Jay Carney vs German reporter - White House Press briefing - Debt reduction

During a White House Press briefing on Monday, a reporter from the German press expressed his frustration with the way the U.S. was handling its debt crisis.

"The U.S., as far as I know, has a worse debt-to-GDP ratio than the whole euro zone," he said, "and...Congress can't get its act together. So from the European perspective, it seems that this country is in a bigger mess than Europe."

"We are not proud where we are," he added. "We know that it's slow and not bold, and so on, but at least they are doing something; they are deciding something, they're trying to pull that through. And here, nothing is happening..."

Press Secretary, Jay Carney responded [to the reporter's gripe]: "I don't think it's helpful to get into which side of the Atlantic handles its problems better or worse. I think... this country needs to act. And obviously, as I just discussed in answer to a question earlier, the Europeans need to move forward with rapid implementation of their plans. And there is an urgent need in Europe to establish an enhanced firewall and to control this crisis... "

Despite the fact that the aforementioned reporter criticized the way the U.S. was handling its debt crisis, and despite the fact that he advised the U.S. to confront its fiscal problems, he nevertheless complained that the U.S. was not in a position to give advice to Europe.

Oh, well...