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July 2017 • SMT Magazine 65 ment should balance the budget. I think that should be a requirement, but be that as it may, we've certainly got evidence now that we have a President that understands the importance of bending that spending curve in the other di- rection, to begin addressing America's national debt and the rising deficits. There's a lot to be optimistic about. Goldman: That's all good to hear. I will say we talked with you Monday night and the next day we had several speakers from Education, Com- merce and Defense Departments. The IMPACT group also visited the EP A and the White House. In every case, every person we talked with was very receptive. They all said, "Tell us what's go - ing on. Tell us what you need." It was different than it's been in the past. They met with the head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, and he took notes and he assigned follow-ups to his staff, which was good. In our industry, we've often been con - sidered the enemy. It was different to have all the people that we spoke with be receptive or in- terested in our side of it, so we were happy. Johnson: Patty, this may sound a little bit melo- dramatic, I don't mean for it to, but it really comes down to whether you see the glass as half full or half empty. I think under the Trump ad- ministration, it is very clear that from an Amer- ican leadership perspective, America's potential to lead on the economic stage, on the interna- tional and diplomatic stage, on the military and national security stage, that the Trump adminis- tration looks at the glass as half full versus lead- ing from behind, which is what we saw during the previous administration for eight years—in- decisiveness creating uncertainty, leaving doubt in the minds of our friends and allies across the globe as to where we stood on particular issues, creating business uncertainty and a very busi- ness-unfriendly climate. I think it's a matter of seeing the glass as half full and I think the Trump administration sees that. Goldman: I think we're all optimistic, even more optimistic after having been to IMPACT and speaking with these various agencies and seeing their interest in what business people have to say. It was very refreshing. Johnson: One of the things I talked about there that I would probably like to get the word out on is that I think that there is a cultural, soci- etal shift that is occurring because of a phenom- enon that we've seen before. One of the things that's great about the American system of gov- ernment is that every generation gets to write the next chapter of America's amazing journey. Every generation believes that they can do it better than the previous generation. I love that about the American attitude, the American fi- ber of our being, but at the same time, often- times we must learn and relearn the same les- sons from history all over again. When I talk about a societal, cultural shift occurring, it reminds me of what happened in the '60s, back during Vietnam. If you can recall, Vietnam was the first war that was brought into the American living room in real time. Prior to Vietnam—World War II, Korea, other conflicts that America was involved in—the American people only saw the war from a distance. They saw it in newsreels if they happened to go to a movie or they read it in a newspaper that might come out on Sunday, if they happened to read the newspaper, but it wasn't in their face day af- ter day after day. IMPACT Interviews IMPACT attendees meet with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.