Jon S. Corzine: “The Senator from Nevada is leading the witness because at that point in time we were in the process of creating 22.5…”

“The Senator from Nevada is leading the witness because at that point in time we were in the process of creating 22.5 million jobs over that 4 years--10 million in the last sector. People would earn money and spend money, and it would multiply through the economic system. We were creating wealth in the greatest single period of time, when the Federal Government was running from the pulling down of capital and stayed out of the capital markets and put money where it was most efficient. What we are doing right now is setting up a dynamic that will reverse that. We are going to see less investment over a period of time because the Federal Government has taken up all the dough and it is going to show lower growth in jobs, lower creation of wealth, and nobody will argue that the longrun deficits at the level we are running them now make any sense for this country. I don't think anybody would argue that--with the kinds of policies we have now, our taxes are about 15.5 percent of GDP. They were about 18 percent when this administration came in. But we have grown spending under this administration and the Congress, led by the other side of the aisle, up to about 21 percent. President Clinton's administration cut that to about 18 percent--a little lower, because we were running surpluses. The track we are on is absolutely a potion for disaster.”