We have already seen the stresses we saw in September. In September, we saw AIG and Lehman and other financial firms under great pressure.

I think if there is a single episode in this entire 18 months that has made me more angry, I cannot think of one than AIG.

I think addressing those entitlement issues in an effective way is an incredibly important issue for this Committee.

We felt there was no alternative. Throughout the restructuring, we have tried to do everything we can to make sure that the main focus of the company... is to make the company viable enough that it can sell itself off, sell off its…

I think it is an enormous problem. I think we have learned it is a bigger problem than we thought it was.

But you are absolutely right. That was a serious issue.

I am very angry about the situation. I am sorry that there were these gaps in regulation and in the financial resolution regime.

They did not have the capacity to deal with a global insurance company whose failure would have devastated the financial system.

If Government spending is higher, it needs to be recognized that that will involve higher taxes in order to maintain a close, reasonable balance between revenues and outlays.

I would like to challenge the Congress to give us a framework where we can resolve a multinational, complicated financial conglomerate like Citigroup, like AIG, or others, if that became necessary.

The Japanese mistake was not acting quickly enough or aggressively enough, and I think that is not our problem.

I said 10 years ago. So I think it is very urgent that we look at these issues.

I think it is very urgent that we look at these issues and make some tough decisions.

If we do not get a sustainable fiscal situation and deficits continue in large amounts for a long period, then it will become more difficult to sell our debt, and interest rates will rise, and they will be counterproductive.

I think that confidence in financial engineering has gone down quite a bit, and we need to be very careful.

I want to do what is responsible. I want outcomes. I park my ideology here.

I mean, obviously we are doing things that no one likes, whether you be a moderate, conservative Democrat, whatever you would like to call yourself, Senator Warner—you seem to be a good guy—or a conservative Republican from South Carolina.

Call it what you like, and, you know, I got a lot of pushback when I mentioned leaving that option on the table.