with, or because there was a big tax increase in the fiscal deal, because the congressional office brightened the outlook. so now he says that the only way to judge a budget is when it balances, but he need a year ago, two years ago, that balance had nothing to do with it. you need debt on a declining percentage of gdp, you do need to get this down, but this idea of what we're trying to do is to just get it to balance, it is balance for balance's sake. it has no coherence economic theory behind it, and requires cuts that are draconian and aren't necessary for any reason except to symbolically say, look at how great i many am, i balanced the budget. >> here the republicans have been given the things, but they could just say balances a budget would be the paper on which -- it's not college ruled.