the greek situation is a al tragedy. greek cannot borrow money. this country is not in bad shape at all. or but we have a politically geneted crisis. there is no real rean to have a debt limitation anyway. what congress and the president shouldo is tax spending, taxes and spending and the economy together will produce a budget deficit or surplus. the democrats, i think were rightly worried a little bit about how much president obama was willing to give away in terms of slicing spending on programs they hold dear. but it turned out the republicans are unwilling to accept anything. and john boehner who had promised repeatedly that the debt ceiling would be raised, apparently now is backing away from that. it looks like he's just caved in to the right wing members of his caucus. >> rose: he has released this statement. during these discussions as in my earlier discussions became evident that the white house has simply not serious about ending the spding binge thais destroying jobs and endangeri our children's future. a deal was never reached and neve

we're not going to work to age 70 so the greek cans retire at 58. >> rose: what role does sarkozy play? >> well, it'svery interesting because, you know, quite apart from the entertainment value which he always has because, as you know, historically in the european project there was the german engine and the french driver. >> rose: right. >> and what's happened now is that the german engine has, so to speak, got up into the driver's seat and actually sarkozy and the french are running along behind trying to keep the show on the road and trying to influence it. >> rose: from afar, how do you see our political system grappling with a debt ceiling-- so far unsuccessfully? >> you know, i come back to the united states every year for an extended period and so i see this country in kind of time-lapse photography. >> rose: right. >> snapshots every year and it's really quite shocking to see the gradual relative decline, starting with the elementary fact of the decline in infrastructure. i mean roads, public transport, public goods. that a simple point. i would say that... and i say this in jes