Tom Ashbrook (Host): Have you ever seen a time of challenge like this in your long and storied career as an economist, Martin Feldstein?

Martin Feldstein: I have not.  I think the combination of problems that we're facing is unprecedented, and the extent to which our financial markets are dysfunctional is also unprecedented in my experience of about three decades of being a careful observer and a participant in those markets.

Tom Ashbrook: It scares the daylights out of me to hear you say that.  Does it scare the daylights out of you?

Martin Feldstein: It does.  It does.  I think it is a very serious problem.  And although the Fed has tried to do what it can, lowering interest rates dramatically, the Congress and the administration did what I and others advised, a substantial tax cut to try to get people spending some more... um, it hasn't worked.  And the danger is that the house price shrinking will continue to pull us down, and pull down the financial institution.