Ryan: Let's show Slide 8. I know you didn't necessarily want to see this chart. The red is the status quo, that's the baseline we're on. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner: You could have taken it to 3000 or 4000... Congressman Paul Ryan: Yeah, right. We cut it off at the end of the century because the economy, according to the CBO, shuts down in 2027 on this path. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner: I like this chart; I looked at this chart yesterday. You're talking about I think more than half a century. But if you look at the gap between us— Congressman Paul Ryan: I understand the gap. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner: —between 10 and 20, it's a pretty small gap. In that gap though—that 10 to 20 gap, which is all we're debating today—is a gap where you're achieving that slightly diminished path. Congressman Paul Ryan: Here's the point, if you'll allow me. This is your time, so we'll just take a long time. Here's the point. Leaders are supposed to fix problems. We have a $99.4 trillion unfunded liability. Our government is making promises to Americans that it has no way of accounting for. And so you're saying yeah, we're stabilizing it but we're not fixing it in the long run. That means we're just going to keep lying to people. We're going to keep all these empty promises going. So what we're saying is, in order to avert a debt crisis—you're the Treasury Secretary, of ... |
