In the world of science, of course, things can be exact, but in the forecasting business it certainly is abstract, because you're dealing with that little thing called humanity, and I've never met anything quite as unpredictable as that yet.
As a matter of fact, we seem to have this changing world and these uncharted waters, and I think everybody recognizes that. Of course, we had the PBO here yesterday, who essentially, in the course of a few weeks, has junked even his original forecast. So certainly--and I will quote one of Mr. Drummond's statements--this has been a humbling experience.
Knowing that, my concern, of course, is how we as a government react to this. Do we react every time there is a movement? Do we revise an entire economic plan on a daily basis? How do you react in an intelligent, capable fashion when a lot of the factors, quite frankly, are beyond our control, whether it's the Obama administration or others?
Knowing the fact that we have a deficit that could be $60 billion or $70 billion, or $80 billion by some estimates, over a period of time.... Obviously, everybody would prefer the lower proportion of that, but is it a fair statement to say that at least we have the financial capacity--you've mentioned the debt-to-GDP ratio--to move forward with a plan? Knowing that we have the financial capacity to deal with that and that we can at least move on a path that has a solid sense of direction, we can rationalize.
Would that be a fair comment, Mr. Hodgson?