You're watching...
Former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin on whether the French election is a preview of what is to come in the U.S. election?
Also in this playlist...
Auto-advance: ON
Auto-advance
This transcript is automatically generated
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Of the recent elections over there that we could soon be seeing here.
After the cold taken thinks the former director of the Congressional Budget Office is with us from DC are you saying the President Obama could be the next Nicholas Sarkozy.
Well there's a certainly concerning the what we're seeing around the globe is simply anti incumbency.
-- there's a lot of economic distress the US recovery has been.
Extremely sub par and certainly one lesson the drop in your premium experience is if -- any comments and your presiding over this kind of recovery you might have a problem.
There's a debate are buried or maybe it's not even there there's a debate in.
Those comments that you just made about the results of Europe being interpreted as a anti incumbent.
Vote the other side of it is that there interpreted -- just an anti austerity -- in other words we're sick of this.
We the people don't want to pay for the problems of the bankers and everybody else and we don't want all these cutbacks that you don't think it's that.
Well I -- really be upset if the way we interpreted the European results was to say -- The right solution is to spend more right odd that that's not our problem in the US.
And certainly austerity is not the right way to think about it what the US needs is structural reforms to Medicare.
To Medicaid Social Security.
Those structural reforms we wouldn't do anything to near term spending they would put us on a sustainable trajectory.
That would tell won't capital markets are gonna take care of our problems -- all very desirable -- it's not austerity.
That's important because that's -- lesson not only for us -- maybe for what Europe is going through as well you're you're saying that.
Calls for big cutbacks and that's basically this austerity movement -- in any of the European countries that -- -- -- -- and or even hear from people of call -- that's not what we need.
Now that's -- we need it in one way to think about what's going on as the house just passed out of the budget and he's gonna vote Thursday.
On a bill don't get rid of the sequester the sort of across the board cuts that are scheduled for January.
The sequestered is austerity its our -- was cut across the war without thinking about things.
And replacing that with reforms to the big it mandatory spending programs and that's what we need to do in the United States it's certainly Europe needs to do they need reforms -- -- labor markets for her entitlement programs so that they can have.
Economic growth and sustainable public finance.
Last thing Doug are you worried -- -- if you look at not only Greece but the others in European countries the borrowing costs and Spain today.
And job our market being down as much as it is 130 points there is you -- things are gonna get ugly here now.
I'm concerned.
I think that there's enough in place to get things passed the US election in November but.
Europe hasn't dealt with -- structural problems and until they do this will not go away permanently.
Douglas -- taken always good to have you on from DC thank you joining us.
