mad and it's going to depend on what the details are and i think dr. peterson is right here that you don't have a false equivalence but sometimes to get a deal through you have to yield a little bit. the question is how much. >> the president has been talking about that compromise. dr. peterson, while the president met with small business owners today, speaker boehner got a visit from some nude protesters decrying budget cuts to aids funding. so i guess the negotiations are quite lively, are they not? >> they are. and these protesters are raising the real issues of humanity that we -- we need to have more humanity in these discourses. i'll concede the point that it's not a false equivalency but the way we are talking about the fiscal cliff is we're not acknowledging what our priorities need to be. so, for instance, if we cut military spending the way the fiscal cliff will, that is not quite as detrimental as eradicating or irrevocably changing medicare and medicaid. they're just not equal -- >> and i think, professor