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So we already had all this debt that had just been piled up, but nobody had noticed because things were going kind of good.  Just like a lot of folks didn’t notice their credit card was going up or that their home equity loans were going up because when things are going good you tend not to notice.

So all that debt had already accumulated.  We then had to spend $787 billion on the Recovery Act to do all the things -- unemployment insurance; COBRA; what’s called FMAP, which is essentially helping states to keep their budgets afloat so that they didn’t have to lay off teachers and cops and firefighters -- all of which if that had happened would have further depressed the economy and we would have recovered a lot later; the investments we’re making in clean energy and things like Celgard to help spur economic growth.

So we had to spend that, but that’s only a fraction of what our debt was.  And in addition what happens is when the economy goes south, there are fewer tax revenues.  And so you’re putting more money out to help people with unemployment insurance and things like that, but you’re getting less money in because folks are out of work and businesses aren’t making money.

Bottom line is, we now have a significant debt that has to be paid down.  That’s why I’m freezing government spending.  That’s why we reinstated what’s called pay-as-you-go.  You can’t start a program without paying for it.  Our health care program is paid for.

But the big thing, if you’re really worried about leaving debt to the next generation, which I know you are, the most important thing we’re going to have to tackle is our health care costs, because Medicare is by far -- Medicare and Medicaid are the biggest things that are looming in the horizon in terms of what our debt is going to be.  Nothing else comes close. 

If this health care bill never existed, if I didn’t do anything about it, we’d actually be a trillion dollars worse off over the long term.  But even with the saving we’re getting from health care, we’re still going to have to do more.  And if you don’t believe that, go on our Web site -- www.whitehouse.gov -- and you can look at how the federal budget works. 

A lot of people think if you just eliminated foreign aid we could balance the budget, or if you just eliminated earmarks you could balance the budget.  Earmarks -- pork projects, what everybody calls pork -- those account for about 1 percent of the budget, less than 1 percent.  Foreign aid accounts for about 1.5 to 2 percent of the budget.

Most of the budget is Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, defense spending, and interest on the national debt.  That accounts for about 70 percent of the budget.  And so all this other stuff that sometimes we argue about, that’s not the big stuff.  We’re going to have to tackle the big stuff if we’re going to get our budget under control.

Boy, that was a long answer.  I’m sorry.  (Laughter.)  But I hope everybody -- but I hope I answered your question.  (Applause.)  All right, I’m going to -- I’ve got to make this the last question.  I’m going to ask this young man right here.

Q    My name is Matt Litzler (ph) and I flew down from Cleveland, Ohio, this morning.  We’re a supplier here to Celgard and about 75 of those 1,000 jobs are in northeast Ohio.  A real quick question:  If Reggie is not going to go on the plane, can I get a ride back to the airport?  (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT:  You know, come on, let’s go.

Q    But secondly, the limousines that you drive -- electric with Celgard membranes in them sometime soon?

THE PRESIDENT:  You know, the answer -- I’m going to be honest with you.  I’m going to be honest with him.  (Applause.)  When I first got Secret Service protection, I asked, can we make these cars hybrids?  And I apologize because Secret Service said no.

Now, the reason is not because Secret Service are bad guys.  It’s because the cars that I’m in are like tanks.  I mean, they -- as you might imagine, they’re -- a little bit of extra stuff on it.  They’re a little reinforced.  So they weigh twice or three times what an ordinary car weighs.  So they just couldn’t get the performance, in terms of acceleration, using a hybrid engine. 

But here’s the good news, is that as part of our overall energy strategy, I have ordered us to triple the federal fleet that is hybrid.  And so government purchases an awful lot of cars for all kinds of things.  I think we’re the biggest -- I’m assuming we’re the biggest car purchaser -- maybe Hertz is bigger, I don’t know -- but we’re big and so we are using our purchasing power to help encourage the clean car industry and, hopefully, to get you more business.  All right?

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