(DURHAM) -- The two men tasked with solving our nation's deficit crisis spoke at Duke University on Wednesday as part of the Terry Sanford Distinguished Lecture Series. Former UNC System President Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson, co-chairs of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, said it is going to take cooperation from both sides of the aisle to keep the U.S. from a financial meltdown.

"We face the most predictable and the most avoidable economic crisis in history and the solutions are very painful and there's no easy way out," said Bowles.

"The thing that is so difficult, there's no trust in Washington," said Sen. Simpson. "There has been no shared sacrifice in this country since World War II, none.  Fighting war without a tax to support it, never done that since the revolution."

The recommendations from the deficit reduction commission are being drafted into legislation to go before Congress. However, Bowles said he is not optimistic politicians will make the necessary difficult decisions this year because it is an election year.