Richard K. Armey: “Mr. Speaker, I am here today with some of my colleagues to talk about a serious subject, but let me begin by paying my…”

“Mr. Speaker, I am here today with some of my colleagues to talk about a serious subject, but let me begin by paying my respects to this great country. America is such a great country. We Americans are such hardworking people. We go to work, take care of our families, look after things in our community, we work hard, pay our bills, pay our taxes. Beyond that, maybe we save a little bit of something for our old age or our children's education or any number of dreams we might have. We go to the private capital markets and put that savings where it will be safe and where it will grow and hope that those sacrifices we make today will give us a better day. And all of that activity that we do in what one of my favorite economists, Alfred Marshall, called the ordinary business of life, all that we do has resulted in this great land building the greatest economy in the history of the world. The wonders of product from which Americans consume daily and routinely are just magnificent and frankly the envy of the world. But every economic system, every economy, every great Nation at a time can find a period of economic distress.”