Can U.S. survive without disappearing middle class?
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the Joint Economic Committee in Washington, DC. Bernanke testified before the full committee today on the topic of 'The Economic Outlook.' (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Even though the economy is showing signs of recovery, Congress is on track to extend unemployment benefits for the fourth time since the recession began more than two years ago.
The measure, now making its way through the Senate, would allow the jobless to receive up to 99 weeks of unemployment checks - that's almost two years.
Democrats insist that times remain tough. They say Republicans, who are opposed to the measure, are "inhumane" and lack compassion.
But Republicans say they're worried about the price tag - about $7 billion a month - which will only add to our skyrocketing national debt. They want to pay for the measure with spending cuts in other parts of the budget.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted this morning that our national debt will double to $20 trillion or 100 percent of our gross domestic product by 2020.
We're killing ourselves.
There's also another component to this: The longer unemployment benefits are extended, the longer the jobless have an incentive not to work. Studies show many unemployed workers don't start seriously looking for a job until their benefits are about to run out.
In fact, some say the scope of the Obama administration's entitlement programs is leading to a two-class society: The "haves" who are bankrolling the "have-nots."
Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly writes that the president is transforming the nation by "converting the earnings of American workers into handouts" for those who voted for him.
As we reported in the Cafferty File earlier this week - 47 percent of American households won't pay any federal income taxes this year... in other words, the U.S. has become a country where only half of us are paying for the services that are used by all of the U.S.
Here’s my question to you: Can America survive without the disappearing middle class?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Chances of meaningful reform of financial system?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
With some wind at their backs coming off their health care victory, Democrats may use their "mojo" to target financial reform next.
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It's hard to believe that a year and half after our financial system almost collapsed... we're still operating under the same regulations, or lack thereof.
On second thought, it's not hard to believe at all.
Now, the Senate Banking Committee has sent a massive Wall Street regulation bill to the full chamber - on a strictly party line vote.
Once again, not a single Republican supported it... although some top Republicans sound optimistic that the final bill would get bipartisan support.
The bill would give the government unprecedented powers to split up companies that are considered a threat to the economy - the so-called, "too big to fail."
It would also create a council of regulators to watch for risks along with an independent consumer watchdog.
The American Bankers Association was quick to come out against it - no surprise there. The House already passed a version of the bill last year. But with midterm elections around the corner - unless the Democrats act fast and President Obama gives it everything he's got - passage this year could be a long shot.
Meanwhile a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 53 percent of Americans favor greater government regulation of financial institutions... 43 percent oppose it.
Support for regulation is highest among upper-income people... probably because they have more to lose.
Democrats are also much more likely than Republicans to support reform.
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
How would you suggest your town save money?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Times are very tough in cities and states across the country. High unemployment means dwindling tax revenues... which is forcing local governments to make cuts in lots of places in order to keep things running.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/03/12/art.chicken.catcher.jpg caption="When Miami residents were overrun with loose chickens the city added a full-time Chicken Buster to the payroll."]
CNNMoney.com highlights some of the quirkier services that are being cut:
- Miami is cutting the position of "chicken catcher"... Apparently the city was overrun with loose chickens four years ago, so they added a full-time Chicken Buster to the payroll.
- Chicago is toning down its annual July 4th fireworks presentation
- Detroit is outsourcing the traditional yellow school bus service to private companies. Some school districts have even cut bus service altogether - and parents now have to transport their kids
- Henderson, Nevada, is doing away with a free coffee program for seniors
- St. Louis is considering charging residents for once-a-week trash collection
- Colorado Springs is turning off the city's least efficient street lights... and they're grounding two police helicopters
- Speaking of police, San Diego is getting rid of its horse-mounted patrol after nearly 3 decades.
- Los Angeles, which is drowning in debt, wants to take the zoo off the city's books... they're negotiating with a non-profit group to take over operations.
- North Las Vegas will quit offering free medical exams to city council members
- and some Utah lawmakers want to make the 12th grade optional
Here’s my question to you: How would you suggest your town save money?
Tune in to the Situation Room at 7pm to see if Jack reads your answer on air.
And, we love to know where you’re writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
43 percent have less than $10,000 saved for retirement
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/03/09/art.retirement.0309.cf.gi.jpg caption =" What does it mean that 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 in savings for retirement?"]From CNN's Jack Cafferty:
They're supposed to be the golden years, but retirement is becoming more and more difficult for millions of Americans.
A new survey shows that the percentage of workers with virtually no retirement savings grew for the third year in a row.
Forty-three percent of those surveyed say they have less than ten thousand dollars saved for retirement, excluding the value of homes and pension plans.
The annual Retirement Confidence Survey also finds that 27 percent of workers have less than one thousand dollars in retirement savings.
One thousand dollars.
It's a glaring picture of the decline in our quality of life. Only 16 percent of Americans say they're confident they can save enough for a comfortable retirement - that's the second lowest percentage in the 20-year history of the poll.
Job losses and mortgage problems are partly to blame here - but not entirely. Some people weren't saving even when the economy was stronger. And, a lot of people don't want to think about retirement - until it's too late.
For many Americans, the new reality is working longer and retiring later in life. Financial planners say that retirement savings - including Social Security and pension - should provide about 80 percent of your pre-retirement income. For most people – that means they should be saving close to 10 percent of their salary.
But with millions unemployed, rising care health costs and decreasing home values - among other things - saving that much just isn't possible.
Here’s my question to you: What does it mean that 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 in savings for retirement?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
FULL POST
Is now the time for one of the largest federal payrolls ever?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
"The era of big government is over"... that's what President Bill Clinton told the nation in 1996... before cutting hundreds of thousands of federal government jobs. But guess what? They're back… and then some.
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According to President Obama's proposed budget - the number of federal government employees will grow to nearly $2.15 million this year - the largest federal workforce's in modern history. AND - this doesn't even include postal workers or the more than 7.6 million federal contract workers.
Since the recession began - 200,000 workers have been added to the federal government payrolls. Have they ever heard of layoffs? During the same time, the private sector was downsizing to the tune of about 7 million lost jobs.
With the country looking at a $1.6 trillion deficit just this year - a record - as well as a more than $12 trillion in national debt - also a record - it seems worth asking if this is the right time for more government employees. One expert says it's a matter of time before Republicans, Tea Partiers, etc. go after the president on this issue.
Perhaps it's time for a federal hiring freeze except for jobs related to national security, public safety, etc. That way the workforce would decline through attrition as older federal workers retire.
But that would require political courage.
Here’s my question to you: In light of record deficits, is now the time for one of the largest federal payrolls ever?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Should NASA's plans to return to the moon be scrapped for budgetary reasons?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
No more Americans on the moon - at least not now.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that when President Obama releases his budget proposal Monday, there will be no money for the Constellation program - which was supposed to return humans to the moon by 2020.
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Also on the chopping block will be plans to develop a new rocket to replace the space shuttle; and a new cargo rocket - meant to launch supplies and fuel that would one day be needed to extend human life beyond earth's orbit.
In place of the planned moon landing program, the administration is touting what it calls a "very significant program." And insists that canceling the moon plans doesn't mean the president is abandoning exploration and human spaceflight.
Officials point to a new $6 billion project to develop commercial rockets that could take astronauts into orbit. They're calling on American companies to get involved and help develop private space taxis.
And they say this is all part of a larger plan to increase NASA's budget by about $1.3 billion annually over the next five years to increase research and development and extend the life of the International Space Station, among other things.
But - no mention of developing a so-called heavy-lift rocket capable of taking humans beyond the space station.
Here’s my question to you: Should NASA's plans to return to the moon be scrapped for budgetary reasons?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
U.S. may go bankrupt in the next decade. Why won't gov't do anything?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The United States could be bankrupt in 7 to 10 years, yet our government refuses to do anything about it.
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The Senate voted yesterday against a bipartisan commission that would make recommendations on to how to reduce the nation's skyrocketing deficits... estimated to top $1.35 trillion this year.
Many Republicans were against the commission idea - because they don't want to support anything that could mean tax increases. Many Democrats were opposed, too - because they don't like the idea of big spending cuts in entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
But the truth is: There are only two options for reducing our more than $12 trillion national debt: Either raise taxes or cut spending - or both. Washington is choosing to do neither.
Republican Lindsey Graham, who voted in favor of the commission, tells Politico he's disgusted with the Senate's lack of progress on much of anything:
"I'm willing to try anything because I'm desperate. Immigration: Hard, tried, it went nowhere. Social Security: Hard, tried, it went nowhere. Health care: Hard, tried, went nowhere. We're running out of opportunities to try hard and go nowhere. Time is not on our side."
Meanwhile President Obama is expected to set up a similar deficit reduction commission by executive order in his State of the Union address tonight. Noble - but in reality, it's just another empty political gesture that means nothing.
Unlike the proposed commission killed by the Senate, the president's commission won't be able to force Congress to do anything. In other words - it won't have any teeth.
Here’s my question to you: The U.S. may go bankrupt in the next 7 to 10 years. Why won't our government do anything about it?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
What to blame for U.S. economic demise?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The past decade of self-delusion and self-indulgence has damaged the U.S. severely... and we may not be able to fix it.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/01/04/art.job.fair.jpg caption="Employment seekers line up to get into a job fair in New York."]
In a column for the web site "Human Events," Pat Buchanan points to some staggering statistics about how far this country has fallen... including:
- The U.S. produced 32-percent of the world's gross domestic product back in 2000... it's now 24 percent - the sharpest decline by any country in modern history - except for the late Soviet Union
- The U.S. started the decade with a budget surplus... but ended with a deficit equal to 10-percent of GDP
- The economy was at full employment in 2000... now we have 10 percent unemployed... and another seven-percent that's underemployed or has given up looking for work...
- As many as one-third of all U.S. manufacturing jobs disappeared in the past 10 years, our national debt doubled... and China practically holds the mortgage on us
- Add in two wars, tax cuts under Bush, astronomical deficit spending, the housing crisis - and we have a real mess on our hands
Buchanan writes we did this all to ourselves believing we were "the greatest empire since Rome" and "the indispensable nation"... while buying into the global economy and free trade.
Meanwhile - prospects for robust and sustained economic growth in this new decade appear bleak. Top economists predict U.S. GDP will expand less than 2-percent per year for the next 10-years. They point to factors like a poor job market, a weak real estate sector and the banks.
Here’s my question to you: What’s to blame for America’s economic demise?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
What can be done to create jobs?
(PHOTO CREDIT: Justin Sullivan/GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
As the White House convenes what it's calling a jobs summit, consider this:
Almost 16 million Americans are out of work, and one-third of them have been unemployed for more than six-months. There are currently six workers competing for every open job. The government releases the November jobs report tomorrow, with unemployment expected to remain at 10.2 percent.
The White House affair is a meeting with business leaders, academics and other experts to come up with ideas on creating jobs.
But Americans have their own ideas on how to get people back to work. A new USA Today/Gallup poll shows 18 percent of those surveyed suggest the best way is to keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S instead of sending them overseas. 14-percent say lower taxes, 12-percent say more help for small businesses, and 10-percent say create more infrastructure work.
Other ideas include reducing government regulation, creating more green jobs, providing more stimulus money, and buying American or raising taxes on imports.
Meanwhile, there are some glimmers of good news:
The Labor Department reports that the number of first-time filers for unemployment fell last week to a near 15-month low.
Also an independent private job placement firm shows the pace of job losses slowing to the lowest level in two years.
But the fact is jobs are a trailing indicator and probably won't show any robust growth for awhile - despite other signs that the economy is in recovery. Also, many experts say a lot of the jobs that have been lost will simply never return.
Here’s my question to you: What can be done to create jobs?
Tune in to the Situation Room at 5pm to see if Jack reads your answer on air.
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
More and more Americans seek day-labor jobs
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Remember the argument against cracking down on illegal immigration that went: "Illegal aliens come here to do the jobs Americans won't do?" Well, guess what? Americans are doing them... and in greater numbers than ever before.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/12/01/art.home.depot.jpg caption="Day laborers wait in front of a Home Depot in Los Angeles."]
USA Today reports that a growing number of American citizens are headed to street corners and parking lots of home improvement stores to find day-labor work - jobs usually done by illegal aliens.
A UCLA professor of urban planning says it's happening most often in areas where hot construction markets have collapsed - and there are lots of unemployed construction workers without stable work. He estimates that the proportion of American born day laborers has at least doubled in the last three years. Back in 2006, they made up seven percent of the day labor workforce.
Some of the places seeing an increase in U.S. citizens seeking day-labor jobs include Tucson, Arizona, Arlington, Virginia, and Los Angeles.
Experts say the day labor pool is becoming much more ethnically diverse. Whites, African-Americans and Mexican-Americans are all joining the ranks - competing for work painting, laying bricks or landscaping. And it's a trend that will only get worse once unemployment benefits run out and more people are laid off.
Nationally, the unemployment rate is 10.2 percent... and is expected to get worse before it improves. A recent report shows jobless rates increased in 29 states and the District of Columbia in October. Michigan leads the pack with over 15 percent unemployment, followed by Nevada, Rhode Island, California and South Carolina.
Here’s my question to you: What does it mean when a growing number of Americans are seeking day-labor jobs?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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